This week on Instagram, I shared that I recently finished the audio version of a book called The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks. The author dropped a lot of valuable gems about overcoming self-doubt, achieving our true potential in life, and working from “ a zone of genius.” Moreover, the book inspired me to challenge how I thought about my time management skills. During my workday, I catch myself saying, “there’s not enough time in the day to complete everything” or “I don’t have time for that.” I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with trying to balance my career, my love for blogging, and building a workwear line, almost leading me to burn out. After some personal reflection and a great conversation with my beloved mentor, I realized my issue was not with time, it was productivity. Now that I’ve identified the real root of my angst, I put in place a strategy to ensure I get the most value out of my day. Below are five tips I’ve implemented to help me with utilizing my time effectively.
1.Block out time on your calendar to focus on your most time-consuming task
Blocking out time helps to set limitations on how long you need to work on certain items. I do a pretty good job of setting my daily priorities; however, I sometimes spend way too long on a specific task. Blocking out time on my calendar for pressing activities allows me to 1) be accountable for my time and 2) re-evaluate if I need to spend more time on one item or move on to the next.
2. Find the best time to deal with the most time-consuming tasks Building on the first point, in addition to blocking off time, find the best time of the day that works for you to optimize your productivity. Personally, I like to complete more writing-intensive work assignments in the morning as I find my best ideas and thoughts come to me after I’ve had a few sips of my black tea. In the morning, I’m also the most inspired and creative. After lunch, I like to take care of more administrative, routine tasks that require less critical thinking. While I still complete work obligations in the afternoon, I don’t feel as obligated to be innovative as I would in the morning.
3. Use your calendar or organizer to realistically assemble your day-to day responsibilities
A helpful process I’ve implemented is organizing my responsibilities by day, week, or month. In relation to organizing my task for the week, I prefer to get to work early on Monday mornings and set up my work plan for the week. For daily tasks, I re-evaluate my work plan accordingly and make a list of tasks to be completed on a sticky note or notepad. Not only do I have my game plan for the week, but I’ve also structured each day so I can plan for the unexpected, while still mindful of the things I need to accomplish.
4. Determine your “Why” for each task or responsibilities
Knowing the purpose for completing anything helps to boost the reasoning for prioritizing the item sooner. Priority notes help me remember why I need to complete something expeditiously rather than later. It’s not changing what I’m doing, but more so why I’m doing it and how soon the responsibility needs to be completed.
5. There’s always tomorrow
Although this idea of putting things off for another day is usually frowned upon, it’s an important tip to help with work-life balance. The reality is, not everything will get done in one day, but if I pace myself by utilizing the steps previously mentioned, I will feel much better about putting off non-pressing items on hold for another day. After all, I still have to make time to take care of myself and my own self-care.
I hope these self-realization tips were helpful! If I missed anything, please share in the comments some things that have helped you with utilizing more time for productive results.
