Time Management Strategies – Part 5 of 5
On July 30th, 2009, by
Are you inundated with “too much information”? Do you feel shut down because there’s just too darn much “stuff” to deal with? If you’re feeling empty and a little guilty about how much time you’re spending on “information”, today’s time management strategy will help.
Returning from vacation with 212 e-mails in my inbox, I could have felt extremely overwhelmed. Instead, I was empowered because I did something to protect myself. Here are the strategies I used:
Build in time for admin and transition. I’ve found that coming home from vacation and jumping right back into a “normal” work day no longer supports me. Since I made the choice to literally unplug from technology for 4 days, I knew I would have lots of e-mail and papers to sort through. I took the Monday of my return to be focused on these activities which made for a smooth transition from vacation back to my regular work routine on Tuesday.
Pause to understand your priorities. Having a clear sense of what I wanted from the day allowed me to stay focused. When I found myself distracted, I reminded myself that my focus was to “clear and transition”. If you need help identifying your priorities, be sure to re-read my post: Time Management Strategies – Part 3 of 5.
Get rid of the excess. As I was going through my e-mails, I made the decision to unsubscribe from the junk e-mail I never signed up for. I also evaluated every e-mail newsletter, devotional, tip of the day, etc. to determine if it serves me. I opted out of several to streamline and stay focused on my priorities and vision.
Use your calendar and consistently re-evaluate. Make sure you block your time for administration. Using your calendar will help keep you focused. When you add something new, like blogging, you need to be clear on where this fits in your schedule. You only have 24 hours a day so if you’re adding something in, what’s going away or where is this new activity going to be scheduled.
By the way I’m still learning myself. I haven’t blogged in almost seven days and my commitment was 3-times per week. Opportunities await for sure!
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