Archive for Time Management
Time Management Strategies – Part 5 of 5
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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!
What do you think? Share your comments below and be sure to sign up for the monthly newsletter. Our next issue will be sent next week!
Time Management Strategies – Part 4 of 5
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Using your calendar is one the best time management strategies out there. Whether it’s a sophisticated Blackberry or the simple yet basic Daytimer, using the calendar will help you leverage your time and make sure that you don’t overdraw on your time bank account.
How’s it working for you? Are you drained or energized by your life? Is your business struggling or thriving?
I’m here to let you know there might be a couple of key components missing from your time management system. When looking more closely, you’ll probably find that “you” are not scheduled consistently in the calendar, and you’re spending time on busy-ness rather than business.
What’s the impact? Chances are you are running on empty, going from one thing to the next without any awareness of the results you are achieving. If this is you, consider the guidelines below to help you leverage your life and love your business.
- Put “you” in your calendar. Write down all of the important activities that help nurture your mind, body and spirit. Treat these as “non-negotiable” like you would a doctor’s appointment.
- Decide how many hours you will work your business each week. Get clear on the hours you will invest in your work so you can maximize the time you choose to spend.
- Block your work hours using a powerful time management formula of 60-20-10-10. Spend 60% of your time on wealth building activities, 20% on planning and strategizing, 10% on administration and 10% on super service.
- Follow the 80/20 rule. Make sure that 80% of your time is spent on things that energize, renew and fuel you! If you do, you will have the ability to handle the remaining 20% of the items with ease.
What do you think? Post your comments below on how this will help you. I’d love to hear from you!
Time Management Strategies – Part 3 of 5
Posted by: | CommentsAre you struggling with prioritizing your time? Do you feel like a hamster on the wheel of life?
If you’re tired of your life running you, today’s time management strategy will help you arrange your priorities. Using the filter below you can identify where to focus your time, and best utilize the 24-hours you have.
Grab a sheet a paper and a pen. Starting right now for the next 24 hours, write down everything you do.
If you are completely honest, you will have more than a hundred items on your list!
Revisit your list and rank your activities according to the following scale, which was developed by Richard Foster:
1-Essential
2-Important but not essential
3-Helpful but not necessary
4-Trivial
What do you notice about your list?
You’ll probably see two things. First, you’ll find there are tons of details to handle every day! Second, there’s probably more time spent on the helpful but not necessary and trivial things, rather than the essential and important items.
Your priorities are actually the the list of essential and important items. When you spend time on these items, you will have the greatest impact and experience more joy and fulfillment. Why? Because these items are usually what matters most.
So what’s your next step? What challenges you the most? Would love to read your comments below.
Time Management Strategies – Part 2 of 5
Posted by: | CommentsAre you stressed because you don’t have enough time? Do you find yourself overwhelmed by how to get it all done? With only 24-hours a day, finding time management strategies that fit for you is essential.
As a Certified Personality Trainer, I help you identify your unique personality. When you understand how you are wired, knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you leverage and maximize your time. Take the free on-line personality profile and read below for more.
The Playful Sanguine – This personality is all about the party! The Sanguine lives life the “fun” way and could really care less about whether she’s wasting her time so long as she’s having a great time. She loves to connect and engage with people and will put any activity that involves others as a priority over those boring “to-do’s”. She rarely uses a calendar because she finds them restrictive; it limits the fun and festivities!
Tips for the Sanguine: Find a colorful and playful way to manage your time using stickers, bright and shiny folders, and playful notebooks. Plan your time with a girlfriend over coffee. It’s way more fun!
The Powerful Choleric - This dynamic and powerful leader is all about taking charge and making things happen. She has no problem using her time effectively when it comes to work because she’s all about the achievement. The Choleric has the belief that her way is the best way, and she will strive to get all of those tasks done, to the sacrifice of connecting with people. Her challenge is that her life is out of balance because work is her top priority.
Tips for the Choleric: Remember that people aren’t “tasks” to be managed; they are human beings with feelings and needs. Build some margin time into the day to sit and be still as you unwind.
The Proper Melancholic – She knows the right way to manage her time because she’s all about creating efficient and productive systems. The Melancholic’s challenge is that she spends more time on getting it right and figuring out the best system, so she actually forgets to spend time on the priorities at hand.
Tips for the Melancholic: Let go of getting it right and give yourself permission to get messy. Redirect your focus on planning your time instead of finding the perfect system.
The Peaceful Phlegmatic – It’s all about the easy way for the Peaceful Phlegmatic. You will definitely not find the Phlegmatic using a Blackberry or Palm Pilot because it would be way too overwhelming. She prefers to go with the flow of life and see what happens along the way.
Tips for the the Phlegmatic: Choose the top 3 priorities and focus only on these. Keep it simple to make progress, one small step at a time.
Play with this insight and see what you learn. Would love to read your comments below. What do you think?
Time Management Strategies – Part 1 of 5
Posted by: | CommentsWhether you are an Entrepreneur, Mompreneur, Employee or Stay-at-home Mom, there’s one thing that’s true for all. Everyday, you get 24 hours and that’s it! You might need more but the fact of the matter is, your time bank account gets the same deposit every single day and this will never, ever change.
Is your time bank account overdrawn? Are you using your time wisely or wasting it on non-essentials?
Learning how to effectively manage one’s time tends to be on the top of the list for most of us. What’s interesting is that there are so many resources out there on this topic so it brings up the question of “Why do we continue to struggle in this very important area?”
Here’s what I’ve discovered through working with others. You must find the system that works best for you. There’s not a one size fits all when it comes to time management because every one of is unique. We all have a different personality and a set of values that makes us tick. If you don’t consider these two essential aspects of who you are, most time management systems will fall short because they don’t “fit” for you.
And here’s what ends up happening. You find the newest idea on time management and without much thought you make a commitment to try it. You use it for awhile and before you know it, you find yourself doing what you’ve always done. You end up defaulting to your autopilot behavior and it creates doubt, shame and frustration because you just don’t seem to be very good at managing your time. The worst thing about this is that not only do you find yourself wasting time, but you now also have the negative self-talk raging within which chips away at your value and worth.
Does this sound familiar? I see this happening over and over again for the women I partner with as their coach. Today, I am taking a stand for all of your hearts as I say “no more” to this crazy making cycle. Starting today, we are going to look at what needs to be done to change this unhealthy and draining pattern.
I do hope you’ll join me on this journey as I write about this topic in a series of upcoming blogs. So here’s what you need to do first…Grab your calendar and block out 30-minutes in your schedule for the next 7 days so you can take action on the steps being shared.
As we get started, we are going to take a look inward. You need to find out how you’re wired and discover what matters most first because this valuable information is what will stop triggering the unhealthy pattern I mentioned above.
So today, I invite you to take a free on-line personality test to find out how you are wired as you learn more about your unique personality and the strengths and weaknesses associated with it. This test will take you about 30-minutes or less. As you go through the process, don’t over think or analyze your answers. Go with your first instinct and move on to the next question, giving yourself permission to let all of your emotions bubble to the surface.
Tomorrow I will share my knowledge as a Certified Personality Trainer and show how your unique personality plays into managing your time. I hope you’ll subscribe to receive the daily updates at www.shannonbruce.com so you can break free of this unhealthy cycle to create a thriving life and prosperous business!
After you take the free on-line personality test, I invite you to post your comments…What’s your unique personality? How do you think your personality is helping or hindering you when it comes to time management?
Let the transformation begin!
