No Time, Or Too 'Busy Being Busy'?
Don't have enough time, it's all about time- management, (so we hear oh so often). But realistically we all have the same amount of hours in a day and it has nothing to do with time-management at all, so it's not about managing your time, it's about managing your to-do-list. So how do we do more in less time?
The secret is not about allocating time to the things that you do but allocating importance to the items on your to-do-list. Most of us spend our time being perfectionists on things that are not bringing in the money and then we wonder where the time has gone in the day.
"I don't have time", just a perception. Ask yourself one question: If I don't have time then what am i doing with my time? Are you being productive or just being too busy being busy? My experience tells me that if you've heard yourself say 'I have no time' then you are "too busy being busy". If you can't get your job done in 8 hours a day then take a look at what you are really spending your time on.
Harsh Or Reality? Not to worry I am going to give you the solution to this right now.
Over the years my to-do-list was written on a note pad or in an exercise book and carted around with me wherever I went. I loved keeping a manual record in my little book and then physically crossing off all the things that I had to do each day, when they were completed.
This gave me great satisfaction and made me feel that I accomplished things every day as there was movement on my list. However now a days, juggling home and business, meetings and strategies, answering phones, delivering reports (you get what i mean), it is difficult to keep a manual to-do-list.
So I missioned out to find a solution. And it came to me.... what is the one thing that I have with me 24/7? Yes you guess right, my mobile phone. So how could I use this device to help me set up my to-do-list and how would I get the same satisfaction of crossing things off my list as I did when I was doing this manually? It's easy!
With today's technology there must be an app. And I found it. This app helps you make lists and you still get to cross off the things that you do daily. The app is called 'KEEP' and you can find it on your app store or play store. But how was this going to help me do more in less time?
I call it the 3 P's - Perfectionist, Procrastinator & Prioritize! Get rid of the perfectionist and the procrastination and focus on the priorities. Make 4 lists in this order:
1. High Priority
2. High Income
3. Minor Importance (but still important)
4. Daily method of operation list.
High Priority
First: List all the things that you have to do, that if you don't do will affect your business, e.g. Tax, banking, important documentation, book-keeping, etc and get that out of the way.
High Income
Second: List all the things that earn you an income as honestly without doing these things you're not going to earn and this is going to affect your life.
Minor Importance (but still important)
Third: List the things that you need to get done that if you don't do will interfere with your High Income list e.g. delivering product or service, pay the electricity and phone bill, etc.
Daily Method of Operation List
Lastly: List the things that you need to do every day, e.g. make your calls, make your appointments, etc. Why do I leave this for last? Because most of the time you can't call business people before 11am or in their lunch time so save your DMO for after 1pm.
All of these lists can be updated, crossed off, and maintained on your cell phone with reminders set to make your life much easier. I hope that this article put some light on your time schedule and that it encourages you to get more done in less time. We all need to allocate a portion of our day to ourselves and other important things that will help us progress, like up-skilling and R&R - remember you deserve this.
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Until next time - be kind to one another.
Ann
