10 Ways To Manage Your Time Successfully

Time – the older I get the quicker time seems to pass. I think that’s in part because I realize more now than ever just how valuable every minute is. There’s so much more that I want to accomplish and experience in my life.

I’m always on the lookout for ways to maximize my time. I know I’m not alone! Rarely does a week goes by where the topic of time management doesn’t come up conversations with clients, family, and friends! Here are a few themes that seem to keep coming up:

• I’m exhausted and there’s so much more to do.
• I need a vacation!
• My to do list is overwhelming – I don’t even know where to start!
• I start out my day armed with a plan but there’s always something that derails me!
• Somehow, I just can’t seem to get organized. Before you know it the day is over!
• I find myself trying to do a million things all at once but nothing gets done.
• I should be able to get more done.
• I am frantically busy, but I’m not getting the results I want.

Do you relate?

Managing time is a myth, but you can manage YOU! And today I want to share with you some of my own methods of maximizing my time!

1. Use Technology, Don’t Let It Use You!

Technology is incredibly helpful and simultaneously wildly distracting. That’s why you have to deliberately choose to use technology in ways that serve you rather than distract you. There are amazing digital calendars, appointment setting apps, CRM systems, and more that enable you to maximize your time.

What rarely enables you to maximize your time: social media! Keep those apps off your phone. Make it something you check once or twice a day on your computer. Set limits for yourself.

Turn off notifications for email and social media – whatever you tend to get lost in!

2. Create A To Do List

Yes, start every day with a plan! I find it helpful to write down literally everything that needs to be done on scratch paper and then determine the 1-3 tasks that I need to complete in order for my day to be successful. All the remaining items I list in order of priority below.

It’s OK if my top 3 or the priority order changes during the course of the day if I consciously choose to make that change. Don’t let distractions take you off course.

One way to ensure you complete your top 1-3 items is to block out time on your calendar to do them.

If you are a gadget person, here’s a handy physical system for creating your to do list. What’s great about this system is that it looks nice on your desk and it keeps your list before you. Plus, the cards are portable and easy to take with you wherever you go.

3. Step Back!

You can’t see the forest for the trees – a common saying that has application to time management too. When you are caught up in what needs to be done, you lose perspective. That’s why stepping back throughout the day and assessing what’s before you is so helpful.

I also find looking ahead at what needs to be done in the next three weeks enables me to anticipate what needs to be done and better pace myself.

4. Embrace Routines!

What’s nifty about routines is that they ensure that you get a whole lot done without thinking about it. In fact, I never put spending time with God, exercising, or planning my day on my to do list – they are naturally a part of my morning routine! An evening routine helps too!

5. Make The Most of Your Calendar!

Calendars are not just for appointments! They are a tool designed to serve YOU, but it will only serve you to the degree that you allow it to.

The advantage to using a digital calendar are the appointment and task reminders. These are notifications you want to receive so that nothing slips through the cracks!

When scheduling, be sure to include a buffer between meetings and activities. You need margin, but you have to create it.

Lastly, schedule absolutely everything, including time to focus on key projects, reflect, or just breathe – protected time. Here’s what that looks like for me: I don’t schedule clients or other appointments on Mondays so that I’m able to focus on the behind-the-scenes tasks that need to be accomplished for our businesses. I also protect mornings for my morning routine and so that I’m able to respond to emails and handle details before my appointments kick in.

What protected time would serve you?

6. Set Deadlines!

Without them, you will procrastinate. Your deadlines may be artificial, but the more you set deadlines, the more you’ll accomplish in less time. Task expand to the time allotted!

7. Mind Your Time Mindsets

There are ways you think about your time that are not serving you!

Do you really believe that…

• • • Your time is valuable – your most precious resource?

If you do, how you use your time will change!You have all the time you need?

Slow down, focus, enjoy the process – I promise that when you rush, tasks take twice as long. Hurrying only produces mistakes and keeps you from intentionally thinking things through or applying creativity.

• • • You are enough? That you matter?

Or do you believe that you have to do more to be accepted, loved, or successful? How is your Fear Monster working against you in the area of time?

• • • You are the one in control of your time?

Yes, you literally get to choose each and every day how you will use your 24 hours! Time doesn’t happen to you – circumstances happen and even then, you still get to choose how you respond.

• • • Less is more?

It’s better to be slow and steady like the turtle than mindlessly hustling like the rabbit! You see more time doesn’t mean more success. In fact, having more time often results in tasks expanding to fill up that time! It’s more time to overthink, more time to perfect…and will it ever be perfect??? Time to research a little more before pulling the trigger. No, less time forces you to make decisions and take action.

• • • Boundaries are good?

Or do you believe that by setting and maintaining boundaries you are being mean or unkind to those around you?

You don’t have to be available 24/7. In fact, if you are, it tells me that you don’t value you!

You might be surprised by how much more people respect you when you communicate your boundaries. If people don’t respect you and your boundaries, they probably didn’t respect you in the first place.

• • • You have limits?

Everyone has limits including you. You are not the exception. Ignore your limits watch out for the toll it takes on you!

Recognizing you have a limited capacity is not having a limiting belief, it’s realistically acknowledging what’s feasible for you to do in this season. By honoring your limits, you honor YOU!

• • • You are a whole person?

Yes, a human BEING that does more than just work and thriving is more than just being productive. You need rest, connection, and to nourish your soul to THRIVE!

• • • Success is more than a full schedule or being busy?

What do you really want in life? Do you really want “She was the Queen (King) of productivity – a wildly busy person who raced from one activity to the other” on your tombstone?

Bottom line – you are the one in control of your time! You decide how you will use your time!

8. Pay Attention to Your Needs

Do you need a break? Are you feeling discouraged and need encouragement? Are you frustrated?

Ignored feelings leak out in unfortunate ways. It’s better to take a break for 15 minutes than to resent your work and do it halfheartedly.

Powering through the discouragement impacts the quality of your work. Investing a few minutes to reach out to someone to lift your spirits – that’s priceless!

9. A GREAT BIG Yes!

You say yes to so many, many good things every day! But what if you said NO to everything that wasn’t a GREAT BIG yes. No to everything that doesn’t wildly excite you or move your closer to your goals? A definite NO to opportunities that God has not specifically asked you to do?

10. Appreciate What You Do Get Done!

Being productive feels good! I get a rush out of checking tasks off my to do list. Here’s the bummer: productivity is an endless pit – there’s always more to be done!

If you too enjoy the thrill of accomplishing tasks, what’s undone may leave you feeling dissatisfied or discontent. For people like us, the many tasks left undone tend to shine far brighter than all the many tasks completed.

What if you truly appreciated what you have accomplished? Really appreciated it – allowed it to count? What would that feel like?

It’s your turn! Which of the tips mentioned above will you implement? What’s enabled you to manage your time more successfully?