It is 6:30 a.m. Instead of jumping out of bed and exercising like I do every morning, today I purposely got up and am eating a big frog to start my day.
I have been talking to my staff team about time management. The gerbil wheel of life seems to be spinning faster and faster. Maybe it is just me. But I don’t think so.
Here are some tips we talked about to better manage our time:
Plan. This is one thing that we have control over in our day. It doesn’t mean that our plan always works, but if you do not start with a plan for your day or week, how do you know what you need to do to accomplish your goals? I am an old school Franklin Planner girl. I take a lot of heat for that! I end every day by mapping out my “list” for the following day. I end every Friday by setting up and planning out my following week. I start my day and week by visiting my plan for the day to be focused.
Know Your Best Time. A lot of research has been done to try to pinpoint the time most productive time of the day for people. I have read a lot about this and concluded that there is no universal most productive time of the day. That means we need to figure this out for ourselves. Once you know your time, use it to your advantage. For me, it is first thing in the morning. Literally first thing. I can get more accomplished by 10 am than most people can in a day!
Time Block. Once you know your most productive time, give yourself the gift of that time a couple of times a week. Protect that time from meetings or other tasks. I mean literally put a calendar invite on your calendar (and Franklin Planner!) to protect that time. Tackle those big projects that require a lot of brain power and are important during that time.
Eat the frog. Mark Twain said “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
I hope this helps you take a little control of your time. I would love to hear what time management tricks you have to share.
Lisa Lounsbury, CAE, AAI, AIS
President & CEO of Big I NY