10 Time Management Tips

Hey there everybody, and welcome to this presentation on 10 Essential Time Management Skills. I'm your host, Dr. Donnellice Snipes. A lot of people struggle with time management and a lot of people have tried a lot of different things. And part of it is finding something that works for you. But I'm going to give you 10 little tips that you might be able to use to develop a time management plan that works better for your temperament. For most people, regardless of your temperament, begin with a vision. And I've talked in other presentations about creating a vision of a rich and meaningful life. It's important to know the things that are important for you to spend your energy on because you only have so much energy and you only have so much time in every day. So figure out what things, people, activities, experiences are important in your rich and meaningful life. Then the next step is to act purposefully. Whenever something comes up and you have to make a decision about how to spend your time, ask yourself, is this the best way to use my time to move me towards those things, people, experiences, et cetera, that are important to me? Or is this just a distraction that when you have a vision and you're regularly checking against that vision to figure out is this the best way to spend my time, then you are going to be able to make more informed or purposeful decisions? A term that comes up a lot is opportunity cost. If I do this, it costs me some time. If I choose to do this, is it going to take away from time that I would rather be spending? Notice I didn't use the word should that I would rather be spending on working towards other goals that are important to me. Is it worth the opportunity cost? Once you've kind of started to figure those things out, then you're going to have a list of things. Time wait, not wasters, but time drains that you need to figure out, okay, how am I going to get all this done? When I work with people, one of the things I have them do is start out by making a list, just a laundry list, if you will, of all the things that they think they, they need to do, they should do, they want to do, they must do whatever word they want to use, put it on a list and then we go through and I have them eliminate or set aside the things that are not must do's. And what's the difference between a must do and a want to? A must do has significant negative consequences to your rich and meaningful life if you don't do it. Must do's. Eating, sleeping, bathing, going to work so you can keep a roof over your head. Those are must do's spring cleaning. That's a want to. If you don't do spring cleaning, in most cases, super negative consequences are not going to happen. It's something you want to do, it may be a priority, but it's not something that you must do to avoid significant negative consequences. Now remember, we're not eliminating the things that we're moving over to the want to list, but first we have to make time. We have to figure out how we're going to get the must do's done. So you go through, you set aside the things that are not must dos, put them over here in a pile, then you figure out, all right now, of these must dos, is there a way that I can delegate any of these? And can my significant other pick up my dry cleaning or help with the laundry or cook dinner or whatever it is? Can my kids, how can they pitch in and help out? Do I have friends that we might be able to work together somehow synergistically and get things done? What can you delegate? And you may not have a lot that you can delegate, but at least take a look and see what you can. And delegation can also mean hiring people, if you can afford it, to come in and help you with the cleaning or doing your laundry or your lawn care. Sometimes it's worth it. When we go back to that opportunity cost, is it more cost effective for you based on how much you make per hour or whatever you have that's a priority in your life? Is it more cost effective for you to spend an hour or two doing yard work every week? Or. Or is it better for you to hire somebody to pay for somebody to do that so you free up your time? Now again, not everybody can afford to do that, but if you can afford to do it, it's one of those things that you can look at under that delegate umbrella. Combine is the next thing. And some people love to multitask, some people hate to multitask. I fall into. I love to multitask. When I am driving. I will make phone calls that I need to make now that we have those wonderful hands free Bluetooth, yada yada, things that we can use. So making some of those calls that I need to make, even if it's just calling my best friend or calling my family to check in and say hi, I can do that while I'm driving and kill two birds with one stone, if you will. Think about what things can you combine? I used to study and walk on the treadmill when I was in college. So I was combining my exercise with my must do of studying. So there are a lot of different things you can get creative, simplify. And this is another technique that can come in really handy. But you need to be creative. You can simplify by creating rules such as, I have particular rules that I do not take meetings on particular days because I know those are the days I'm going to spend writing, recording and doing other things. If somebody asks, you know, can I schedule a meeting with you on Tuesday? My answer is no, I can't do meetings on Tuesday. I can do Wednesdays or Thursdays and that makes it easier for me to parcel my time, if you will. You can also have other rules or habits. Like for example, you may decide that you're going to fix the same dinner every Monday night or every other Monday night. Maybe you have a rotation of 14 different meals. I'm not that creative. We have seven, but that way you don't have to think hard about, oh, what am I going to cook tonight? Do I need to go to the grocery store? Whatever. You have a menu, you have a shopping list. That shopping list does not change very often. And occasionally, obviously you can shake it up and add different meals or change your menu around. I like doing it where I have four or five different weekly menus that I can choose from. But then I already have those shopping lists made up. I already know what I need to do in order to cook it. It's not something I've got to learn or do. It's not something that's going to take a lot of extra time. So what other habits can you have that help you simplify? I cook one week, one day during the week. I will cook rice ahead of time. I will cook beans, I will cook pasta. And I know some of you who are Italian may be going, oh, you can't pre cook pasta. Or well, okay, it's that opportunity cost. Yes, it doesn't taste as good as fresh pasta, but it's done and it saves me time not only cooking, but the rest of the week. I only have to clean up the dishes that we use to eat and maybe one dish that I use to put things together instead of having to clean up a whole kitchen full of dishes. Because I'm cooking every single night and having lots and lots of stuff to do. So that saves time. You can prioritize and you're going to have must do's and it's going to be important to prioritize. Is this something I have to do Today. Is this something that has to be done this week or is this something that has to be done by the end of the month? And there are going to be different must do's. Like taxes only come around once a year. That's a must do do. But it's not one of those must do's that I have to do today, December 30th. It's one that I know needs to be on my radar and I need to get it done sometime between now and April 15th. Once you've figured out all of your must dos and you've prioritized them so you know which ones have to be done sooner than others, then you can make a plan with measurable micro goals. And why do I say do this? Because a lot of times our goals are large taxes even. That's not a simple process. That's not something that most people can do in 30 minutes or less. So you may set goals for getting your taxes done, such as one day you will collect all your receipts and the next day, the next time you work on it, you will do another part of it. And the next time you work on it, you will do another part of it. But you chunk it out, you block it out so you don't have to spend 8, 12, 16 hours in one day trying to do it, which feels very overwhelming. But by chunking it out you also can see progress. It's like, okay, I got that part done, Score for me, now I can do something else. It's also important with time management. A lot of times people forget to schedule in self care and activities of daily living. They get themselves so chock full of stuff to do, they forget, oh, I need a shower and I need to go shopping and I have all these other things I need to do. Take the car in for a tune up. All of those things need to make the list somewhere. And figuring out how that's going to happen is important. Respect your rhythms. Not everybody is a morning person like I am a lot of times books and advisors will tell you the earlier you get up, the more you can get done and blah blah blah. That is really not true. It's important to recognize what your rhythms are now. Being up from 11pm until 7am for example. There are a lot of things that you can't do in the middle of the night. But if you're one of those people who does better getting up at 9 or 10 and then going to bed at 1 or 2, then respect that rhythm because there's still plenty of hours during the workday where you can get things done like going to the bank and going shopping and those sorts of things. But you're going to be more focused and you're going to be more productive if you respect your rhythms. Your rhythms are your circadian rhythms and your circadian rhythms are set up so when you wake up your cortisol levels are highest. That gives you the energy to get out of bed and get focused and get things done. So you want to work with that. You want to be doing things when your cortisol levels are highest and you have more energy, then throughout the day as they decline, you want to be doing things that take less energy. It just makes sense. So know when your energy levels are highest and schedule your high energy things for that time. Focus on one thing in the moment. And I know I said combine earlier, but when you're working on a complex task, it's important to focus on whatever you are doing and so you can get it done and you can get it done efficiently and correctly so you don't have to go back and redo it. Now I mentioned with combining I will call my family when I'm driving back and forth to work. Driving, you know, especially where I drive because it's not a big city, doesn't take a whole lot of intense concentration. And talking to my family doesn't take a whole lot of intense concentration. So I'm able to do both of those at the same time. Creating presentations and writing and even grading papers, that takes a lot more cognitive focus and energy. So I can't multitask, I can't do that and do something else at the same time. So it's important when you are doing something that is cognitively, mentally demanding that you focus on what you're doing so you do it right the first time and you don't have to waste time going back and redoing it. Tame your monkey mind. Whether you are multitasking or you are focusing on one thing, the human mind tends to wander and it often tends to wander to anxiety provoking things or your brain's trying to tell you, oh, but don't forget about, it's important to tame that monkey mind. Don't be hard on yourself when you notice that your mind is wandering to what you should have done yesterday or what you've got to do later. Gently, nicely remind yourself to focus on the task at hand. If it's something that you need to remember to address, like you're working on something and you remember, oh, I've got to get dog food on the way home. Make a note. I know old fashioned. Write something down. Don't try to keep it in your head or the monkey that's in charge of that memory is going to keep coming up and telling you, you know, don't forget. So write it down and you can put it on your mobile device if you prefer not to have paper lying around. But it's important to learn how to focus and it takes time. In our culture anymore, we have been taught not to focus. So we need to teach ourselves to focus on the task at hand. Even if it means only focusing on the task at hand for 15, 20, 30 minutes and then doing something else. That period of intense focus will allow us a lot more efficient productivity. The next tip is to be realistic and don't underestimate. My husband and I always get into disagreements because I say something should take three hours and he says it's going to take eight hours. Now reality is probably four and a half or five hours somewhere in between. But he tends to overestimate how long it's going to take to do things. And I tend to push it or underestimate a little bit. And that can really throw your schedule off. Think about if you were scheduling flights to come into the airport and you underestimated and then all of a sudden you had 15 planes that were circling waiting for a Runway. It would be bad. Underestimating is just as bad as overestimating in terms of creating confusion and potentially costing you precious time. So be realistic about how long a task is going to take in order to know what you can what else you can schedule after it. I'm not great at keeping time. When I do counseling sessions tend to go over a lot. I learned a long time ago because I value the time of my patients. I schedule clients every 90 minutes instead of back to back every 60 minutes. That enables me to see somebody for 60 minutes. If I run a little late, I don't get stressed and then I've got time to get up, get a drink, go to the bathroom, whatever, and get refocused for the next person. So I don't underestimate the amount of time that I am going to need the next one. And I know it's common sense, but get organized. And some people really bristle at this. If you are a spontaneous person, you may dread having a date book. You may dread having things scheduled in and hour increments or whatever that is just too rigid for you. That's okay. You can make lists and it can even be these are the things I need to get done this week. It doesn't have to be something that is extremely rigid. So when you do have a burst of energy, you can get some things done. Now, people like me, who are really structured, we like having everything in there scheduled down even to the 15 minute increments. Helps us feel more in control of what's going on. But it's important to just have a general idea. What is it that I need to get done today? What is it that I need to get done this week? And then you can get progressively more structured based on your temperament, based on what works for you. Another thing with getting organized, when you have those lists, you can start the morning out by reviewing that list and just saying, okay, these are the five things that I need to get done today. So, you know, in your mind you're priming your brain to say, this is where my energy really needs to go. And it helps you keep from getting distracted quite as easily. You can also have different days to do things. As I mentioned before, I set aside one day a week to do my cooking and I actually do cleaning and stuff on that same day. I put all my clothes together that day for the rest of the week so I don't stand in front of my closet at 5 o' clock in the morning going, what should I wear today? You know, I look at the weather and I plan accordingly and finally get an accountability buddy or a coach. And not everybody can afford or wants to get a coach, and I get that. But an accountability buddy is great. This can be a friend or your spouse, or this is something you can even do at dinner with the entire family where everybody checks in and says, okay, where are we in terms of accomplishing the things that we set out to do today or this week? And when you're responsible, well, not responsible is not the word. When you are having to tell people what you did, when it's not something that you can just ignore and it's all out there, then you tend to be more accountable for things. Which is why even for setting New Year's resolutions, it's often recommended that people have some sort of an accountability buddy where they tell somebody about their intentions because that makes it more real, that makes it more public, and honestly, it gets your ego involved a little bit. You don't want to be seen as slacking or failing to get something done that you said you would do. So accountability buddies, super helpful. If you don't, maybe you live alone and, you know, I hope that you have friends that you could do this with. But if you don't, you could also go on social media. And there are different groups. I know I'm in several professional groups where people support one another. And you might be able to find an accountability buddy there that can help you manage your time and stay focused. Look for a mentor even. So, some of my favorite hacks, and I am not the best with time management, but as I said, I tend to like to have everything very scheduled. I tend to be very rigid and. And I know that about myself. Can I be spontaneous if I have to be. But my temperament is more scheduled and structured. So prepare the bulk of your food on one day. That way you don't have to spend 45 minutes cooking the rice and then another 45 minutes after dinner cleaning up from doing all the cooking. And you have options that you can mix and match. I will. Like I said, I prepare rice, beans, and pasta. And we're vegetarian, so I don't have meats that are around, but we have eggs and cheese and other things that I can mix in with it. We have frozen vegetables, and I have a variety of different meals that I can make. Oh, and lentils. I usually make a lentil loaf once a week that serves as a replacement for our meatloaf. And I can use that either as an entree itself or I can crumble it and add it as. As you would for ground beef in spaghetti and different things like that. Set out all your clothes for the week one day. And Sunday is a great day to do this if your work week starts on Monday. I also do my gym clothes, and I take grocery bags that we have, or you can use any kind of little bag. And I put my gym clothes in one of those. And then I get those hangers that have the little clippies on them so they can hold my pants, they can hold my underclothes, and they can hold my shirt or dress or whatever it is that I'm wearing. And I look at the weather and I plan out my outfits for the entire week. That way I just have to grab and go. I grab my bag for the gym, I grab my clothes for the day. I'm done. Now it's Tennessee, so occasionally I'll check the weather to make sure that everything's as it was expected to be. But that at least gets me most of the way prepared. So I'm not having to think and I'm not having to run around at the last minute going, oh, I don't have any clean. Fill in the blank. I know what it is. Keep a running shopping list on your fridge. And this can include food shopping as well as anything else that you need. The beauty of having this on your fridge and we actually have ours on a dry erase board. So when I'm getting ready to go shopping, I can take a picture of it and I have everything with me. I'm not having to scramble around for a piece of paper. If I forget it, then I can have my daughter take a picture of it and, and send it to me. That can be really helpful because then you're not wondering, did we run out of. You know that if you ran out of it, you added it to the list. Store sheets in their own pillowcase. I used to waste so much time looking for the matching fitted sheet top sheet pillowcases because I can't stand to have mismatched linens that it got really frustrating. And I saw on the Internet one day this tip. Fold up your sheets and one of the pillowcases and put it inside the other pillowcase and store it all together. So you just have to pull out that package, if you will, and everything's there. Keep a basket or a hook at the front door for your keys, your purse, whatever. Hooks are really nice because you can hang your briefcase, you can hang your purse as well as your keys. I am not a. I like having things scheduled, but I am not one of those really detailed people that has 16 different cubbies. So one big basket. This is the stuff I need when I walk out the door in the morning. We have one big basket in the foyer that I put my, my purse, my keys, my briefcase in, and then I can walk out with it. I know exactly where it is at the end of the day, as well as first thing in the morning. And finally, and this is a big one, not only for time management, but for money management because it stops impulse buying, use online ordering and pickup. Most stores now, you know, even most grocery stores have it's set up so you can go online, you can do all of your shopping. You submit your list, they will pull it from the shelf, package it, and have it ready for you. You just have to drive to the store and they load it in your car so you don't have to waste time walking up and down the aisles and getting things and looking for things and picking things up that you don't need, just happen to look good. And you save all that time and you save the money again from not having those impulse buys. So there are a lot of different ways that you can save time. I can't tell you how much time. Online ordering saves me each week as well as that running shopping list. That way you're not going to the store three times in a week because you keep forgetting stuff. Go once, make a master shopping list. Go once. And that can save you a lot of time. I hope these tips have been helpful. I know not every tip is going to work for every person, but hopefully one or two of the things may sound like something that could help you along with your time management. In 2022, the executive producer for Counselor Toolbox is Hype Media Global Technical Producer Charles Snipes. This was presented by Dr. Donnelly Snipes and was recorded on December 30, 2021.