The Principles of Time Management with Aimee Bateman | SocialTalent

I want to talk about maybe some behaviours, some principles, some things that you can really start thinking about. Firstly, say no more. Often we're so. It's so easy to just say yes to people because we can tend to be people pleasers or we want to impress people, or just that we just don't like disappointing people. And this isn't just in work, this is in your personal life too. Do you really need to take on that extra responsibility? So just maybe try, just for a few weeks, to get into this habit. Say no three times this week. Really think about something before you go back and if you don't want to say no straight away, just say, can I come back to you on that? Go away, think about it. Is it really a priority? Do you really need to be doing this? Is there somebody else that could do this? And then you go back with your yes or no. But think about saying no more. Often the next thing is think about why you're doing things as well. So look at your weekly activities. There might be things that you're doing that you're doing because you've just done them for years or for months. Do you really need to keep going to that class on a Tuesday evening? Do you really need to be doing this activity on a Thursday morning? And to help you with that, write down a list of things that you're giving up in order to do that. If you had an extra couple of hours, what could you be doing? Could you be taking a different course? Could you be spending more time reflecting on your week, learning something new, Spending time with a mentor, somebody that you admire in work? This is a really good activity to think about, I suppose, the stuff you're missing out on. And then look at your priorities. And then I want you to identify your bad habits and be real with yourself. Are you spending too much time in the morning on Facebook? Do you spend a little bit too long looking at Instagram pictures? I don't know. You know, you. I know that I definitely do, and that's why I mentioned those examples. They're things that I've had to have a little word with myself about. So much so that I've deleted Facebook from my phone and have done for the last six months now. It's been a massive impact. So when you've got a little bit of, I suppose, stuff to do that you don't want to do and you've just got that hint of, oh, I could probably just procrastinate a little bit, where do you go? And then have a little word with yourself. Don't do other people's work. This is a big one. Don't go around offering to help everybody. I suppose this goes back to the saying, no, but maybe something's become part of your day to day and it's just become a habit and it really doesn't need to be. Don't be a perfectionist. This is a big one for me. When we were launching the first website, I think I spent far too long on it. I could have just launched it sooner and spent those weeks doing something else. Sometimes it's okay to just let it go and if you're struggling, ask other people's opinions. I'm not asking you to put out shoddy work, but just don't spend too much time on things that really don't need your attention. And then I want to just mention this because this brings me back to my first ever job in sales. Beware of substitute tasks. Now, these are the tasks that you think in your head and you convince yourself in your head that they're really important and they need doing. It's. Yeah, it could be, oh, I'm just going to clean the kitchen. Or in work, for example, we were all in a very high level sales capacity and when anybody had to clean the whiteboards, or we, I suppose we put everybody's names and reset the target. Everybody wanted to do that job because it would be an hour away from their desks. So those substitute tasks, and they're going to be different for everyone, you know what they are. Don't get busy doing substitute tasks. Crack on with what really, really needs to be done.