With 2021 coming to an end faster than any of us could have possibly imagined, I’ve been recapping this last year in my mind. Particularly in the area of time. How did I use my time? How much valuable time did I waste that could have been spent with my family, friends, my Father, or working on goals. Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of the work I put into 2021. I made progress on my goals and grew in my faith. Even launched this very blog. That’s a win-win-win for me. But there’s always room for improvement. Here are 5 Tips to Improve Your Time Management and Achieve More in 2022.
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5 Tips to Improve Your Time Management and Achieve More in 2022
- Use a Planner
- Schedule Time for Tasks
- Set Realistic Goals for Each Day
- Reduce Distractions
- Pay Attention to YOU
By now, I’m sure you’ve realized that I’m a HUGE fan of Terri Savelle. During the 2021 Live Your Dreams event, she introduced a speaker named Hannah Keeley. I excitedly took notes and began that day to implement what she taught. Here are the 5 top tips that completely reshaped how I manage my time to be a present wife, mom, and entrepreneur.
Use a Physical Planner
As a stay-at-home/work-from-home mom, any typical day is bound to get a little crazy. I juggle homeschooling, clients, laundry, and more over the course of 24 hours. Now, I don’t do it alone. I have an amazing support system in my husband and mother in law, but there are still many many many things I am responsible for during the day. This year I finally ditched the idea that my brain could hold all the things all the time because it can’t. One second everything we need from the grocery store is front and center and the next, as my little one brings me something gross he’s found or eaten, it’s gone. This is where a physical planner comes in and not only saves the day but my sanity as well.
It’s hard and overwhelmingly stressful to try to keep all the todos in your mind. I prefer to physically write it down in some way. I’m not opposed to planning apps, in fact, my current system involves my Google Apps – Calendar, Keep, etc., a “control center” for managing my family life, and a physical planner where everything comes together in one place. I love the physical planner because writing it down not only helps with memory, but it provides endless opportunities for maximizing my time management practices. From scheduling time for tasks, delegating tasks, moving tasks to different days, etc. My favorite physical planners by far are the FranklinCovey planners and Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner. They both have enough space for each day for notes and for planning personal and business todos in one place without it being overwhelming.
Schedule Time for Tasks
“Master your minutes, master your life” – Unknown (at least to me)
Where is the lie? When I began to time-block my calendar, my productivity increased and my stress decreased. Why? Because I was no longer stuck with a to-do list that looked impossible. I now had a set schedule for actually completing those tasks. I was able to completely focus on homeschooling at certain times without mentally running through my entire day over and over. The best time to clear out emails, when to stop for lunch, when to tackle the todos, and when to shut it all down were all accounted for. Now, this does take some practice and tweaking and there is no one size fits all way to time-block. There just isn’t. I’ll explain later on in this post.
Set Realistic Goals For Each Day
The biggest reality check for me came through a conversation with my husband. We were discussing our lives from business goals to personal dreams and I could sense that all of this was starting to weigh on him. After listening to him for a while I finally said, “We can do it all, but not all at once.” I love how there are times when God uses you to not only speak into someone else’s life but speak to yourself. I needed to hear that just as much as he did. I had been using my planner, time-blocking, doing all the right things, but I was trying to do it all at once. So while the time management tips and tricks did wonders for me, I was starting to pull myself down with unrealistic goals for each day. I realized then and there that I could do it all – as in being a mompreneur, a wife, homeschooling my little ones, but not all at once. To help me get a grip on reality, I began to take note of how long it really took me to complete a task. From folding a load of laundry to meeting prep for clients, I needed to be realistic to plan a day that was productive but not overwhelming.
Reduce Distractions
Distractions are around every single corner in my house. From a little one needing help with schoolwork to another one deciding to go potty where one should not potty…I have to be very intentional about reducing my distractions during my work time. I like to physically separate myself from the littles to get work done. Somedays this looks like them playing in the playroom while I work at the kitchen table and others it’s me locking myself in my office while they are with daddy or grandma. Either way, if I don’t make the effort to reduce my distractions no amount of time management magic will work. There are also some distractions that we bring on ourselves. Like our phones. With all of the videos and messages, never-ending scrolling robs us of precious time. I recently started to use the Focus Feature on my iPhone and it’s helped. I can select who can still reach me, like the hubby, clients, parents, etc., but completely block out any YouTube notifications, Instagram comments, all of it. This way I stay focused when I’m supposed to be.
Pay Attention to YOU
When I mentioned that there is no one size fits all time-blocking template or time management technique, I was referring to the fact that we all have different energy cycles. Some of us are more productive in the mornings and others in the evenings. I even have friends who are complete night owls and I’ll never understand, but it works for them. So, try different tasks at different times and see what works for you.
Beautiful, we can put all this and more into practice and still fail miserably if we aren’t paying attention to ourselves. Is God leading you in a different direction at a certain moment? Flow with the Spirit, not your schedule. Or are you more stressed trying to follow all the best tips and tricks that seem to work for everyone but you? Perhaps they’re not all for you. Take what works for you and leave the rest. Don’t overthink or drag it out, it really is that simple.
What’s the best tip you’ve come across for increasing your productivity? Comment below and let me know!
XOXO JD
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