Have you ever had one of those days where you had goals to achieve, a to do list as long as your arm and tasks which needed completing last week. Well I certainly have and as a result managed to do absolutely nothing! Commonly known as dithering, faffing or pottering about.
Time is like money. Without being managed properly, how do you know where it’s going? Benjamin Franklin-
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of how to maximise your time, please see some facts and quotes below, which should be quite an eye opener.
The average Brit spends a staggering 441 DAYS of their adult lifetime, doing household chores.
The average UK driver spends almost 4 years of their life driving, which is the equivalent of 592,920 miles.
The average Brit watches 19 hours and 17 minutes of TV in a week.
The average person spends about 26 years sleeping in their life which equates to 9,490 days or 227,760 hours.
As you can see the numbers above are quite an eye opener. So how can we re-evaluate and manage our time better? Well I would like to share with you some of my personal tips, which I believe can make a positive impact on your time management and productivity.
My 5 tips on how to become an expert in Time Management
1. Review and Track - The first step to effective time management is to track your daily activities, what you typically do and is your time being leveraged. I suggest putting pen to paper and building an accurate picture of what your average day looks like, where and what your spending your time on (also including the time-frames) For example; to use my average morning: 5.30am wake up - 6.00am in the gym (weights for 1 hour whilst listening to a podcast/audio-book) 7.00am cardio and social media tasks - 8.00am Home and breakfast being with the family - 8.30am School run - 9.00am onto meetings, podcast whilst commuting, so forth so forth. Once you have a clear picture of your average day across a 5 day week, its time to attack your dead-time.
2. Dead-Time - What is dead-time? see some examples: Watching TV, walking about the house not knowing what to do, multitasking but yet not completed one job, commuting on the train and looking out the window until you arrive at your destination. These are all typical examples of dead-time which could have been replaced with productivity. When you are in the review and track stage, see what total dead-time you come up with and imagine replacing this with self development opportunities or building on your business. Begin small when eliminating your dead-time and replace it with goals to achieve (e.g whilst commuting each day, I will now listen to an audio-book or podcast for the duration of my travel)
3. A diary to suit - By this text you will see an internal image of a diary and its layout. This is an Action Day diary and one which I use and have purchased each year, for the last 5 years. In order to begin managing your time efficiently you will need a diary that matches those needs. I personally believe this is one of the best diaries available, as it offers so much more than what you can see in the image attached. (No this is not a advertisement, just my opinion)
I personally plan all my days the night before, spending 15 minutes each evening planning out my task list and jobs to do for the following day. That way when I wake up in the morning, I simply open the diary and follow my task list by the times I have set for myself.
To see the Action Day diary and learn more go to Amazon or directly on their website, link attached https://www.actionday.com/
4. Avoid Multitasking and Prioritise - Try beginning each working day with a list of tasks in order of priority (I use a acronym method: PT = Priority Task, ST = Secondary Task and OGT = On Going Task.) In my diary I will label each task and to do list with these so I can easily focus on my priorities task first. Typically the first PT is normally the one that makes you money and brings an income in) Try using this method and see how is helps.
Multitasking is a personal no no! For example, you have 10 tasks for one day, how many of these do you actually need to accomplish by EOD (end of play) and what are the priorities? Remember the saying F.O.C.U.S - Finish one course until successful, well this could not be more true! You will get satisfaction from completing 1 or 2 priorities tasks, instead of trying to do 5 and not completing any.
5. Allowance, Time On Task - Setting time constraints for completing tasks will help you be more focused and efficient. For example: reading and responding to e-mails, social media and phone calls can take up hours of your day; therefore limit and build in set times you spend on these tasks. Ensure you fully focused enough in order to complete them. (A tip of mine whilst writing blogs, is: I turn my phone facing down so I cannot see the screen light up and be lured into replying or answering! I also close off any unwanted tabs on my laptop that may cause me to lose concentration. By making these small adjustments your less likely to get distracted and more likely to focus and complete your tasks.
Time is something we do not get back therefore value every moment, do not waste it dithering about! If you ever take the time to speak with the older generation and ask if they could have one thing back, what would it be?! I Guarantee (big statement there!) every answer would be time, to be young again, to be in their 20's or to have learnt a new skill etc...
I hope you have enjoyed this blog and have taken some value from it.
Aaron Knightley
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