- Learn to say no
In real life, your colleagues, friends, and extended family love to talk about their issues. They can offer such distractions as irrelevant conversations, personal drama or obsession with detail. If you try to help everyone and take on too much, you will surely fail. Make a conscious decision to balance your time between relevant information and trivial nonsense. If you’re not rude and remain respectful, no one will be offended if you cut them off politely. It’s all about balancing and prioritizing your time. You have to remember no one else will accomplish your goals; only you can.
Learn to say no without using the “N” word. You have no choice if you expect to accomplish all of your goals. This is reality. Below are some tips on how to shut people down in the appropriate manner:
a. Make excuses (little white lies)
Blame it on work, spouse, kids, etc. anything to end the conversation and continue with your daily activities. For example, your boss unexpectedly announced a mandatory meeting that you need to prepare for ASAP.
b. Set an Internal time limit
Sometimes you have no choice but to listen to someone. In this situation it helps to set an internal five-minute time limit before introducing a white lie to end the discussion.
c. Speed along their conversation
Help them get to the punch line of any discussion. Cut detail-oriented people off politely. Constantly interrupt them in a nice way. Even if you’re not 100% sure on the point they’re trying to make, interrupt and guess (in a polite way). If you’re wrong, they will tell you. If you’re right—end of discussion.
2. Don’t worry about things you can’t control especially the past
Why waste precious cycles of time on the past, when there’s nothing you can do about the situation. Whether it’s the bad investment you made, costing you a lot of money, or an ex-boyfriend who dumped you, there’s nothing you can do about it. Worrying about these situations only wastes valuable time. The objective is to look forward and not waste time. It’s over, put things behind you and focus on the future. Life must go on—the sooner the better.
3. Don’t sit around wasting time
Every minute counts, especially when you’re trying to get ahead of the game and accomplish more in life. Fifty years ago, there wasn’t as much pressure to do so much in such little time. In most instances, there was a lack of urgency. Today, times have changed most likely due to the incredible pace of technology, corporate competition, or the economy. Whatever the reason, the era of doing more with less is here to stay. You no longer have the luxury of sitting around and doing nothing. The following are a few tips to help you make the most of your time when waiting:
a. Waiting at the doctor’s office or the mechanic’s shop: Always be prepared. Bring along your work—whatever that may be. If there isn’t a long wait—so be it, you haven’t wasted any time and are always prepared if they’re behind schedule. Even if you don’t own a laptop, grab a book you’ve been wanting to read. You can even start writing a book, do your schoolwork, or just bring along a pad of paper to take some notes of tasks you need to get done or think of more creative ways to complete your goals ahead of schedule.
b. When you’re stuck in a useless meeting: Look attentive but focus on your own agenda. Bring a notepad or one of your work assignments (perhaps something that you can print out). Make sure you sit in the back of the room or close to it. You can also bring your laptop to work on a project—ensure you look at the speaker occasionally, so it seems as though you’re taking notes from the meeting.
c. At the airport waiting for your flight or sitting on the plane: Sitting there just looking around is a complete waste of time. Bring writing or reading material.
d. Don’t sit in commute traffic (if avoidable). Get up early and avoid the traffic:
- Get to work early—if management allows it and you don’t have any family obligations in the morning.
- Go to a gym close to work—workout first (avoiding traffic), then go to work.
- Stop in a coffee house near your office and do some work on your laptop.
4. Extrapolate wasted time
It’s not how many hours you waste a day, it’s how many days, weeks, and months you’ve wasted over the course of the year. Your resources are scarce and your mind should be trained to abhor waste. One of the most effective ways to manage your time is to extrapolate wasted time throughout the year. On average people waste four hours a day which, if extrapolated over a year equates to two months of your life flushed down the toilet. Once you realize the waste it will shock you, maybe even scare you enough to stop the waste and value time.
5. Equate time to money
Your time is valuable. How much is it worth? Associate an hourly price tag for your time. It’s an eye-opening experience.
6. My brain is tired—but you don’t have the luxury of taking a nap
I work from home and occasionally when I’m tired my productivity stalls, especially when I’m sitting in front of the computer for hours at a time. Don’t try and push it. Get up and do some physical activity i.e., wash the dishes, organize the office, do laundry, etc. Once you get the blood flowing, then go back to the computer and be productive again.
7. Manage energy for peak performance
Some people are more productive in the evening; others are more productive in the morning. Whichever works best for you, perform brain-intense activities (i.e., writing a book or working on a major project for work) during your most productive hours and do less brain-intense activities (i.e., administrative functions, washing dishes, doing laundry, etc.) when you’re not at your peak. If you force brain-intense activities when you’re tired, the effort will take twice as long and the result will be sub-par.
In closing
Interestingly, time management is probably the most overly used phrase in the self-help industry. Whether it’s time management seminars, training sessions, advertisements for paraphernalia (i.e., expensive planners), numerous books, or thousands of articles and blogs, there’s plenty of content out there to teach you time management techniques. Unfortunately, there is very little guidance to help you better manage yourself (as noted above). My focus starts with you! Remember, the better you manage yourself, the more efficient you will become with your time. So, stay positive and focus on the tips above.
