How to Manage Your Time
A few years ago, I was working full time, running my own company and writing/publishing a book. The number one question I got at the time was "Stef, how do you find the time to do all of it?"
My response? Simply put, I never FOUND the time. I MADE the time.
As a leader and mentor to women, I hear too often "There's just not enough time!" while time can be elusive, and even the best time managers feel it, I thought I would share the system that has helped me tremendously.
⌛ Priorities: Look at your life holistically and understand what you are willing to prioritize in this season. Perhaps you are in the season of career growth at all costs, work will be your #1 priority, followed by things like your health, your relationships, etc. On the other hand, perhaps you are in the season of wanting to find your life partner, this will mean you might have to turn down that work happy hour to go on that date you keep putting off! Note: Either is fine as your top priority, but being clear on your priority in this season of life is absolutely critical to MAKING time. My list of priorities is never more than 3-5 at a time.
⌛ Goals: Have specific, measurable and time-bound goals (KPIs, MBOs, etc.) which help you ruthlessly prioritize what tasks/initiatives you MAKE time for in any given day/week/month/quarter/year. Make a list of what must be complete and by when -- RULE: you should only have tasks that you can clearly tie back to one of your goals, you should only have goals that you can clearly tie back to one of your priorities, if you look at your tasks, your calendar or receive a request to work on something that does not tie directly back to your goals or priorities, you really need to think hard about whether or not you say yes to it. A lifetime of saying yes to things that are not a priority to you and don't move you forward towards your goals will only lead to regret. Time is a currency, you can only spend it once.
⌛ Get Sh*t Done: Once you have your list of tasks, give each task a relative size (small, medium, large). Put this running list of tasks in one place (I call this your 'backlog') and groom your backlog every single week. During backlog grooming, you will look at your calendar and look at which tasks must be done. Given the size of the task that needs accomplished and the space available in your calendar, find the time to do the task and put a time block on the calendar. When that time comes, do the task. For "big" tasks (i.e. writing a manuscript), you will need to break up the work into many calendar blocks. The key is to respect these calendar blocks, have a specific plan for how you will use the time, and actually complete the work you promised yourself during the allotted amount of time.
🥊 Stop making excuses: "You can have results or you can have excuses, not both." -Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Hope these ideas inspire you to get some shit done today that you have been putting off.
