Real Talk : Time Management

Earlier in the month I said that you do not have to be a morning person to be successful, you just have to be good at Time Management. I stand by that statement and today we are going to jump into a brief (ish) rundown of Time Management. If you think, “Mia, the year is almost over, why are we just now talking about this?”. Well, a)it’s never a bad time to start something new, and b)if you are wanting to feel more organized or productive in the new year, this is the perfect time/place to start.

Time Management is not some crazy, complicated, scary concept. It is just simply knowing how best to use your time. Knowing when you work the best and how to use that knowledge to your advantage. You don’t have to go any further than that. In fact, I’ll bet that you already do some sort of time management already and don’t even realize it.

Do you know that you write best in the morning, therefore spending your morning responding to emails, writing posts, or writing in your journal? Do you know that your brain functions better in the afternoon/late evening, therefore spending your morning doing the more aimless tasks (cleaning, laundry, etc) and then concentrating on work related items in the morning? That’s basic Time Management. Not so complicated, huh?

Time Management can also be taken a step further by setting limits on things that you need to accomplish for the day. This isn’t as complicated as it sounds and it is actually what I do for my weekdays to ensure that I can accomplish everything that I want to throughout the day without feeling overwhelmed, overworked, or like I’m spinning my wheels and going no where.  I usually set a limit, for example respond to emails/write posts for an hour and a half mid morning. This allows me to have a set time limit, gives my brain a chance to focus on what I am doing, and I find that I get quite a bit done in this time period.

I’ll give a brief run down of what I do in a separate post (stay tuned!) but first I want to touch on the easiest, simplest form of this and how you can apply it to whatever you are doing, from being a stay at home mom to the workplace.

There are two key ingredients to Time Management, the first is what we’ve already talked about. Knowing when your brain functions the best. Morning or Afternoon, it doesn’t matter. If you know when you feel at your best, then you can work around everything else.

If you are someone who just works better in the afternoon, that is fine! You’ll simply want to adjust your task list to be a little afternoon heavier, focusing the items that will take the most of your attention to the afternoon, rather than the morning. If you are someone who is bright eyed and bushy tailed first thing in the morning, then you’ll want to put any tasks that will take a good amount of your focus to the morning.

The second key ingredient to Time Management is going to be your priorities. Knowing what is at the top of your list on each day is key to success. I’ve talked about Priorities HERE. Within those priorities, you’ll want to have a general idea of what is going to take the longest, what will be the hardest, and what will require the most of your attention and focus. You’ll want to look at your first ingredient, when you work best, and lay out your priorities for that time.

If you work a 9-5 job, in an office, you may not be able to re arrange things completely (for example if you are a Night Owl, that probably will not work with your job), but you can still apply the same principles to allow yourself the most success in getting everything done.

If you are a Stay at Home Parent, you can still apply the principles of Time Management to your every day tasks and chores. Spending your “most productive” hours starting any tasks that need handled and playing/being with your children.

For example, let’s say you have a to do list of 5 items, 3 of them involve your immediate attention (aka due today or tomorrow) and 2 will take a good amount of focus and time. Those 3 assignments are your priorities and the 2 that will take the most focus and time are the ones that you will want to do when you are at the height of your brain function.

Not so complicated huh? Time Management at it’s simplest is just laying out what you need to do, figuring out when you work best, and then implementing both of those items together.

acuppacosyLeave a comment

Real Talk : Priorities and Prioritizing

Whether you are a Stay At Home Mom, a Student, a Business Owner, or the Head of a Corporation, we all have a running to do list. A list of things that we have to accomplish or we will not reach our goals. Sometimes that list grows longer and longer and it starts to feel never ending. Some days we feel like we don’t cross anything off, or like there is no way to get it all done. Some days we experience that self doubt of “Can I really do/handle it all?”.

As I said on Monday, there is no such thing as “doing it all”. It is simply not realistic. You can come close, but there is always a sacrifice somewhere. If we can’t “do it all” we have to know what we want to do. What is most important in our day to day. So how do we do that?

The first step is figuring out what is important to you and in what order do those items fall into. For me, being a Wife and then a Mom are my top two most important things. I will choose those two over anything else. Example, if my children are sick and they need my full attention, everything gets shelved for that day. Same with my Husband. The rest of the list falls into line with my business/blog, my job, then myself. I put myself towards the bottom of the list only because I know that if I start to feel burnt out or need a little breather I will take that. Once you have this narrowed down, it is easier to look at your day to day to do list and see what you will need to prioritize for the day.

The second step of prioritizing is saying No. Prioritizing gives you is an easier way to say “NO”. Sometimes we simply cannot do something, but we feel like we have to say yes. There is such a pressure put on us, especially women and especially mothers, that we have to say yes to everything, do everything, and look good doing it (although that’s certainly a topic for another post). I will repeat myself, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. Wouldn’t you rather spend your time doing things and being with people that are important to you, rather than giving an attempt at balancing a whole bunch of other things that you don’t really truly care about? Say no. If it is going to throw your priority list out of whack, or it doesn’t fit in with your list, and you don’t absolutely have to do it (i.e. a job or task for work), say no.

What are your priorities and how do you prioritize to make sure you feel like you are handling everything you want to handle?

acuppacosy1 Comment