As summer has now descended, this season affects us all in many ways where ‘time’ is concerned. Some businesses may find trade is a little slack, others find it turns exceedingly busy along with the added pressure of people being on holiday to complicate matters further.
Other areas include consideration of how you’ll effectively handle the workload you already have before going on holiday yourself. Then there’s that bugging question of maybe taking just a little with you!
However we look at time, we cannot change the fact there are always 60 minutes to an hour and 24 hours in a day. Time has value! Consider this:
- 1 Year to a student who just failed their exams
- 1 Month to a mother who gave birth to a premature baby
- 1 Week to a weekly magazine editor
- 1 Hour to lovers waiting to meet
- 1 Second to someone who just avoided a car accident
- 1 Millisecond to an Olympic athlete
Managing what we have to achieve in the time we have and to maximise the return on that time will forever be a changing. The key is realising the signs, priorities and the importance, so here are a few tips to help you.
Often we do all those little jobs with the intention of approaching those larger projects later. Funny how that larger project either constantly gets put off or, worse still, suddenly looms over us demanding our immediate attention. I was guilty of that until I realised it’s best to deal with the larger job and fit the other items around it.
When next online, look up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38U_rLLW-qM to see how important it is to plan around the significant things in our life/work first, then the necessary areas, then minor/leisure and finally the usual stuff that takes up time.
When we prioritise on the bigger things, allowing the diminishing importance items to fill in around, we find we use time more efficiently.
One of the biggest time thieves is ‘Procrastination’. To help you understand what affects you, look at these following questions…
- Overwhelming – What appears insurmountable at this moment in time? How could you break it into manageable parts?
- Unclear flow – Look to set ‘Clear’ tasks with defined outcomes. What questions do you need to ask to make yours clearer?
- Unclear Goals – Obtain clear objectives! What outcome are you looking for?
- Overcommit – Some will take on more workload when they have enough already. Be honest with yourself and search deep, when found, what would be the outcome of turning work away?
- Fear of Failure –What are your areas that you may not feel confident about? What is the driving fear behind simply getting on with it?
- Fear of Change – What areas of work/life could you start to make small constant changes to allow you to become more open to larger changes?
These are some areas Coaching to Success help their clients with. Often it is easier to have someone ask these questions rather than working through them on our own. We can avoid those questions we don’t wish to answer but are okay to open up (almost like giving yourself permission) if someone else asks.
Should you be looking to find ways to improve your own time management, or, in reality, managing tasks within a given time frame!, contact Neil on 07761 187238 or email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk who, with tools and techniques, can assure you a little out to work on this, you’ll be amazed at what you will be able to achieve.
