6 Ways to Win Your Day with Time Management

 

 

Do you ever start out the day with excellent intentions, but then find that it’s already the afternoon and time has simply gotten away from you?

Here are 6 ways that you can still “win your day.”

Win Your Day!

 
Time Management is largely about expectations. You can’t expect to beat a game that has no end, and therefore checking every single thing off of your to-do list in one day is not the objective. It’s all a matter of putting work and life in perspective, and picking your day’s top priorities among all the you have to do. It sounds simple enough, but most people don’t prioritize their day, and therefore, don’t win their day.

“…knowing that you can’t possibly get everything
there is to be done, done in one day, is kind of freeing”

You’re Not Just Managing Your Time,
Your Managing Your Energy and Your Workflow

In Inc. magazine, Jim Collins shares insightful advice on how to get more done. I’ve included some of Collins’ tips here, along with my personal observations:

Accept the Idea that Work Is Infinite and Time Is Finite.

Now, think about that for a moment. The work, let’s face it, never ends. It will always be there. That’s a downer, sure, but knowing that you can’t possibly get everything there is to do done in one day… is kind of freeing.

Manage your Time and not Your Work

Since work is never-ending but life is short, it behooves us to look at our day in blocks of time (instead of as getting all the work done). Allocate your blocks of time toward specific tasks or projects (try using a timer; I use mine throughout the day), and then move on to something else.

 

Create a Laser-Like Focus on Doing First-Things-First

How to prioritize your to-do list? Up to you, of course, because your day is not exactly like anyone else’s, but… here are three hints. It’s often best to choose one among these three:

• ▸ which task on your list is the most potentially revenue-producing?

 

• ▸ which task on your list have you been postponing the longest?

 

• ▸ which task do you least feel like doing?

Have a Ferocious Understanding of What You’re Not Going to Do

These days, I try not to dwell on the negative, but I still find it helpful to know where my productivity weak-spots are, and the activities I should avoid until the end of the day.

Sift through the Blizzard of Info that Hits you Nonstop

My personal productivity increased the day I decided to take current-events news feeds off of my start page. News-surfing, if it lasts more than five minutes, can be a productivity killer.

Do You Have the Discipline to Not Have your Email On?

A lot of people have just given up on this one, and check their smartphones every ten minutes. 

I encourage to you to choose one task or daily good habit (something you’ve found it hard to maintain regularly) that you must do before you allow yourself to check your email for the first time that day. Turn it into a game: you can’t check your email, until you finish that one daily task. Period.

I also find it helpful to go online and opt-out of all email newsletters and lists that I don’t read. I solve the problem at the source, by decreasing the amount of email that makes it to my inbox. I do this every other month; it takes about 15 minutes.

This is yet another reason that I work so diligently to make certain our own free Longevity e-Newsletter is relevant, entertaining, and packed with value — because I know how busy people are these days and I respect their time. If I’m not convinced an e-Newsletter can help improve someone’s life, then I don’t send it.
 
Meanwhile, which of these concepts do you believe you would find the most challenging to implement? Leave your comments below!