Tackling Time Management

The ability to manage our time effectively is something we all are continuously striving for, and despite our efforts, oftentimes the 24 hours of the day finds a way to escape us. If good time management leads to improved efficiency and productivity, less stress, and more success in life, then WHY is it that improving time management remains such a persistent, UNENDING goal?

Many individuals turn to “time management tools” that, no matter how effectively designed, are unlikely to work given their presumptions of a person’s fundamental skill set. The fact of the matter is that we need to become better time managers of our own EFFORTS to actually enhance our time management; to prioritize our development. When we turn AWAY from the alluring "quick fix" solutions and, instead, go towards ASSESSING and BUILDING our underlying skills, we can begin to make NOTICEABLE progress.

Time management can be defined as the decision-making process that structures, protects and adjusts a person’s time to changing environmental conditions. The three distinct skills that separate time management success from failure include awareness, organization and adaptation. AWARENESS includes thinking REALISTICALLY about your time and truly understanding that it is a limited resource. ORGANIZATION represents the design and arrangement of your goals, plans, schedules and tasks to productively use the time that you have. ADAPTATION involves the monitoring of your use of time on certain activities and adjusting to any interruptions, obstacles or changing priorities.

All three of these skills matter EQUALLY when it comes to overall time management and performance. If you solely focus on scheduling and planning, for example, you are completely ignoring two-thirds of the competence required and, as a result, will be left disappointed or frustrated. Awareness and adaptation have been found to not only be rarer skills, but more difficult to develop naturally. There is also evidence that individuals, when self-evaluating their time management proficiency, have a tendency to over-estimate their competency and that their actual, objectively-analyzed skills do not overlap, therefore, demonstrating the LACK of self-awareness that exists and how this can impede their transformation and leadership development over time.

The only way to GENUINELY become better at time management is to figure out WHERE to focus and take a deep dive into your CURRENT skill levels. Start by building ACCURATE self-awareness of your time management skills. You can do this by seeking feedback from others or establishing a benchmark of behaviors to gauge your improvements against. You can also create awareness around your current approach to time management by noticing the words you use to describe time. Do you often use phrases like “there’s NEVER enough time,” “I NEED more hours in the day,” and “time ALWAYS slips away from me,” or do you use it as an excuse for procrastination? Reframe your language around time as a concept and, instead, consider time as an energetic entity that RESPONDS to your treatment of it. You must recognize that preferences matter, but not necessarily how you THINK they do. Self-awareness of your own preferences or personality associated with time management, such as multitasking or being proactive, can expand your understanding on where your struggles may be as you make changes to existing habits. Keep in mind, however, that it is ultimately your skill set, not your personality style, that is the most flexible and advantageous quality in the long run. Lastly, it is critical for you to identify and prioritize the SKILL you need to improve upon, focusing on the most urgent one and then moving to the next. It is best to be HONEST with yourself and distinguish between your high-priority skills and tasks so that you can MAKE SPACE for them, rather than focusing on low-priority skills or tasks that will leave you feeling like a victim to time, even when completed. When you AUTHENTICALLY make a choice and prioritize in this way, you are EMPOWERING yourself and MANIFESTING your success at the same time.

Time management is an INDIVIDUAL process of experimentation and it changes from moment to moment. Evaluate what does or does not work for you, and remember that a strategy ONLY works for as long as you put ENERGY into it. Set and ORGANIZE your goals in a way that enables you to HONOR your commitments and eliminate unnecessary activities. Then, work to fit your goals into your life and choose your NON-NEGOTIABLES; the things that you are not willing to compromise on. Address any distractions, work on reconditioning your attention span, and stay DEDICATED to the skill or task at hand. Reflect on your goals often, and ask yourself if anything is in your way or preventing you from achieving them.

Certain time management tools CAN help in the short-term, but simply implementing them is NOT the end goal. With that being said, some useful tactics, to be used with caution and adjusted based on YOU, could include:

1. Finding your PEAK performance time (break your day up into 3-4 time slots and rank them from most to least productive, with the most productive one being your “peak" time)

2. Treat your time like it is MONEY (create a time budget that details how you distribute your time, noting your fixed and discretionary time frames — the “must-dos” vs. the “want-to-dos”)

3. Try TIMING-UP (record and acknowledge how much time you’ve SPENT on tasks with deadlines, rather than focusing on the time you have left to get it finished)

4. Evaluate how REALISTICALLY you assess time (after completing a task, compare the time actually spent on the task with the time you thought or had expected it to take)

5. Take a FUTURE time perspective (think about how the task you are working on right now will benefit you or save you time in the future)

6. Avoid SUNK COST fallacy (when you think you are spending too long on a task, take a step back and re-evaluate its level of importance, how valuable the outcome really is, and who will be affected if it gets done or not)

EFFECTIVENESS is not the same as efficiency. Effectiveness is all about doing things well, while efficiency focuses on doing things quickly, and even though BOTH are critical, pursuing efficiency for its own sake is counter-productive.

All in all, the KEY to your success lies in your ability to BUILD upon your developmental skill set, ELIMINATE influencers that DRAIN your energy or lower your productivity, and incorporate POSITIVE influencers into your time management process with CONSISTENCY.

Xx, Leah Kutsch P.S. Keeping IIN Touch