As someone who has worked from home for the past 10 years, time management is something that I have always struggled with. Once I became a mother, it didn’t get any easier, it got much harder. If you struggle to manage your time wisely I would love to share a simple system with you that has greatly impacted the way I spend my time. I can’t “make time” so I have to change the way I “use time”, and this is how I do it.
I call this the “Write it down, make it happen, check it off” system.
This is huge for me because it’s all about focus. If I write down what I need to get done on my desk calendar where I can see it daily, it helps me to stay focused. When I have everything that needs to be done running through my head, I feel like I can’t get anything done, and quickly feel overwhelmed. So, I simply mark everything I need to do on my calendar, and check it daily. Once I complete a task, I cross it off the list. This makes me feel focused and gives me a sense of completion, even if the task was menial. In return the completion of a task gives me a sense of empowerment to complete my entire to do list.
So here’s how it works in 5 easy steps:
- WRITE IT DOWN:
If you have an appointment, blog post, cleaning task, whatever it is that needs to be done, write it down. I use two calendars One is sitting on my desk, and the other is on my iPad. I do this so that I have my list everywhere I go. When I’m at the doctors office I can add my next appointment to my iPad right then, and then at the end of the night I can transfer that to my desk calendar. Regardless of what you need to do, make sure you write it out, so you see it and can make sure it gets accomplished.
- JUST GET IT DONE:
Now that you have written down what you need to do, you have it sitting right in front of you, so do it. It doesn’t matter what order you complete the tasks in (unless of course they are time sensitive so just do the task you feel like doing in the moment.
- CROSS IT OFF:
Now that you have written your post, cleaned the bathroom floor, or taken the baby for shots (not that kind of shot), cross it off of your list! It is finished! Yay! You completed something. Feel accomplished feel proud of yourself, feel motivated, and get back to work!
- REPEAT YOUR SUCCESS:
So you crossed something off your list…feels good right? Now cleanse, rinse, and repeat. It works on your hair, it will also work in this area of your life. It’s all about baby steps. When you are feeling unmotivated to do anything, you start by doing something. Otherwise you will end up on the couch all day, feeling worse than you did when the day began. As the best movie ever made says “It’s a problem with motivation, Bob”. So get motivated by starting small and repeating those small things over and over again until you’ve completed the big thing (which is a productive day).
- ASSESS YOUR DAY:
Now that your day is done there may be things that you didn’t get accomplished, so it’s time to move those tasks to the following day. It’s also a great time to look over your week and decided whether or not you are setting yourself up for success or failure. You are only one person, and can only do so much in a day. Now that you are getting a better idea of how much you can get done, you can look at the days to come, and figure out if it’s time to move some things around. The last thing you want to do is set yourself up to get overwhelmed. It’s not helpful and only wastes time.
This system has saved me so much wasted time and energy. I’m the type of person that could spend an entire day worrying about all I have to do, and get nothing at all done. If you are like me, this system should eliminate that problem!
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~This post was sponsored by ServiceMaster. All opinions are my own.
If you’d like a tool for managing your time and projects, you can use this web-application inspired by David Allen’s GTD:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, and a calendar.
Syncs with Evernote and Google Calendar, and also comes with mobile version, and Android and iPhone apps.
I struggle so much with managing my time. My problem is that I try to find the “perfect” way of keeping track of things, and then when I get overwhelmed and it isn’t working, I just forget it and hope I will remember everything!
I know that writing things down and seeing them in front of you is a great way to get things done – I just need to remember to write them down:-)
Great post – thanks!
Great tips… and ever so needed, because I’m horrible at time management.