You know what your day is like. A hundred things on your plate, and you feel like everything has to happen right away. The bright side is there’s a good chance you’ll get everything done. It’s just about taking a different approach. Motivational speaker and business guru, Dr. Stephen R. Covey, says, "Personal leadership is not a singular experience. It is, rather, the ongoing process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with those most important things." Here are a few ways to make the most of your time and energy and keep yourself focused on what truly matters to you. While some of these suggestions may seem like no-brainers, a little reminder never hurts:
A good place to begin when setting up your daily game plan is to evaluate what’s important and what’s not. At first, everything might seem to share the same urgent level of importance, but if you take a moment and write down all of the activities you’d like to do that day, you’ll begin to see which ones are top priority, and which can be played by ear. Begin with evaluating the time you’re going to invest in the activity versus the payoff. How much of a benefit or enjoyment will you be getting from it? Keep the high-payoff and enjoyable activities on the list, and then ask yourself if low-payoff activities need to be done at all. If they do need to be done, do they have to be done by you? And if they need to be done by you, can they be simplified?
One of the keys to productivity is being aware of how you spend your time. A day planner is a handy tool for figuring this out, because the day is already broken up into hour by hour segments. Make a list of all the things you have to get done that day, and then plug those activities into the time log. Use a pencil with an eraser, so you can shift things around if you need to. Think about how long each activity will take and if there’s travel time between them. This can be used for everything from a day of errands to daily activities around the house. Inevitably, the log will track your activities for the week and you can go back and look at how your time was best utilized and managed and then apply those lessons to the future.
If you’re a procrastinator, create artificial deadlines for activities to finish early. Know your work style. Do you do better for long stretches or short bursts? And how long are those periods exactly? Knowing this will help you figure out which tasks can be handled in a single go, or broken up over a series of work sessions. Understand your high- and low-energy periods and plan your schedule accordingly. Ask yourself, "Is this the best use of my time?" And if not, re-evaluate the importance of your current activity.
Plan on doing the most tiring parts of your workload when you have the most energy. These might include household chores, yard work, or errands around town. But also make sure you don’t overdo it. It’s important to keep the "big picture" of the day in mind, so you’ll have enough energy to do things later in the day. If you can take a nap in between, even better!
Once you’ve determined the goal you want to undertake, list out the tasks required and the people on your "team" (family, friends, colleagues, etc.) who will serve as the key players in helping you reach it. Don’t hesitate to ask for help. You can be indispensable resources to one another. And you can always pay back the favor.
It's healthy to set aside time to relax or play around during the day. It helps us recharge our batteries and clear our minds. Set aside time for breaks and recreation in advance. Try getting up early to have some time to yourself before the day gets rolling. Think of things you could do for yourself that would take the responsibility off your shoulders. For instance, have a supply of healthy frozen dinners on hand when you have no energy to cook after a long day.
Remember that getting things done is just as much about resting as it is about working. Professional athletes know this. How do you think they bring their A-game when they need it most? Tony Schwartz, president and founder of The Energy Project, tells us that we should schedule our work sessions in 90-minute intervals, with 20-minute breaks in between. It not only helps with remembering each of our tasks, but it reminds us that we have a break waiting for us at the end of each. Try it for a week, and you’ll be amazed at how much you get done.
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