Do you feel like life is racing by and you’re running in circles but not getting to what’s important? Does it seem as if the harder you work and the more you do, the less time you have for what really matters in life? Take a minute, take a deep breath and make a resolution that will allow all the others to come true: to take control of your time.
The key to conquering your time challenge is to approach time management from the inside out. This means identifying what’s important to you and giving those activities a “home”-- a specific place in your schedule, as part of a “Time Map” that reflects your goals. With a few simple techniques, you can create days of delight, order and accomplishment. You’ll spend your time celebrating your unique style and feel satisfied at the end of each day. And you’ll have the most productive, joyful and exciting new year of your life.
Step One: Analyze-- Your Big Picture Goals
Your big picture goals-- your desires and dreams-- are the heart of time management from the inside out. Begin with a list of the major categories of your life. You can select from these options and put them in order of importance: Work, Family, Self, Romance, Friendship, Finances, Knowledge, Home, Spirituality.
Look at these major life categories and ask yourself: What would make me happy in these key areas? Write down one or two big-picture goals in each category. Don’t be shy-- go for the glory. Remember, the people who set their sights high are the ones who make it to the top. Next, write down two or three specific activities that will help you achieve these goals.
Step Two: Strategize-- Time Mapping to Create Your Ideal Balance
Do you feel that one area of your life dominates all your time, while others are lost in the shuffle? Achieving balance means dividing your time into the right proportions for you, to support your big-picture goals. A Time Map is a powerful tool that will help you achieve and maintain balance in your schedule and your life. It also empowers you stay on track when unexpected demands threaten to steal your time.
The Time Map is basically a visual diagram of your daily and weekly schedule, a template that reflects your priorities. Let’s look at a Time Map that guides Teresa, a single woman who runs her own P.R. consulting business and is a dedicated runner.
To create your own personalized Time Map, block out Activity Zones for each major life category and the activities that support your goals in each area. Keep your Time Map handy, and when you’re planning your daily to-dos, see how these tasks fit into your Activity Zones. If there’s no room or if one area is dominating too much time, decide what you can delete, delegate or streamline. Here is an article detailing an effective Time Map: Taking Control of Your Days with a Time Map.
STEP THREE: ATTACK-- MAKING YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WORK IN THE REAL WORLD
Once you take your Time Map out into the real world, you’ll find the flow disrupted by interruptions and tasks that you haven’t scheduled. To keep from being overwhelmed by a torrent of to-dos, use the SPACE formula for organizing your daily tasks:
· Sort potential tasks by category
· Purge whatever tasks you can
· Assign a home to tasks you’ve decided to do
· Containerize tasks to keep them within the time allotted
· Equalize-- refine, maintain and adapt your schedule
Keep in mind that time-management from the inside out is a fluid process and treat your Time Map as a constantly evolving tool. Every two months, give your Time Map a complete tune-up so that it reflects your current priorities and interests.
Every evening, give your to-do list a daily analysis. Put a check by the tasks you finished and an “O” by the ones you didn’t. Then be ruthless as you decide which unfinished tasks you can dump or delegate.
At first, implementing these time-management techniques may seem like another time-consuming chore. But soon you’ll notice that your time is under control and you’ll pick up momentum. You’ll find that you have time to be who you are and go after your dreams. And you’ll truly have time on your side.
