I know, it doesn't sound very exciting. Much easier to insist that you're going to be "more passionate in life," lose 50 pounds, or "be a better person." But these are empty goals that aren't backed by a clear plan. Because of that, they're doomed to fail. So I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret: I get everything done every day, without fail. I have a huge list of clients who place all sorts of demands on me, and I have never missed a deadline. I've never forgotten about something I had to do. I am never surprised when I have an easy or stressful week. I'm not bragging. I'm telling you that if you plan your time, you can be like me.
The magic key is my paper planner. Paper planners are better because they keep you away from technology, which is a huge source of many people's stress. They're also highly customizable, easy to update, and will never lose all your data or save information in the wrong spot. With a paper planner, you can keep everything in one place. Time management is no longer an elusive skill, but something you practice every day. As with most things, though, there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. Buying a cool day planner isn't enough. You have to use your planner every single day, and you have to find a planner you love. Here's what you need to do it yourself (complete with a list of the products I use):
A Planning Notebook
Your planner needs to be a physical book, not an electronic device. It also needs to be something that makes it easy to add and remove paper; otherwise you'll be stuck with lots of useless information and disorganization. So a binder is generally best. Pick a color and style you like, that makes you actually want to plan, and ensure it's big enough to hold everything. Ring size is very important. If the rings are too small, you won't be able to fit everything. This is fundamentally obvious, but so is everything else when it comes to planning. I use this binder from Day Timer.
Divider Tabs
So you've got your super-cool notebook. Now what goes in it? Tabs help you quickly find the information you need, and there's no "right" number to get. Instead, get as many tabs as you need to access all the information you use. I currently have five divider tabs: to-do, finances, goals, calendar, and notes. I scored these awesome customized tabs from goofnutdesigns on Etsy.
Setting Goals
We all have goals, and your goals pages form the heart of your planner. The difference between goals and a to-do list is that goals are more general and a lot more akin to New Year's resolutions.
Ideally, you should have yearly goals and monthly goals. The monthly goals should be more specific, listing smaller part of your larger goal. For example, let's say you want to lose 30 pounds this year. Your goals for February might include signing up for yoga, making meals at home three nights a week, tracking the calories you eat, or losing three pounds. As you check off each monthly goal, you know you're getting closer to the bigger goal. You're no longer overwhelmed by the fact that you haven't lost 30 pounds yet. Instead, you have an objective rubric against which you can measure your actions and determine how close you are to reaching your dreams.
You need a section in your planner for your goals, and should devote an hour each month to outlining the monthly goals that will bring you closer to your yearly and longer-term goals. Having pages that are inspirational, fun, and pretty can keep you inspired to keep planning. I had custom goal pages made through this site and my goals pages look like this:
To-Do Lists
To-do lists get many people into trouble because they serve as little more than reminders of all the things they haven't accomplished in a day. But this doesn't mean you should give up. Your to-do list is really just an even more specific version of your goals list.
For example, one of my goals this month is to get at least two new clients. My weekly goals, then, might include writing 5 project proposals, following up on an inquiry through my website, asking for a byline with one of my current clients, or updating my writing website. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by the quest for new clients or wondering where to start, I can quickly tick off tasks as I complete them and know that, as long as I stick to my to-do list, I'll likely have those new clients by the end of the month. It is exceedingly important that you consult your to-do list every single day and that you check off tasks as you complete them. I got my to-do pages from the same site I bought my goals pages, and they look like this:
The Time Budget
The time budget is the heart of any good planning system. Time is exactly like money: there's a finite quantity of it, and when you spend it one place, you have less of it later. If you don't treat time the same way you treat money, it won't matter how pretty your planner is or how much time you spend completing to-do lists. You will fail at time management. Period. The benefits of a time budget include:
- Helping you determine exactly how much time you spend on a single task
- Enabling you to schedule time for procrastinating
- Freeing you of guilt when you spend time on things you love
- Empowering you to understand if you're spending your time on meaningful pursuits
- Helping you pinpoint areas where you waste time
You have to make a time budget each and every day. Part of the time budget is your list of daily tasks. you should have a page in the planner for every single work day. I use Franklin Covey's Blooms planner to make my daily time budget. On one side, list the tasks you need to complete this day; this is basically a shorter, date-specific version of your weekly to-do list. On the other side of your planner should be a schedule for how you plan to spend your day. As with money, you should add a cushion in case something takes longer than usual, you oversleep, or some other catastrophe strikes. It's also a great idea to overestimate the amount of time you'll spend doing stuff, because then you'll end up with more time than you anticipated, and that time then becomes free time.
You don't have to use the time budget on the weekend, particularly if you don't have specific tasks you want to complete, but planning your weekends can actually help you feel freer. Here's what my time budget for today looked like:
Things to Do:
-Reply to emails (since I'm self-employed, I almost always have emails from clients that warrant a response, so I allot 30 minutes of every day for replying to emails)
-Get hair done
-Take little sister to Monkey Joe's
-Pick up groceries for family night
-Write blog post
-Read
That's a pretty short, easy day. But if I weren't good about managing my time, I might still feel overwhelmed. So here's what my time budget for the day looked like:
10-10:30 -- Wake up, waste time, do nothing (note this is a cushion!)
10:30-11:00 -- Shower, dry hair
11:00-11:30 -- Go to Starbucks
11:30-1 -- Eat breakfast, relax with husband
1-1:15 -- Get dressed
1:15-1:30 -- Drive to Dad's house to pick up sister
1:30-3:00 -- Hang out with sister ( I also broke this down into time chunks that accounted for things like getting food, dealing with the tantrums she'd have when I picked her up and when I left, etc.)
3:00-6:00 -- Get hair done ( I have a LOT of hair, people!)
6:00-7:00-- Grocery store
7:00-8:00-- Procrastinate, screw around, and do nothing (note another cushion!)
8:00-9:00 -- Write blog post
9:00-2:00 -- Read, relax with husband
And bam. I got everything done today, with time to spare. Just like every other day. It may seem a bit OCD to schedule things like driving, and you don't have to do this. I could, for example, just say that 1-3 was time spent with my sister. But the benefit of being so specific with planning is that it allows you to track how you're actually using your time. If I didn't get to my dad's house until 2, I'd know I wasn't budgeting enough time for driving, and this would help me plan more effectively in the future. But instead, I got to my dad's house early, so I knew -- because of my time budget -- that I was going to have extra time with my sister, and extra time with Grace is always a good thing.
Planning isn't hard. You don't need to read 50 books on time management. You just need to get a planner, think about how you want to spend your time, and then do it. I have a hell of a lot of responsibilities, and I haven't always been able to keep up. But as soon as I implemented my system, things changed. It's not a special skill and it doesn't take much effort. But planning is the best way to enjoy your life completely guilt-free.
No comments:
Post a Comment