I must admit, it’s before 6:00am on a Sunday morning and I’m on my second cup of coffee, writing this newsletter.
Not because I set an alarm, because I woke up with the birds, as the sky began to lighten.
Someone reading this just C R I N G E D, perhaps it was you.
Someone else actually smiled in self-recognition.
Regardless of which reaction you had – congratulations! – on your self-awareness.
This week I need you to be diligent about tracking the WHEN for several things.
When do you:
- Feel the most mentally aware / awake / ready to go?
- Reach the most people with your outbound sales activity?
- Have the best conversations with the people you do reach?
Self-awareness is the first step – don’t guess, keep track! Look for patterns. Look for anomalies.
Next: the key is how to leverage what you learn to make yourself more successful! Knowing is only the first step.
The Basics
Before you start thinking about how to leverage time self-management there are two things to be incredibly clear about:
First – there is no such thing as “balance” when it comes to time. Instead you need to know what your priorities are to ensure you’re spending the bulk of your time on what is important.
Second – time is NOT a renewable resource, once a minute – hour – day has passed, you’ll never get it back. You can’t make time, you are only using it OR wasting it.
Time management is actually self-management; sorry. There is no way to create more time instead we have to be mindful and diligent about choosing how we are going to use the time we have.
Stephen Covey came up with his four quadrants years ago to help people map out importance and urgency in all of the things that come up… all of the things that take our time.
Years ago, I saw a version that added tips on what to do to in each quadrant and it stuck with me; I’d give them credit if I remembered where I saw it.
Manage
The things that you’ve determined are both important and urgent. You can’t allow them to take over your entire day – week – month. Instead decide what the value is and how much time it deserves.
I didn’t say that would be easy, especially, when faced with the expectations of others – it’s YOUR success we’re talking about here!
Focus
I believe many people NEVER get to things when they are important BUT yet not urgent.
The key to remember is that although “not urgent” TODAY – if you don’t focus on the things you place into this category -> eventually, they will become urgent.
Avoid
Don’t allow someone else’s priorities to steal your time!
Most things that end up in my urgent while NOT important space – tend to be very important to someone else. Hence avoidance; don’t take on someone else’s priorities (unless absolutely necessary and impossible to avoid).
Limit
Notice this doesn’t say eliminate! Everyone needs to take a mental break every once in a while.
My tip is to try and substitute a non-mentally taxing important activity instead of sticking in something that is neither important nor urgent.
Need an example? Instead of looking at Facebook, I get up and stretch – because I’ve made a commitment to my own health of 15-minutes daily activity to increase my flexibility.
It’s in my important / not urgent list, so why not use that as my metal break instead of something that isn’t even important to me?
But, enough about me! This week is for figuring out your when(s) and getting clear on your priorities.
All my best,
Lynn
ps: if you’re stuck, after you’ve tracked the three “when” questions, email me the results and we can set up a time to work through your priorities together.
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