Make Time For It!

“Why have all the time management techniques I’ve tried in the past failed for me?”

For starters, you probably NEVER KNEW how to manage your time.

Let’s sit down together for a moment. I’m going to ask you a personal question. OK, “Tell me your problems with managing your time.”

What’s your first response? “I don’t have enough! I’ve got a million things to do!! Shall I list them?” you ask. Oops, now you’re wildly waving your hands, making a list in the air of all you need to accomplish today, this week and this month. And, yes, I can see, it’s overwhelming.

How the heck do you organize all of this? For most of us, our first response is to “make a list”. Here’s a little known secret to help focus on the things that matter: We think we make lists, but we really only make pre-lists. The time you spend making an unfinished “pre-list” is like twirling your thumbs. It has done nothing for you.

What do you imagine when I say “List Of Things That Need To Get Done”? Do you stack everything that’s on your mind in one list, with the most complex projects at the top? Is your list a mixed soup of: would, could, should, need-to, ought to and might-want-to?

It’s time to try something new. Make two columns. In one, write things that need to be done NOW. In the other column, write things that can get done SOME DAY. Not so hard, is it?

Here’s the good news. I’m not saying you have to do ALL the important things right now. But you do need a plan to get to the important things on your list.

What if it’s all urgent? You may have 5 things that you feel are equally urgent to deal with. Next to the title of each, write down your first few steps in accomplishing it. Now decide which item and which step you will work on first. Do it now. Right now.

Why Is This Stressing Me Out? Our brains were not designed to be the mental storage unit for details. Most likely, if you’re feeling stressed, you are filling your brain with minute details of daily planning, to-do lists, goals, priorities and what to buy at the grocery store. There’s a simple solution: Stop it! Write it down. Otherwise, you are only creating stress and this is for two reasons:

The first is that your brain is working overtime trying not to forget all of the details you’ve committed to your memory. Come on. Admit it. You’ve probably even been trying to mentally list numbers, times, and maybe even appointment times for other members of your family.

The second is that you’ve sent your brain a priority-urgent signal that sounds like: “Don’t forget to do----.“ So you are sending alarm signals constantly bugging your subconscious to remember trivia.

What Can I Finally Do To Improve? Once you’ve taken the important first step of writing up a Real List for yourself to work with, give yourself a block of time to work on it.

The next step is to DO IT! Gather the troops and initiate action!

You’re already familiar with “Quick Fixes.” Before your newfound knowledge of a list, you probably looked for the quickest things to knock off your list, right? Well, you will still have those “quick fixes” on both sides of your list. Even these quick fixes still need a plan of attack.

Keep working your method. Don’t just haphazardly work on what’s quick on both sides of the list. Maintain your method of listing the first few steps to accomplishing each issue and start from the top of your list, working your way down. Mix some of the quicker tasks to be done among some of the more complex ones. This way you will have the pleasure of accomplishment and will ensure steady momentum.

It’s an immense stress relief to write down all the things that you’ve been keeping in your head. And it’s further stress relief to start taking that next action step to move items on your list from To-Do towards DONE.

Take This With You: Pick one thing on your “important” list and take one step towards completing it.

Discover the newest visual and holistic approaches to manage stress and reduce information overload.

Milly Sonneman is author of Beyond Words: A Guide to Drawing Out Ideas. She is co-author with Thomas Sechehaye of just-released Design Yourself and SOS: Stress Options and Solutions available at http://www.better-stress-advice.com

Milly and Thomas translate field-tested methods, from 17 years at Hands•On Graphics corporate trainings, to practical tools to help you reduce stress today!

Discover the newest visual and holistic approaches to manage stress and reduce information overload.

http://www.better-stress-advice.com