If your time and energy for today were represented by a loaf of bread, how would you have sliced it? How many slices and what would be the thickness of those slices?
Every morning when you get up, you have a certain number of hours for the day and also a certain amount of energy. How you apply those hours and energy is entirely up to you.
There is always more to do than what you have hours for. As one of my clients has put it: I am constantly behind! This has become the trend of our modern lives.
Because we take pride in our work, like to be seen as effective and efficient and believe that we have to be everything to everyone, we continue to add more and more to our to-do list, even if we know that it would be impossible to get to it all in a day. Sometimes the only solution is to cut on sleep and personal time. And even after having done that, you might find that you still did not get to everything on your to-do list. Perhaps you add it to tomorrow’s list and tomorrow then plays out exactly like today. Over time you might be beating yourself up and starting to think that you are not cut out for this job or you are just not good enough. Your health might suffer, your relationships, and it becomes a never-ending story.
What can you do to change this?
- Set your priorities for the day
Decide on what your priorities are and plan your day accordingly. Also put those priorities in order of importance. Perhaps also allow for some time in your day for those unforeseen matters that do come up. Whatever does not fit, you move somewhere else and as you do, let the individuals involved know that you will not get to it. The sooner that you can let them know that you will not get to their requests, the better.
Ideally you should plan your entire week ahead.
- Put time for tasks in your diary
It is so easy to set up meetings and many of us spend the entire day in meetings. Unfortunately this means that you never get to your to-do list during the day. Do yourself a favour and put time aside in your diary for the to-do items. Don’t accept meetings for these dedicated times. Yes, it is going to be hard however, you owe it to yourself.
- Focus on one thing at a time
Our minds require simplicity to function at optimal levels. For example: while you are focusing on a specific task, do not allow emails, calls, IMs, etc to interrupt you. Avoid these interruptions. Turn all those applications off and you might well find that you get more done in an hour of focus than others get done in a day.
- Listen to your body
Your body will tell you when you need a break. Listen. By taking a break, you allow your mind to refocus and re-energise.
Also listen and adhere to your body’s rhythm. Perhaps you are a morning person; then do your most complex tasks in the morning. Often, we fall in the trap of doing all the small things and when we get to the difficult tasks, we have already depleted our energy.
- Learn to say NO
Saying NO is an art and it takes some practise. Remember, you only have one loaf of bread a day. When you say no, be clear that you mean NO and where relevant, give a short explanation of why you say no and offer some alternatives.
The biggest favour you can do yourself, is to learn how to say NO. At first you might feel guilt however, the more you do it, the better you will become at it.
Time is precious, and so are you!