5 Time Management Tips…That Don’t Work
It is my absolute favorite thing to share tips to help you improve your time management skills and help you feel more productive, all while keeping your brain from sabotaging your every move.
I know there is a LOT of advice flying around out there in this space. How could there not be? When time is the most valuable asset there is, we all want to make sure we’re making the most of it.
But with many conflicting protocols and “best practices”, I’ve found it can be just as helpful to figure out the tips that don’t work for you. The ones you’ve continually tried and failed and tried and failed because someone proclaimed it was the only way. But it doesn’t seem to quite fit for you.
After experimenting with many different methodologies over the years, here are the tips I’ve found that just don’t do it for me.
Tip #1: Write down your top 3 priorities every day
Yes, we should prioritize.
Knowing our priorities helps to ensure we don’t let the busy work of low-priority tasks take up so much of our time that we never get to the big stuff. I’m so on board with that. That concept works for me!
But just writing down 3 top priorities falls flat.
Where’s the plan behind it? When are you working on these priorities? What are the steps involved? Do you even know how to get started? And what happens when one of your clients or coworkers has an urgent request you need to jump to, where do your priorities rank then?
I tried this technique. The beautiful sticky note (pink, of course) with those 3 priorities neatly written out. Innocently dangling from the computer monitor watching over me.
But all this did was leave me with a front-and-center reminder at the end of the day of the things I didn’t get done.
I didn’t have a plan for these 3 priorities so I stayed in a reactive mode instead of proactive mode all day. I could never never manage to get to them.
And day after day, I continued to break this well-intentioned commitment to myself.
What works for me instead:
I schedule time for my top priorities straight on my calendar.
This includes time for all the steps to complete them like time to brainstorm, research, and flexible time for potential unknowns I might not know yet to make time for.
With all of these pieces on my calendar, I know exactly when I’m going to get to everything and how I’m going to keep this commitment to myself. Scheduling makes it real.
Tip #2: You have to wake up at 4:00 AM to be successful
I used to be the 4:00 AM wake-up type.
Go to the gym, get ready, commute to work. Day after day. I was still overwhelmed most of the time, but I had the glorified morning routine, so I figured maybe the life of the successful just included a healthy serving of burnout.
Then during the work-from-home pandemic, I, like a lot of us, slowly started waking up later and later.
There was no more commute to make time for and grooming habits…well…they took more of a backseat. However, the overwhelm and burnout were still there as I struggled to get through all of my tasks while still working well into the evenings.
So I went back on my mission of the 4:00 AM wake-up. If I could just get up a little earlier and start work a little earlier, I could get it all done and the overwhelm would vanish. That would surely be the answer this time!
But let me tell you, “start work earlier” does not inspire much motivation when the alarm clock is blaring.
More often than not, the snooze button would get the best of me and I’d find myself in yet another morning rush, feeling behind before I even got started.
And guess what, even when I started my day earlier, my habits and mindset were too out of whack that I would still work late and never felt “all caught up”. My early mornings would just mean it was a 12-hour day instead of the regular 10. Likely with an extra cup of coffee thrown into the routine.
What works for me instead:
I found my “why” and then created a wake-up schedule that matched.
Admittedly, I am still a bit of an early riser. I prefer to work out in the mornings (trying to schedule a workout at the end of the day sounds like a particularly cruel type of torture.) Exercise is an important value and “why” in my life.
I pair this with journaling and simple tasks like picking up the house or leisurely emptying the dishwasher while I brew coffee as my new morning routine. This process makes me feel calm and ready to tackle the day.
I found a wake-up time that will allow me to do all of those things. None of them are focused on cranking out more work or finding more hours to be “productive”. And while I still dread that alarm… Having this motivating “why” helps to make that initial move from horizontal to vertical a bit more tolerable.
Tip #3: Stop wasting time watching TV
I generally see this advice tossed around when combatting excuses for “I don’t have enough time.”
That statement is generally a cue for some life evaluation. Are you not getting enough sleep, not because there aren’t enough hours in the day, but because the drama of The Bachelor is keeping you up well past midnight?
I get it. We all have to take a good hard look at how we’re prioritizing our time and make sure we’re happy with those choices.
But leisure activities are not the enemy.
Maybe it’s not TV for you. Maybe it’s the latest romance novel or video games or whatever other activity we’ve deemed as “guilty pleasures” that we don’t consider as contributing to our productivity.
But I don’t think these activities need to be avoided altogether in order to live a productive life. After all, all work and no play…makes you uncreative, uninspired…and burnt out. Not more productive.
The things that help you unwind and rest deserve an important slot in your calendar and, from the big-picture view, can actually contribute to increased productivity.
What works for me instead:
I plan for leisure time and I take it.
Yes, this includes complete couch potato time in front of the TV. (Gasp!)
When you intentionally plan for these activities, it can help you stay more focused on the “productive” things you want to get done knowing there’s a break coming. Then when it’s time to take a break, you don’t have to feel guilty. It’s all a part of the plan.
We all need this time to rest our brains, not think, and completely unwind in order to show up as the best versions of ourselves in all areas of our lives.
Tip #4: Use a priority matrix to choose your priorities
Have you all seen a priority matrix (also called the Eisenhower Matrix)?
The matrix is meant to help you prioritize all of your to-dos so you can decide what falls into a Do, Don’t, Delegate, or Delete bucket. The matrix works by scoring tasks based on urgency and importance.
But what is “important”? To whom? And what is “urgent”? Is there a true unmoveable deadline for a goal you care about? Or is it just external pressure being applied as someone else pushes their own agenda that you haven’t been willing to push back on?
I think the concept of this matrix sounds well-intentioned.
After all, we all want some perfect formula to tell us what we should be working on. We want someone or something to validate that what we’re doing is the “right” thing.
But there is no one “right” thing to spend your time on.
Building matrix after matrix to make a decision for you could just prevent you from actually taking action...on anything.
What works for me instead:
I prioritize with my intuition.
I trust my gut. Sure, this may sound a little woo-woo, but really, with all the experience navigating project after project and task after task, your gut knows what has a real deadline you can’t ignore and what is truly important to you.
Your intuition knows what it’s doing, even if your brain hasn’t caught up.
Trust yourself. Trust your judgment. If you start down one path that leads you to learn more information that shifts your priorities, great. Adjust course. Nothing is ever set in stone. But at least you’re taking action and learning.
Tip #5: Throw away your to-do list
This one gives me literal sweats….
When you don’t have an external place to store all the miscellaneous things you need to get done, you require your brain to keep track of them. And your brain will try its best… But trying its best likely looks something like this:
“I know you’re trying to focus on finishing this project plan so you can sign off for the day, but, don’t forget! You need to pick up milk at the grocery store.”
Or,
“Sorry to interrupt you in the middle of this important presentation, but did you remember to schedule your next dentist appointment?”
These constant interruptions can increase your overall anxiety and make you far less efficient at accomplishing the actual task at hand. A constant hum of background anxiety.
“Your mind is for having ideas. Not holding them.” - David Allen
What works for me instead:
I keep a Master To-Do List of everything!
I even have side lists like a running grocery list or reusable packing list or a someday/maybe list (for the things I want to do someday…maybe).
This frees up SO much space for my brain to do bigger-picture thinking or just focus on one thing at a time.
The key here is to not use your to-do list against yourself as proof you’ll never get it all done. There’s no such thing as being done with everything. A to-do list lives on as long as we’re living and breathing. So let it be there. Make it a helpful tool, not a punishment.
I encourage you to try all sorts of different time management tips.
When you hear one that sounds intriguing, give it your best effort (not just a single-day attempt then back to the drawing board.)
But if you’re not sticking with it or not seeing results, maybe it’s not for you. And that’s okay! Tweak the method. Make it your own. Or scrap it and try a new approach. Keep trying until you find something that clicks.
And you know what, maybe some of the tips that haven’t worked for me are just what you need to get back in control of your time. I love it! If it works for you, go with it. There is no one-size-fits-all all.
And if you’re still having trouble finding the time to tackle an important project looming over you, try out the 7 Days: Consider it Done! Workbook for a step-by-step breakdown to help you stop procrastinating and start making massive progress on any project.
