25 Nov How Your Busy Holiday Schedule CAN help you Meet your Goals

We are More productive when we are on a schedule and have various items to accomplish.

“If I have 5 hours to cut a tree down, I’ll spend 4 hours sharpening the blade and 1 hour swinging. Vs 4 hrs swinging and 1 hr sharpening.”

If you have too much time to get things done, we typically will put it off longer than we should.

Tips for Time Management

Do the most difficult tasks first

• Your brain gets tired after making 1,000s of decision during the day. Do the tasks that take the most effort first. Workout, meal planning, grocery shopping, cleaning, emails….

• Limit these “hard tasks” to 1-3 MAX per day.

• President Obahma told Vanity fair he only wears gray or blue suits to limit decisions during the day, he has too many other decisions to make.

Keep a distraction list to stay Focused

When you’re doing highly focused work it is easy to get distracted by 10 other things you need to do during the day. Keep a note pad and write these down as they enter your mind.

Make a List 

Write Things Down, Don’t rely on memory

Organize your To Dos 

This can help you identify time sinks based on the importance and urgency of a task.

The Eisenhower Matrix – identify what matters and what doesn’t

Are you spending most of your day doing things that are URGENT but not IMPORTANT?

Look for ways to delegate, automate, or eliminate.

Are you spending time on things that aren’t important or urgent – don’t focus as much on these.

Are you making time to work on things that are important but not urgent?

PLAN out your days and week in advance

Fail to plan and plan to fail. Do this with tasks as well as with meals. Create an outline of what your meals will look like during the week and fill in the gaps as you go.

Write out your top 3 DAILY Goals for the Day somewhere you can see them

It’s like if there’s a cookie on the table, you are more likely to eat it. If your goals are visually in front of you, you are more likely to stay focused on them.

Turn off Notifications for things you Don’t Need to know immediately

Apps, emails etc. so you can check these when it’s convenient for you.

Limit Multitasking

This can be helpful for certain skills like meal prepping in the kitchen. Making various foods while you are in the kitchen.

But can also lead us to be less productive on more focused tasks, ultimately if we are trying to do too many things at once and nothing well.

Get organized

Everything has a home. Take everything out of the car you came in with. Put everything away RIGHT when you get home. You will spend less time trying to find things and eliminate that pile of dishes or clothes.

Work in Time Block

Block Related Tasks Together

• Checking Email

• Cleaning

• Phone Calls

• Similar Errands

Measure Results, Not Time

• What is the RESULT of your efforts rather than How MUCH TIME it spent to do

Say No more often

to things that aren’t adding VALUE to your life so you can start saying YES to what matters

Stick to a Routine

We function better on various levels with routine.