Okay, okay - it is the end of summer, and you feel like the fun is over and it is time to get "back to work." There is just one problem, you feel overwhelmed because there is now so much that you want to accomplish: work, business, home projects, fitness and/or personal development. Your time management skills aren't good enough to cope.
You begin to beat yourself up because it seems like you cannot get anything completed; you just can't get started any of those "things" you want accomplished. You could be feeling like a failure.
There is good news - you can regain that sense of accomplishment when you follow these 5 steps for better time management skills:
Visualize what you want in your life: more creativity, less clutter, more fulfillment with your work, a different career or business, better health, financial success - you name it. It is easy to fall into the trap of not taking the time to really think and feel what you want your life to contain and what you want your life to stand for. You can find yourself running around making mental "lists" of everything that needs to be done, which just overwhelms you and keeps you from applying time management skills. What do you really want?
Once you get very clear about how you want to be living your life, then make a list of the things, projects, and your actions that you want to accomplish. The list can even contain things like "cleaning out that upstairs closet"!
Prioritize where you want to begin by choosing one thing on your list that is so important to you that you want to accomplish it first. Ask yourself questions such as; "What will bring me peace or success?" "What is the biggest thing that is bugging me that I want to tackle first?" or "What do I need to get out of my way?" Don't worry, those other things on your list aren't going anywhere - they are on your list. You can become overwhelmed when you look at your list thinking you need to get to everything immediately. I give you permission to put some things aside for later - prioritizing is an important part of your time management skills.
Schedule time to work on that one thing you chose above. Block out your calendar to do nothing but that one thing, even if only for 15 minutes. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish with even 15 minutes of uninterrupted time. Uninterrupted time, when practicing time management skills, means to dump the distractions; turn off the phone, nix the emails, let others know you cannot be interrupted.
Remember, we all only have 24 hours in our day. What this means is that you may have to change your normal routine in order to accomplish that one thing you have scheduled yourself to do. You may have to nix watching your favorite Tuesday night television program or rearrange something else in your routine. You can choose to do this in the name of time management skills.
Commit and stay positive as you complete your task. Avoid thoughts like "Ugh, now I have to go work on this thing..." because if you are thinking about dreading something you will actually attract more dread in your life. Create a thought like "Oh boy, I am going to get this finished today!" Commit by sticking to your schedule and even telling someone else of your plan. When we confide our desires to another individual, it makes it a little easier to stick with our plan.
Reward yourself when your task or project is finished because you do deserve a big pat on the back for sticking with your plan.
Begin to tackle your overwhelm and disorganization by following these steps to improved time management skills today. You will notice a difference!
