moving from time management to self management it’s crucial to being more productive, especially since time is our most precious resource. It is fixed, it does not discriminate, equally available to all, it is not influenced by anyone, yet most people complain about it. They either “don’t have enough”, so they “run out”, or they are “too busy” to do what they need to do in the time available.
Why do people complain about the weather? Author dan ariely (Honest truth about dishonesty, Loc 2079) tells us that people lie to themselves. We have a “…deeply ingrained propensity to lie to ourselves and to others.” Furthermore, “…We are quite adept at deceiving ourselves.” Instead of accepting that time is not a problem, but rather our lack of planning and prioritization, we blame time. And according to Ariely, we feel good about ourselves and tell ourselves why “our actions are acceptable and sometimes even admirable.”
Time management to self-management
What can we do to overcome self-delusion? First, we must accept that life is full of exciting and tempting distractions. Store owners in malls know how easy it is to get distracted. They use “sales,” “free” item overhead, and other tricks to get our attention. Meanwhile, mobile devices are meant to help us manage our lives more effectively, control many people, as addiction to social media increases. Without a doubt, these distractions contribute to spending time on unimportant matters.
Second, we must reject the notion of “time management.” The idea of ”time management” has been around for many years. Unfortunately, that term creates a false impression that helps us deflect our ineffectiveness. We must accept that no one can manage time because time is fixed and uncontrollable. We can only control ourselves and what we do in the time available. And we must own our actions and inactions.
The reference to “time management” is more appropriately self-management. Therefore, we must apply the same skills to managing ourselves that we use to manage others: goal setting, planning, delegation, organization, direction and control. When we accept that we will never have more than 24 hours in a day, we will not have a problem with time.
Let’s look at some practical things we can do to work effectively in the time available.
Ten self-management ideas
- Develop a plan-do-control cycle approach to doing tasks. Start with a goal, work out the steps to achieve the goal, identify checkpoints to check how you’re doing, and adjust as needed.
- Learn to work by time or task. Sometimes you want to work on a project until you finish it; For example, tomorrow’s homework. That’s working for “homework”. However, when you go to Facebook, Twitter, other social networks and emails, set a time and stop when the time expires. That is working for time.
- Work with priorities.
- Know when you are most productive and do your top priorities at that time. Peak productivity for most people is about two hours after waking up.
- Don’t multitask. Consistently, research shows that multitasking is a suboptimal approach.
- Get enough sleep and exercise. The amounts each of us need is very subjective, so find what works for you. The reality is that you need to rest and recharge energy daily. In addition to sleeping seven to eight hours every day, for years I take a 15-minute nap around noon every day. I do not sleep; I just close my eyes and focus on taking a deep breath.
- Unbalance your life. Set limits for your private life and enforce them. Give 100% to every area of life at the right times. Your family is more important than your job, but when you’re at work, give it 100%. At home, turn off your emails and focus on your family. Don’t look for balance, look to compartmentalize your life and focus 100% on each compartment as needed. Sometimes you have to make decisions to complete essential projects at work that require a significant investment of time. Give 100% to those projects.
- Take a time inventory for a typical day and a typical weekend, showing exactly how you spend your available time. Take note of your time wasters, change them, set time-use goals, and adjust your lifestyle accordingly.
- Avoid unnecessary meetings; that’s most meetings. Meet only with an agenda, start and end time, and in cell-free zones.
- Do a daily brain dump: write down everything you plan to do at some point; This is your project list from which you transfer items to work on your daily timer.
Self-management means taking responsibility for behavior change
We won’t have any more time, so let’s stop convincing ourselves that the problem with “time management” is that we’re too busy and need more time. Change your vocabulary from time management to self-management and understand that even though we lie to ourselves and blame time, the reality is that we must change our behavior and become more useful in the time available.