How to Master Time Management Once and For All
One of my favorite conversations to have with ambitious yet overwhelmed women is about the difference between time management and time ownership. Most people don’t realize that not knowing the difference is one of the biggest reasons they’re drowning in their life and work. It’s a simple yet powerful mindset shift that once made will change how you spend your time.
The first step to feeling deliberate with your time is realizing the difference between time managing and time owning, then wanting to become a person who owns their time by making that part of your identity, which then snowballs into doing the action necessary to match it.
The Difference Between Time Management and Ownership
Time management: looks like waking up and reacting your way through the day. It might look like, “Oh, so and so emailed me about getting on a call let me answer them. Look, clothes on the floor again let me clean that.” Before you know it you end up at the grocery store or Home Depot picking something up for your husband.
You have a long to-do list and feel like you’re in a black hole drowning in its never-ending expansion. Without a clear sense of how you want to spend your time you hop from task to task thinking it’s productive. This goes on and on until it’s 7pm or later and you’re exhausted.
You can’t even say what was accomplished. Or that you even did accomplish anything. There was a lot of movement and busy-ness. You felt like you managed your time as well as you could but really it managed you.
On the other hand, time ownership: looks like waking up and being proactive with your day. With confidence. You schedule your time in advance so you know how your time is being spent that day and why you’re spending it the way you are.
You don’t allow those begging for your attention to derail you. You’re not afraid to politely say no. Most importantly you have a vision. A bigger picture and a why to work towards. You’re intentional and make sure what’s most important stays important. Without a vision or idea to work towards your actions are aimless. Owning your time is owning the fact that life is sacred and you value the sacredness of it.
If you’re ready to take back the energy of your day. To create boundaries and a life you love then get ready for these 5 tips. They’re steps you can take to start owning your time and being proactive instead of reactive.
1. Create Your Boundaries
A great way to start with boundaries is by creating anchor habits which give you a sense of stability. The first one I recommend starting right now is a morning routine. Before I started my own I struggled to wake up in the morning. Without a sense of purpose, I felt aimless, frustrated, and hopeless. And don’t think circumstances are to blame for a misalignment with your purpose. I felt these emotions when I had just moved to Europe, didn’t have to work, and could literally do anything I wanted to all day.
A morning routine changed everything in my life. After a week, my energy shifted. I felt motivated and inspired. I woke up with excitement for what I could create. Which ultimately led me to where I am right now. It’s continued to serve me through emotional hardships, a move back to the States, and my creative endeavors. This could be and probably will be its own episode but for now I’ll leave it there.
Other anchor habits I suggest for creating boundaries are:
scheduled lunch hour
scheduled workouts at least twice a week
a wind-down practice for deep sleep
When you have anchor habits that happen at the same time every day you feel a sense of security and calm. They satiate the ego’s desire to have routine which allows you to slip into the flow stream of your day. There’s another boundary that’s crucial and a tough one for most people. But if you want to make lasting momentum in whatever you’re creating you need to follow it.
Allow ONE personal life task a day during work hours. And do it preferably during lunch. Want to load the dishwasher? Great. That’s your one thing. Everything else must wait until after work just like your friends who work in an office. They have to wait until they’re home. Obviously this was the case before Covid-19 but will soon be the case again in the future. Once you schedule these habits into your weekly calendar let everyone in your life know. That way they can support you but also know they can’t expect you to be available every second of the day. You’re going places my friend!
2. Know What the Next 90 Days Look Like
This goes back to having a vision. Why are you spending your time the way you are? It’s like trying to save money without checking in on your spending habits. You need a way to guide what your actions are building towards. What result would you love to see at the end of 90 days?
It can be bringing in an extra $20k for your business. Or working out at least 2 times a week. Or having a solid workflow that inspires joy in your remote job. If you aren’t sure what you want then use your morning routine as a time to meditate. Ask your intuition. Visualize feeling really good in 90 days. What do you see or feel? The answers you seek are already within you.
When you have even the tiniest idea you’ll naturally know how to schedule your time. If you want to work out at least twice a week schedule that in your calendar. Maybe you want to see a first draft manuscript of your book done. You might notice that scheduling in writing time may be more important than running errands first thing in the morning.
This next tip will blow your mind. At least it did for me when I learned it from copywriter Joanna Wiebe. It supercharges your creativity like you wouldn’t believe.
3. Theme Your Days
Keep like tasks with like tasks. Context switching is a huge productivity killer. Our brains are created for efficiency. Switching between emails to writing, then errands to a work call. Instant productivity killer. It takes at least 20 minutes to get into the flow of a new type of task. Moving forward, make every day of the week a certain theme and stick to it.
For example, two of my days are client days (I own a copywriting business in addition to The Good Space). Only client work gets done. One day is set aside for marketing and business development. That’s where social media and marketing planning happens. Another day is strictly for content writing. Then there’s a freedom day reserved for admin stuff like expenses and hiring a virtual assistant.
If a client emails me to schedule a call I only give them options on my client days. If a blog post idea pops in my head during my marketing day I write it down and keep working. This feels counterintuitive and scary for a lot of people. I’ve had multiple clients resist this. Hard. They felt like they were losing their freedom. To which I reminded them they have no freedom now. They’re overwhelmed and stretched thin. So they decide to give it a try. Within a week they’re happy, inspired, and thanking me beyond words. They feel relief knowing they don’t have to decide what to do every day. It’s a system they have that tells them. This frees up a lot of their cognitive load. Which is what this next tip does for you as well.
4. Start Scheduling Every Hour of Your Week
Every Friday or Sunday sit and schedule your next week in your planner hour by hour. By now you know the big picture you’re aiming for and have a theme for each day. Plan each hour during the week with your results in mind. If your goal is to workout at lest twice then make sure that’s scheduled in your calendar. If it’s to write a manuscript that should be the first thing you block time for. If you have multiple projects, block time for each one even if it’s an hour.
Any time spent towards your life’s work is moving the needle forward. Below I’ve added a screenshot of what my schedule looks like. Every hour is blocked off based on theme days. I’ll put a check mark next to tasks I completed. Then an x-mark next to things I didn’t. That way I can quickly notice a pattern and ask why I didn’t get something done.
Notice how I schedule in a morning routine, writing, yoga twice in the week and schedule an hour lunch every day. Those are anchor habits that I add in before anything else. Then I fill in actions that get me closer to my weekly and quarterly goals. This awesome planner from Ponderlily also helps you keep track of habits and take note of how you can recharge.
5. Master and Own Your Week
This tip comes from Brendon Burchard. He says if you can’t own your week how could you possibly own the month or year? What you do is ask yourself, “What results do I want to see by 5 pm on Friday?” Then block in time for each project you want to progress. The goal isn’t to get everything done at once. It’s to chip away and create momentum. Nothing great or lasting happens in one sitting. Feel great knowing you spent even an hour on a project.
Affirmation
I am a professional. I embrace professional habits, I work like a professional, and I commit like a professional. Doing so allows me to carry out my most important, soul-evolving work.
Do This Today
Pick two out of the five steps listed above and commit to doing them for the next two weeks.
