Take Control of your Time, Achieve Your Goals

Welcome to Part 1 of this series of Time Management. Over the years, I've developed a set of tools that I personally use and have coached others to use to help put us back in the driver’s seat of managing our time. In this post, we'll take the first step: understanding where our time goes.

A frequent question I hear from folks is, “How can I improve my time management?” Sometimes it’s phrased in less direct terms. It may sound more like, “I feel like I’m not getting anything done”, or “I was so busy this week, but I have nothing to show for it”. One thing we all eventually realize is that our time is truly the only valuable resource we have. It can be frustrating when it doesn’t feel like we’re making good use of it, and this is especially true for high achievers. If this pattern continues for a period of time, the blend of being busy and not seeing results can even lead us down the path towards burnout. Don’t worry, there’s hope!

Step 1: Take a Time Inventory

Let’s start by finding out how we use our time today. Relying on our memory alone to fill this out will miss out on small tasks that are easily forgotten but add up to significant amounts of time. The best way to inventory our time is live tracking our time during the week. It can help to set a timer to remind us at each half hour mark.

Track your activities and tasks either in a spreadsheet or on paper, whichever you prefer. As you add entries, take a quick note of how you feel. Mark the entry with a plus (+) if it energized you, a minus (-) if it drained you, or no mark if it felt neutral. Throughout the day, notice your overall energy levels. Mark times when you feel charged and ready to go with an up arrow. Draw a down arrow if you are feeling tired or sluggish.

Free Resource: Google Sheets template to track your own time inventory.

That concludes Part 1 of our Time Management Guide. In the next post, we'll make key decisions to build our ideal day. Stay tuned!

Cover Image by Gerd Altmann