9 Time Management Dos & Don'tsWhat are your favorite dos and don’ts for successful time management? I asked this question to a wonderful group of productivity, organizing, and coaching colleagues (Jill Farmer, Laurene Livesey Park, Stacey Vulakh, Janet Barclay, Ellen Delap, Juliet Landau-Pope, Sheila Delson, Yota Schneider, Jane Perdue). Their responses are insightful practical, and doable. My gratitude goes to each of them for making time to reflect and share. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your lack of time or ability to manage it, I encourage you to keep reading and try some of these terrific time management strategies.

What are your favorite dos and don’ts for successful time management? . . .

1. Do Mindset Shift. Don’t ...

“Take a deep breath and recognize there IS enough time. Telling yourself there's not enough time throws you into ‘flight or flight’ mode, where it's really hard to focus and prioritize. Launching your action from that frenzied not enough space costs you LOTS of time. Instead, tap into the 3 C's—being calm, clear and connected. That's where you're going to be most efficient and productive, getting more done in less time while avoiding depletion and burnout. This mindset shift from lack based thinking to harvesting abundance will help you recapture enormous chunks of time.”

Jill Farmer – Author, Master Certified Coach & Speaker

2. Do Switch Gears. Don’t ...

“Do allow yourself time to ‘switch gears’ between activities.  Take a short walk if you’ve been sitting at your desk for a couple of hours, and you’ll find you come back to the next task refreshed and more productive.

Don’t forget to include travel time to and from activities, and don’t assume that you’ll hit all green lights and no traffic jams!  In my experience, many chronically late people employ some kind of magical thinking that includes teleporting from one location to another in the blink of an eye.  This is obviously not realistic!”

Laurene Livesey Park, CPO-CD^® – Professional Organizer, Speaker & Author

3. Do Prepare Next. Don’t ...

“Do schedule regular strategic planning sessions with yourself. Schedule time (ideally at the end of each day and week) to plan and prepare for what's coming up next. It takes less than 10 minutes to scan your calendar and devise a strategy.

For example, is your off-site meeting near the dry cleaner? Bring your dirty laundry. Heading to the doctor? Meet a colleague for coffee 30 minutes beforehand and then write thank you notes (or simply relax with a magazine) while in the waiting room.

Don’t say 'yes'. Time is finite and the quickest (and simplest) way to have more time is to say, 'Let me get back to you' when asked to do something. Then, take a moment to think about the request and assess whether it’s in line with your priorities.”

Stacey Vulakh  – Time & Productivity Expert

4. Do Schedule Tasks. Don’t...

“My favorite ‘do’ is to move each actionable email I receive out of my inbox and into my task management system with a due date.

My favorite ‘don’t’ is downloading new messages throughout the day. I’m still working on this one!” 

Janet Barclay – Virtual Assistant

5. Do Assess Priorities. Don’t...

“We are all busy and have so many opportunities each day.  First assess priorities. Does a commitment truly give you a personal or professional return on investment? It sounds so simple but this is so hard to carry out. Once committed, stay committed and use your planner to keep up to date on tasks and deadlines. Plan a weekly time to review what’s coming up and write this planning time in as well.  The best time management requires a once a week review to stay on top of everything.”

Ellen Delap, CPO®  – Certified Professional Organizer & Certified Family Manager

6. Do Make Decisions. Don’t...

“Do learn to make decisions, especially when you’re feeling overwhelmed or ‘stuck’ because there’s so much to do. What are your primary goals? What do you want to prioritise? What could you drop from your schedule? What resources or support do you need?

Don’t aspire to perfection when excellent will do. There’s nothing wrong with high standards but perfectionism and procrastination are closely related… and both will get drain your time and energy.”

Juliet Landau-Pope, CPCC – Procrastination Coach & Professional Declutterer

7. Do Capture Goals. Don’t...

“Do make planning an established weekly routine. Good planning captures important goals and ensures that they are achieved by identifying what activities (action steps) are required to achieve the goal or desired outcome. 

Don't confuse good planning practices with calendar scheduling; they simply are not the same.  For example, one can fill up a calendar with busy-work activities, say between 9AM and 5PM five days a week, but if the action steps that support the goal (as mentioned above) are not included in your scheduled activities, it’s not likely the goal will be realized. Good planning minimizes time-wasting.”

Sheila Delson, CPO-CD® – Professional Organizer & Author

8. Do Schedule Wants. Don’t...

“Some of my favorite strategies are ‘downloading’ often and writing things down, scheduling time to do what I want to do, and sending email reminders to myself. Yet, what really makes a difference for me is my mental attitude. Time management doesn’t work when I feel overwhelmed. I remind myself that I have all the time I need to do the things I really need to do.

When I get stuck in the doing instead of the looking at the big picture and making adjustments, is when I get in trouble. Sometimes, there is a reason that an action items keeps getting pushed back."

Yota Schneider – Life Transitions Coach 

9. Do Play. Don’t...

“Do give yourself permission to take time to play and reflect. While our crazy go-go world may encourage us otherwise, not every moment has to produce a tangible output. Downtime renews the spirit and fosters creativity.

Don't confuse the urgent with the important. While both give us the satisfaction of crossing things off the 'to-do' list, one keeps us mired in today, and the other moves our agenda forward.”

Jane Perdue – Principal

Did you discover some nuggets of wisdom in this rich variety of responses from shifting mindsets, preparing next, making decisions to having playtime? Which ones resonated with you? Do you have a favorite time management do or don’t? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation and share your best time tips, successes, or challenges.

On a recent visit to the Jewish Museum in New York City, I saw Six Things, a collaborative installation by designers Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh. The piece included short videos, a sound-activated sculpture, and six maxims taken from Sagmeister’s journal that he says have increased his personal happiness.

While all six ideas resonated with me, I couldn’t stop thinking about one in particular, “Now Is Better.” It’s so concise and clear. It speaks of mindfulness, being present, realizing that the past happened and the future hasn’t arrived. Sagmeister’s three words remind us to embrace this moment and time.

I’m not saying that the past isn’t relevant or that the future doesn’t matter. The past holds our history, lessons, and memories (good and bad.) The future encompasses our hopes, dreams, fears, and possibilities. However, we can’t turn back time or fast forward ahead. We can be here right now.

Do you find yourself wanting to return to the past? Are you stuck? Do you find yourself wishing for this time to end so that you can move on to that next thing? Does your future focus detract from or enhance your current experience? What would happen if you focused your energy and thoughts on where you are right now? What would that look like? What would that feel like? Would it change anything?

I am grateful for the past. I look forward to the future. I am happy to be here with you now. Where are you? What are your thoughts about now? I’d love to hear your ideas. Come join the conversation.

Time Took Care ofOne of my favorite concepts to share is letting go of a something (most frequently paper) because time took care of it. When working with clients, this call to action often becomes the go to phrase for deciding a thing's relevance.

Particularly with old piles of paper, many pieces can quickly be released using this concept. Because time has passed, the item on the paper expired, the event happened, the opportunity to take action isn't available, or it's no longer of interest. When organizing, those papers are easily identified, and usually with great delight and a sense of humor, my clients allow them to exit as they say, “Time took care of.”

It occurred to me that while time took care of  is one of my paper management strategies, the idea is also useful in other situations. For instance, normally I write my blog posts over the weekend or on Mondays so that they're ready to share on Tuesday mornings. However, this particular week, I didn't stick to my plan. I got mad at myself for deviating, and then realized how pointless that was. Time took care of that particular deadline. There was no going back, only forward. So here I am with you, posting later than I’d planned. I've let go of being annoyed with myself over what I didn’t do on time. That no longer matters. I’ve moved ahead to be here now.

Another scenario is with clothing. Perhaps you purchased something, decided to return it, never got to that errand, and now it's too late to return or exchange. Or maybe you bought something for your kid, they never wore it, and they've outgrown that size. What do you say? “Time took care of!” Instead of holding onto something that you don't want or doesn't fit (along with the guilt,) let them go. Donate. Give to a friend. Release yourself from thoughts about what you didn't do.

I know that there are many things you did do. Stop to acknowledge those. Don't waste your time with guilt over what time took care of. Let go. Move on. Focus on now.

What are you ready to let go of? What has time taken care of? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation.

Twenty-nine years. Today my wonderful husband, Steve and I celebrate our anniversary. Time has passed quickly from the day we said our wedding vows to now. Our time has been rich with family, friends, children, adventures, work, fun, growth, joy, laughter and challenges. I am grateful for all of our moments together- our family time, our parenting time, our just us time, and our challenging time. How did it go so fast?

Seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years organize the convention of time. However, we remember time by the people, things, and activities we give our attention to. Time is filled with the priorities we set. It’s what we include in our time that gives our life meaning.

Choices are available at every moment. What do you focus on? Who do you focus on? What distracts you? What do you want to include in your life? Neither the clock nor the choices stop. You have an opportunity right now to invite in what’s most important. When you look back twenty-nine years from now, your memories will reflect your decisions.

Have all my choices been good ones? They have not. I’m human, just like you. Maybe I said “yes” to ice cream too often. Maybe I spent a bit too much time engaged in social media. Maybe the words that needed to be said were silent. Yet when I reflect on these years, I know that many of the choices I made were positive. They helped me to create time that was filled with the people I love, the things I enjoy doing, and work that’s meaningful. Without hesitation, the best choice I made was twenty-nine years ago when I said, “I do” to my best friend and Sweetheart.

The time will pass before you know it. What will you say “yes” to? Come join in the conversation. Share your thoughts, your choices, and your memories with us.