Start with Time Management in 3 Easy Steps
I am sure you must have asked yourself – How the heck do I start with time management – at some point in your life.
If you ask me, my answer would be this. In three simple steps:
- Track your time
- Understand where you spend time
- Adjust your time expenditure gradually
Step 1. Tracking your time
Until you know where you are spending time, you cannot change your schedule. Here is a simple time tracker spreadsheet you can use to track your time for 7 consecutive days. The tracker has options to track time in slots of 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour. So you can be as detailed or as cryptic as you want.
Just make sure that choose one in the beginning and stick with it through the week. If you track in 15-minute slots one day and 1-hr slots the next, it will be impossible to see where you are spending your time.
I typically stick to 30-minute slots when I am tracking time.
I set aside time for making entries into the tracker 4-5 times a day. Typically these are:
- when I start working
- just before breaking for lunch
- when I wind up my workday
- before bedtime
You can choose what works for you. It won’t take more than 15 -20 minutes in total.
Step 2. Understand where you spend your time
Next, you need to decide on 4 or 5 task buckets, say personal, client work, marketing, household chores, family time, etc.
I typically have these buckets:
- personal (sleeping, exercising, reading, etc.)
- professional (pitching, sales calls, client work, admin tasks, etc.)
- marketing (social media, networking, etc.)
- household chores
- family time
If you want, you can decide on these buckets beforehand and color-code them in the spreadsheet while making entries. That way, you can see at a glance which color dominates your sheet!
Next, write down how much time you spent on these tasks in the week. You will have to manually add them, but trust me, the more time you spend with the data more clarity you get.
Once you have that data, you can see how you are spending your time. Which brings us to the last step.
Step 3. Adjust time expenditure
Yes, that’s a valid English word – time expenditure!
When you categorize your tasks into buckets (personal, professional, family time, household chores, client time, etc.), you can see how you are spending your time.
The obvious next step is to adjust your time expenditure, i.e. increase or decrease time expenditure for each bucket depending on your needs.
And your needs will depend on which stage of life you are in.
For instance, if you have a toddler or two at home, your time expenditure on family or household chores would be more.
If you are trying to scale up your business or improve your brand, you will spend more time marketing.
If you have worked enough to reach the stage of enlightenment, you will spend more time on personal tasks.
The idea here is to identify your own unique needs and adjust time expenditure accordingly. And remember NOT to compare with absolutely anyone. Because no two people have the same
- needs
- values
- moral compass
- personal needs
- professional commitments
What next?
Start with tracking time using the spreadsheet I shared or better still, create your own. The more time you spend considering how to track time, the more you will think about how you spend time. So start thinking about what buckets of tasks you want to have.
Remember, you can start even if you haven’t decided on the task buckets.
Start entering task names or details, whatever you want, in the spreadsheet and the rest will follow.
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