My favourite time management technique
No Wifi, oh no
My favourite time management technique is to know when I will have a WiFi connection and when I won’t. Yes, there are still times and places when I can’t get WiFi. Use data? Not me. For those times I plan to have work with me to do when I am unconnected. You might think, “When does that ever happen”, more often than you think:
- When I arrive early at a client’s home
- When I arrive early to pick up someone
- When the person I am pickup arrives late
- When the client is late
- When the distance between appointments and returning to the office will cause me to waste time commuting, I find a quiet location to work instead of wasting my time driving.
Plan your time
I will have a book along to read to do some professional education, mail to open or start on my e-mail that I downloaded before I left for the call. Sometimes I am reviewing a speech I am presenting, signing holiday cards, plan my week/ month or get in my exercise by going for a walk. Using these small expected or unexpected amounts of time well will make you more productive. I learned this technique by trial and error. I found myself sitting around waiting with nothing to do when my children were involved in activities. I quickly realized that I was wasting a lot of time and needed to plan my “spare time” as well as my work time to be able to get everything accomplished without using my family time or free time to get things completed.
Manage yourself
Time management is not about managing time it is about managing yourself. There are traps we fall into that cause anxiety and stress because:
- we are late,
- we don’t meet deadlines,
- we miss meetings,
- we are unavailable for important personal events
Determine what “traps” cause you to mismanage your behaviour making you late. Are they:
- doing one more thing that makes you late
- underestimating how much time you need to get ready and leave ( the house, for a meeting)
- thinking your time is more important than the people’s time who are waiting for you (to arrive, hand in a report), they won’t mind waiting
- procrastinating on projects, reports and commitments instead of looking for a solution to be able to complete the task on time
I can help you manage your time and streamline your routines to increase your productivity. Give me a call or text 905-321-1616
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
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One of my most productive places is on an airplane. I don’t pay for wifi access on flights, so I find that I can get a lot of reading or writing done. Almost worth taking a flight just to knock a bunch of things off my list:) At this time of year, I’m thinking a long flight to a caribbean island?
I was doing a course when my daughter asked me to go on a cruise. So I downloaded the needed information before I left and found that I got a lot done on the days at sea. It was really worth going on the cruise. I think you should take the flight.
I found that underestimating the time it takes to do something is very common. Overestimating is a great way to start getting a handle on this issue. Add 15 to 30 minutes to this estimated time usually works. Then work your way down to the right time allocation.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic.
I add 10-15 minutes to my estimation and then I have a book to read if I get there early. My problem is that I only at 10-15 minutes to events that I consider to be “really” important instead of considering all events and people to be “really” important. SOmething to work on.
I don’t use data either, so I really do need to plan things so I can do things on my phone when I’m waiting for someone or something.
Not having data allows you to step back from technology, if you want to, and focus on other tasks that need to be accomplished that might be pushed to the side.
This is an interesting idea to think about- to plan time around whether there is wifi or not. Truthfully, I don’t consider that situation very often because there usually is wifi available. However, even though that issue isn’t on my radar, I do some planning for wait time. Often I’ll bring a book to read. I prefer an actual paper book to the digital variety. Other times I like to use the time to think, plan, or just be. That waiting time can be a pause in the day or a breather. So instead of feeling pressured to make every moment productive, I use it to refresh, reset, breathe, or observe what’s going on around me. That might mean people watching (a favorite thing to do,) or seeing things that I don’t normally notice.
In not planning every moment you are planning every moment. I also use my wait time to get fresh air, take a walk, listen to a book or take a nap. As you say planning is not always to improve productive. You can plan do self-care, build relationships, consider possibilities or plan to do nothing.
I love that thought, scheduling no wifi time. Enjoy it.