One of the reasons we give ourselves for why we give up on our New Year’s resolution is that we just don’t have the time. Another reason is that our circumstances have changed, but both come down to the same point: time. I went into a few other reasons why we give up on our resolutions and how to improve our chances for success in the last few weeks (see here and here respectively), but I thought it best to address these reasons in their own post as my last one was getting very wordy, and these are some of the reasons that are most commonly given.
The best response if what you are trying to do is really important to you and that you decided this for yourself is to learn time-management. It doesn’t seem the most interesting concept, but it is important. Most people don’t know how they use their time and don’t realise that they waste more than they think. When researching tips and tricks for this week, a plain Google search on “time-management” yields over 10 billion results (at the time of this writing). With so much information available, how are we so bad at managing our time? It seems to come down to two basic things. Knowledge and expectations.
We can be masters of organisation, but if we are consistently over- or under-estimating the time it takes to perform an action then no matter how well we are organized or plan, there are often unpredictable or chaotic situations that we are unprepared for and that stop us in our tracks. So, expectations that everything will go as we plan when we try to manage our time is the other variable that can throw a wrench into things.
So, what exactly is time-management?
The starting point as I’ve mentioned in previous posts is to understand the concept. There are almost as many definitions as there are sites who talk about this (so a lot…) but the few I looked at had a few things in common and mostly to do with managing time to get things done. Then a few specified to get things done efficiently and productively, so that you put the right amount of time with the right activities, or, and I personally like this definition, that you organize and plan your tasks in a way that no area of your life suffers for others to survive. In line with this, another source states that you accomplish not just your daily tasks but your larger life goals. Whenever I read definitions like this it almost sounds too good to be true.
So, when definitions are this vague, I go personal. What does it mean to me? I know there are daily, weekly, and monthly tasks that need to get done. For a multitude of reasons, such as health and for my house not to fall around my ears. I also have goals and resolutions that I want to reach and accomplish. Time is a limited and limiting factor. There are only so many hours in a day and only a fraction of that can be spent on certain tasks or goals, the rest is spent on survival (eating, sleeping, working etc.) and relationships (kids, friends, parents, partners and so on). So, time management is supposed to help us get through our lists of tasks and keep enough time left over for the good stuff. A lot of the tips I’ve read focus more on time and forget that as humans we also have energy levels.
It is foolish to think we will have the same energy levels every day and pushing ourselves beyond our limits can be do-able but long-term consequences are detrimental to our physical and mental health as we can burn ourselves out. Learning to adapt our plans to both the time and energy levels we have, and the ever-evolving nature of life and its unpredictability means that it’s a very hard skill to master, but a useful one.
So how can you succeed with time-management? There are a few techniques, but it really depends on your personality and how well you can adapt to change and tolerate stress. Some recommend blocking (or chunking) your time and do tasks that are alike in that period. For other techniques, you block time then use a timer to keep out distractions, increase your focus and take breaks between blocks of time, like the Pomodoro technique. That works well if you have an hour or two a day to devote to what you are learning. But what if that is not possible?
With work and other demands on our time, one of the reasons given why we don’t succeed with our New Year’s Resolutions is that our circumstances change, or we just don’t have the time. Often, these are the excuses our brain comes up to avoid doing something we find boring or uncomfortable. One of the best recommendations I found, if this is the case, is to analyse that thought and re-frame it in a way that our brains will find less uncomfortable and so will be less likely to try to find excuses and procrastinate or avoid it. I will investigate this more when I write about procrastination.
If time is the limiting factor and you can’t do an hour or two, but maybe you can find 10-15 minutes to work on your goals or projects? It is important to take the time to re-energize yourself. If you find yourself drained after every day and unable to recuperate, then that may mean that you are feeling overwhelmed and there may be hard choices to make. Can’t find 10-15 minutes? Find 5 minutes in your day. That is reasonable right?
If motivation is the issue and you find yourself procrastinating, I will go into depth for this topic but a teaser for this that will help you keep your resolutions is to change your goal. Maybe the way you set it is too hard or too easy for you. Do you find it boring? Do you find it overwhelming? Change it up. We set goals, but it is important to consider them as waypoints on a map and enjoy the journey to get there.
Finally, another important tip is as we saw with self-control (last week), we have a limited amount of willpower and self-control as the day progresses. So, the trick here is to get the most important things done first as you are more likely to get interrupted and for circumstances to change as the day progresses. It also has emotional and mental health benefits as what is more important to you is more likely to get done. Alternatively, if there are things that you have been putting off and that you find more unpleasant it is recommended you do them first as you have more self-control in the mornings usually and that frees you up sooner for the more pleasant things you have planned.
Conclusion
There are so many more tips and tricks, but I will need more time to research them, especially for creative endeavors as it can be a bit different and a bit harder given the realities of a creative business. With so much information available, it means one week of research can barely scratch the surface of this complex issue. I will give more resources below that can help until the next time I tackle this subject. It may not be next week, but I will definitely revisit this subject at a later date.
A final piece of advice: be kind to yourself. No one is perfect and this is a hard skill to master. If you don’t get it right the first time, just try something else. Eventually we will all figure it out and we will be wizards at getting the things we want done.
What do you find is the hardest thing when managing time? Did you find tricks that work for yourself? If so, what do you do? If not, what do you think your biggest block is and what excuse do you give yourself? Please share in the comments.
Thank you for reading.
“You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”
– Charles Buxton
Resources:
https://www.tonyrobbins.com/importance-time-management/time-management-skills/
https://students.dartmouth.edu/academic-skills/learning-resources/time-management-tips
https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/undergraduates/resources/resource-library/effective-time-management
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/time-management
Pomodoro technique information:
https://www.verywellmind.com/pomodoro-technique-history-steps-benefits-and-drawbacks-6892111
When I have things that need to be done I do them first thing in the morning or otherwise I will not get to it because I will tell myself that I don’t have the time. Well more likely I will not take the time to do them I will get busy on other things that I like doing more.
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