To improve your time management, spend some time identifying what’s working well and what’s not.
Taking a moment to step back and evaluate and assess your relationship to time will help you clarify your use-of-time strengths and weaknesses. No matter how out of control your life may seem, there are always some things that are working for you—in addition to a list of things that may not be working in your favor. Let’s take a closer look at both.
Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently promoting what’s not working.
What’s working?
It’s invaluable to examine what’s naturally working in your favor. You’ll discover that you actually have some time-management skills—even if they’re only selectively applied at the moment.
Think about what’s working for you—this can be a free-form exercise, or you can use the prompt below to help you get started:
- No matter how busy I get, I always have time for…
- My goals are well defined when it comes to…
- I’m pretty clear on how long it takes me to…
- I never procrastinate about…
- I’m never late for…
- I have no problem exercising when…
- I have no problem tackling difficult projects when…
- I always build in transition time between…
- It’s easy for me to say no to…
- Meeting deadlines is easiest for me when…
- I’m at my happiest when I’m…
- The things that I delegate easily are…
Now look over your answers and see what you can learn from yourself:
- Why these particular things are working?
- Are you completing certain tasks because you enjoy them?
- Or, are you very skilled at them?
- Are you responding to external pressers (extrinsic) or to intern pressures (intrinsic)?
- Does it have to do with the time of day that you choose to do them?
- Or does it have to do with the amount of time each one takes?
- Are you better at doing solitary tasks than collaboratives ones?
- What makes these things work?
Your heart will always tell you what’s working and what’s not.
What’s not working?
Now that you see that you actually are managing some of your time well, and have some clues as to why, it’s time to ask about what’s not working:
- I never have time to…
- I spend way too much time on…
- I don’t have well-defined goals for…
- One thing I wish I could do every day is…
- I always underestimate how long it takes to…
- I procrastinate whenever I have to…
- I’m usually late for…
- I have a hard time finishing…
What’s not working is a lesson learned. Success is a lesson applied.
Take a look at this list and compare it to your list of What’s Working. If you’re having trouble starting or finishing certain tasks and not others, as yourself why. In some cases, things aren’t working because you need to develop certain skills. Your answers to these questions become the list of things you want to fix this year. One place to look at is the PlanPlus Online blog page and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
