“How do you manage your time with all of the things you have going on?”
This is a question I get asked often. Juggling podcast hosting, actively sitting in the CEO position of a construction company, business coaching, parenting, marriage, fitness—it is no small feat. So, how do we move past the anxiety of “doing it all” and break it down into small, actionable steps? Let’s dive in.
1. Stay focused and say “no.”
So often, business leaders operate as firefighters. We attend every requested meeting, take every phone call and put off the very things we set out to do for ourselves in order to attend to the needs of everyone around us. This is normal, but it is not optimal. We don’t need to be firefighters. We need to be strategists and effective operators.
It is important to prioritize ourselves first thing in the morning and to get our fitness and mental health routines in order. That way, no matter what happens throughout the day, we do not need to sacrifice ourselves to handle it.
I know this step sounds easier said than done, and that’s because it is. As we start to say no to people, it is going to be tough. Not everyone will understand or take it well. But, truth be told, are we really helping our team members when we fight every fire for them? No.
Our teams need to develop for growth and evolution. And in order to do that, they need to be exposed to challenges and learn how to handle them without your attention to every detail. Of course, we must support our teams, but we must do so in a way that both breeds accountability and protects our own time.
One of the tactics I like to use to determine items that need a “no” response is by categorizing tasks by $10, $100, $1,000 per hour. What stage your business is in will determine exactly where this falls for you, but the goal is to ensure you are not doing any $10/hour tasks, minimal $100/hour tasks and mostly $1,000/hour tasks. To put it simply, focus your time on things only you can do while hiring, training and delegating for the rest.
2. Build out your calendar for success.
We need to audit our calendars and make sure every critical item is in place: family, fitness, work tasks, meetings, etc. It all needs to be on the calendar to eliminate confusion and fatigue. The fewer decisions we need to make in a day, the smoother our days flow.
I build my calendar weekly in advance of the following week. I will add items much further than a week out, but every week I set my next week up for success by making sure the excess air is squeezed out. I audit my calendar and my schedule quarterly. Roughly every 90 days is a healthy timeline to double-check and make sure your current schedule still works with your life.
The practice of building out our calendars is going to take practice. It is also important not to limit when we schedule things based on when they work best for other people. We must find what is most conducive to our personal success. For some people, that will be early mornings, and for others, late nights. Some people will take breaks in the middle of the day. It doesn’t matter. There is no best practice for this. It is whatever creates the most optimal and effective version of you.
3. Practice discipline.
Once our calendars are set up for success, we need to apply discipline, which means sticking to what we committed to on our schedules. These are the items we know are most important and need our undivided attention, so it is a no-brainer that we make sure we attend to and accomplish these tasks.
We will all fall short from time to time. In the moments of falling short of the expectations I have set for myself, I have found this is when audits of what I’m doing on a day-to-day basis are most crucial. People rarely become bored, but they often become uninspired. I will consistently make sure my calendar is full of the items that inspire me to be the best version of myself so I can continue to lead from the front.
When we work to optimize our time, we are making a contract with ourselves. When we fall short of managing our time, we are letting ourselves down on a regular basis. We must prioritize our time. This is how we best serve others and ourselves.
A version of this article appeared on forbes.com, posted on July 12, 2022
EXPERD, Human Resources Consultant, Jakarta – Indonesia