Have you noticed one thing that separates us from the rest? And yes, I know what you’re thinking. There are lots of aspects that makes us stand out from the crowd. We are differentiated by our mindsets, personalities and educational qualifications. But you know, there is one thing that both the rich and poor share equally. That is TIME. Time is indeed priceless and it is equally distributed amongst everyone. In fact, what defines you is how well you manage your time.
Let me put it in a much clearer way. The time that you have in your hands is the same amount as what someone like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk have. There is a thin line that differentiates both of us and that is UTILIZATION.
In today’s world, it has become a norm that when someone calls themselves busy 24*7, you look up to them and think that “Man, this person has his life figured out and is in the work mode full time”. But in my defense, I must confess one thing and (i.e.) Being Busy and being productive are two very different things and one should never glorify or take a busy signal as a badge of honor.
Now, that we have cleared the air off, let’s get straight into today’s post
7 POWERFUL TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR THE BUSY MILLENNIAL
(i) Take ownership of your time
There are times where I get asked this question a lot and it is,” How do you have time to write a blog, do your masters, learn multiple languages and hit the gym amidst a full-time career?”. This might seem blatant, but truth is, I consider that my time is only mine and not in control of my family or friends. This kind of mindset didn’t happen overnight. It took me a lot of trial-and-error methods to actually come to a conclusion to what suited my lifestyle and what didn’t.
If I can sum this up in one word, it is “PRIORITIES”. To make it seem more simpler, let me tell you this…You make time for what seems important to you and to your life. It’s not that you don’t have time to study. It’s that, learning is not a priority for you. And no offense, I don’t wish to critique you in any way, but what I am trying to say is, if you have the hunger to do something, you will make time for it, irrespective of your conditions.
(ii) Minimizing distractions
Our smartphones – and now smartwatches – have blurred the line between personal and professional communication. We can now receive work emails and phone calls on the same device as private Facebook comments, Instagram photos, and an array of other personal information. Given such technology's addictive nature, policies to control their use at work are rarely effective, as it's hard to enforce rules about what people can look at on their own devices.
It’s usually more helpful if individuals understand and manage the challenge themselves. For example, you have a plan of writing a blog post or shooting a video, but there is a notification that pops up in your mobile and you just grab your phone hoping to look at it, only for 5 minutes and before you even realize it, 30 mins would have gone in a whiff. And this is the reason why, discipline needs to come in the picture. Mute social media notifications or turn your device into airplane mode to eliminate distractions and then watch your productivity boost up.
(iii) Parkinson’s Principle
According to Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law) , Parkinson’s law is the adage that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". In lame man terms, it is defined as the process of getting more work done in less time. By assigning the right amount of time to a task, we gain back more time, and the task will reduce in complexity to its natural state. The fact is like let’s say you have an assignment coming up 2 months from now, in all fairness, you will want to finish it in the nook of the moment rather than doing one small thing every day. And that’s exactly where this rule applies. The rule says that, breaking the huge task into smaller doable tasks everyday will yield better results and make us more stress free rather than burning the midnight oil to finish it off.
(iv) Master the art of saying “NO”
It’s a common misunderstanding that successful people say “yes” to everything. In fact, when we do this, our performance suffers, making it impossible for us to keep on top of everything. In the end, we let everyone down — especially ourselves. While it’s true that we should jump on opportunities that benefit our long-term goals and provide us with contentment — many people confuse this with the idea of saying “yes” to anyone who asks for a favor or presents us with an opportunity. Of course, the reason people like to say “yes” is obvious; it’s the hope that the favor or opportunity will somehow weave itself into their ultimate goals.
By constantly saying “yes”, you won’t have the time or bandwidth to dedicate to things that are important to you (such as your career, hobbies and family). And — despite what you might think — you’ll come across as lacking confidence, as other people will consciously or unconsciously perceive you as someone with low assertiveness when it comes to your own needs and boundaries. Another factor that stops people (perhaps even yourself) from saying no, is a fear of disappointing others. While this is an understandable fear, remember that you have to take care of yourself; and if you’re overly stressed and tired, you won’t be of much help to those you dedicate your time to.
(v) Delegation is key
It’s difficult to manage everything all alone, especially in the case if you’re a solopreneur or a busy entrepreneur. Yes, it does become stressful and overwhelming and that’s the reason why, before the work consumes us, it is effective in delegating the work to your team members and keep the most important tasks that needs your highest attention to yourself. Delegation not only gives leaders time for strategic thinking, but it also allows them to focus on other tasks that only they can perform, such as leading and coaching their teams
(vi) Content batching
Today’s content creators are not the ones who are doing it full time, but they are rather the folks who juggle content creation alongside their personal chores or a full-time job. Once you learn how to batch-produce your content step by step, you’ll see why it’s a brilliant strategy for not only saving time but also for being impressively creative, focused, and productive. To do content batching, the first step that you need to do is a total brainstorm. Grab a piece of scrap paper, or open up a new document. List as many ideas as you can for your blog (or your newsletter, blog etc.). Some of your ideas might be unworkable, boring, or lacking originality. Others will be spot-on. By letting yourself write down everything, including the bad ideas, you can get to the interesting ones. Once you’ve got a bunch of ideas, you can move on to batching content.
(vii) Applications to the rescue
I know this seems contradictory. Because, right in the first part of this post, I had asked you to put your phone in airplane mode, but hear me out on this one! I have been personally using this one app, whenever I feel like I have been moving out of the line or in the mood for procrastination. It is none other than the Forest App. Forest is a unique reinvention of time management apps.
This unique and fun app helps you stay focused and on-track by making you focus on another thing. The concept is simple: whenever you want to focus, plant a virtual tree. If you stay focused, the tree will grow. If you lose focus, the tree will die. As the app’s name implies, you can grow multiple trees to create a virtual forest!
Sounds fun right?
Here is the link to the app, if you wanna check it out: https://www.forestapp.cc/
So, there you have it guys!
I hope this post helps you in rekindling your relationship with time and smashing your goals down the way
Happy Managing!
Comments