The Problem With Time Management

Google strategies and tips for Time Management.  There’s a lot.  And, you have likely tried many of them – even invested in courses and products.  If they help you, great!  If however, you are:

1. Getting your To Do’s DONE but not feeling like you are making progress, or don’t have the work/life balance you wish for… or
2. You’re NOT getting your To Do’s done, and you’re feeling overwhelmed…
3. Always procrastinating, dreading the work needing to be done…

It may be TIME to pause and try something that shifts EVERYTHING!

The problem with a normal Time Management strategy is that it organizes our time by TASK, and it assumes that completing those tasks will create success.

We all know that is not true.

Normal Time Management strategies teach us how to create and track to-do lists, delegate, prioritize, and learn to say no.  This is often a re-active approach to incoming demands from others. 

Instead, let’s take charge!

You know the importance of taking time for yourself, and finding balance, and yet the To Do list is so long and things keep getting added…

Instead, let’s start measuring our success in terms of the impact we have on others.  What is the impact we are seeking today, tomorrow, a year from now? Where do we want to focus our time (internally and externally) to create the possibility to have that desired impact?

I’ve learned many lessons in time management from being a professional Interim CEO; leading 9 organizations through periods of change.  In those roles, I knew that while it was impossible to get all the tasks completed, I needed to create impact very quickly.  I learned how to prioritize and choose where I could create the MOST impact.  The integrated methodology I created, and that is utilized in The Career (Life!) Breakthrough Academy, is now helping leaders around the world, as well as my team of professionals at The Symphony.

Managing our time, mindfully choosing where to place our time and resources is the most important practice we can learn. It’s a profound subject for me. Creating solutions that work for each of us, must always start… with us.  

• What is my purpose? What are my superpowers? What is the impact I am meant to have in the world when I’m feeling joy?
• Do I have an underlying belief that completing tasks defines my value, and is a characteristic of being professional? Am I carrying a belief or measure of perfection into my work?
• Am I avoiding or procrastinating out of fear of failing or imposter syndrome… or am I accurately sensing that the task at hand will not have the impact that matters to me?

Meanwhile, here are some prompts that you can play with today:

• What do I want to be celebrating by the end of the week/month/year?  Why? Who will benefit and why does that matter so much?
• Instead of striving to finish 100% of my tasks on my To Do list, what are the top 1-3 things I can do today to create the possibility that that the impact that is so important can occur?
• What can I do to help “Move the Needle?”

Now, make your To Do List of tasks for the coming week:

• Categorize your tasks into “Buckets of Impact”/”Moving the Needle.”
• What are all the different ways you can achieve the impact in each of those Buckets (or create the possibility for the impact) – even if you can’t get all the tasks done?
• Hint:  sometimes it is having a conversation, sometimes it’s taking a day off to regroup or rest, or doing something that on the surface appears to be “unimportant” but creates the possibility for creating the impact you’re seeking tomorrow.

Have fun, be kind to yourself, and explore (and celebrate!) all the ways you are making a difference, even when you don’t get everything on your To Do list done! Check out another Blog on To Do Lists HERE

As always, let me know what thoughts this Blog brings up, and where you want to choose to focus your time as we head into the Summer.

To your success!

Kathryn
Next Chapter Coach
Creator of The Career (Life!) Breakthrough Academy^TM