Managing your Day

Very often, even if we have a good idea of what we want to accomplish, a day can be hijacked the moment we open our emails! We all recognise the scenario: dealing with other people's problems, being handed sudden deadlines, fire-fighting, answering the phone and being pulled into a situation that started outside our control, etc. etc.

So here are some ideas that help some people to manage their day and their time better. None of them rocket science, but sometimes it's the simple things that make the biggest difference.

Perhaps some of them might work for you?

Have an effective 'to do' list

Gina Trapani's blog, how to write to do lists that work, identifies that what makes a 'to do' list effective is to write down the items following two simple rules, making tasks small and specific - being as helpful as possible in enabling yourself to easily tick them off your list as DONE

• chunk it down into specific, manageable actions - so if you have a larger project or goal, break it down into manageable chunks and list them in the order they need to be done in. This forces you to think it through in a practical way and keep reducing it down into simple, immediate actions you can do without resistance.
• Make each item a call to action - using precise verbs such as 'call', 'email' or 'write'. Include any details that will help you to do it. So if you need to call somebody, write their number in the list so it makes it easy for you to complete.

Develop helpful rituals

In his article, 'an 18-minute plan for managing your day', Peter Bregman asks the question, how many people have too much time and not enough to do? Unsurprisingly, he says, nobody has ever claimed to be that person!

In order to achieve what's important to you, Bergman suggests it helps to develop a ritual for managing your time, following that same ritual every day deliberately and wisely, developing

1. Set your plan for the day (do this even before turning on your computer) Write down what you can realistically accomplish today that will move you towards your important goals and mean you will feel satisfaction at the end of the day. Importantly, Bergman says you must identify when and where you will do each thing, putting the most important ones at the beginning of the day.
2. Refocus every hour by setting your watch, computer or phone to alert you to step back, take a deep breath and review whether you have spent the past hour productively. Then recommit to the next hour, clear as to what you will be doing and why that is important to you. Manage your day hour by hour in this way, remaining conscious and focused on how you are managing your time.
3. Review at the end of the day. Shut down your computer, sit quietly for a moment and review what worked, what you focused on, what you learned and what you will implement going forwards.

Make a list for tomorrow

Some people find that compiling an outline list for the following day can be a useful way to finish your working day. It means you feel you are ahead of the game in the morning, secure in the knowledge that you have downloaded what was on your mind the day before. This can also be helpful as a ritual to enable you to switch off before going on to your evening.

What matters is that you find the rituals that work most effectively for you.

"Until you value yourself, you will not value your time.
Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it."