Stop Trying to Manage Time… Shift to Managing Your Tasks
“I need more hours in my work day to get everything done!” You’ve probably said this exact phrase to yourself on multiple occasions, right? It feels like no matter what actions are taken, you are always struggling to get everything done. All the while wishing you could just add a few more hours to your day or your week so everything on your list would be done. Like everyone else, you just need more TIME!
The truth: You can’t manage time.
Wait… what? You have read many of this NYC Professional Office Organizer’s blogs and know that I frequently talk about time management. So, what do I mean? The truth is that there is no possible way to use more than 24 hours in any given day. You can’t “manage” the time – you can’t hold on to minutes and hours and add them to your next day. There’s no extra time that you can borrow or purchase. There is just 24 hours each day, and that’s it.
So, what do you do instead?
There is only one thing that you can manage. That is YOURSELF. You have control over your own focus and productivity. You can control how much time you dedicate towards a project, and you can control how you limit distractions. You can control how your office is set up and organized and whether or not the space effectively and efficiently supports your daily activities. You can control the number of tasks you take on each day. There are strategies that can be applied to help you manage your tasks… but there isn’t a strategy that allows you to manage time itself.
How to manage your tasks.
When you can shift your mindset away from trying to control time, you can start to focus on implementing strategies that can successfully improve your productivity. Start by prioritizing your projects and each day’s related tasks. Track everything that needs to be completed in a calendar system, a to-do list, or a project management program…or a combination of these tools. The tasks that don’t require your expertise can then be outsourced or delegated to someone else on your team. You then can spend your valuable time only working on what really needs to be done. Limit distractions, alleviate procrastination, and improve focus so that your finite time at work is not wasted.
This mindset shift can be somewhat challenging to embrace and many people find themselves begging for just more time to get everything done. Instead of focusing on what you can’t do, shift your power and start focusing on what you can. For more time management strategies, reach out to this NYC Professional Office Organizer today.