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We all want more time.

But as much as we crave more time, most of us, especially in our work world, do a poor job in managing how we spend our hours.

For women nonprofit Executive Directors the feeling of never having enough time is steroid-infused.

In addition to work demands, they have the primary responsibility of tending to all the logistics and care-taking needs of their family.

We set ambitious plans during our commute to work, even if that trip is no further than the kitchen table.

But too often, at the end of the day, only a portion of what you planned to accomplish was achieved. Not having enough time leaves us feeling perpetually rushed, anxious and like a failure.

How can we tame the beast of never having enough time?

Today’s episode will look at four ways you can create smart work habits to help you gain greater control of day.

You can read the full transcript at relish your role.com/8

Four Steps to Stop Wasting time

To begin to make better use of your time at work I offer these four steps.

  1. Know your time saboteurs
  2. Make small incremental changes in your daily habits
  3. Acknowledge the difference of these changes
  4. Set aside time to do nothing

Know Your Time Saboteurs

Could you identify your time-wasting work habits?

You can only change your habits once you are aware of them. 

It sounds simple but the first step to gaining mastery of your time is to be aware of the ways in which you allow minutes to pass without making the best use of them.

We either know exactly what our time wasters are, or we don’t.

If you have a general sense that you have let time slip without much to show for it but are not sure how that happened, the first step is to identify those habits which are wasting your time.

Take one week and be hyper aware of how you spend your time at work.  You might want to keep a journal noting how you spent your time throughout the day.

Look for the patterns that emerge.

Are you the one who is always cleaning and restocking the office kitchen?

Do you ‘reward’ yourself by scrolling social media?

Do you continually take a pause and check your email in the middle of a task?

Do you have three or more files on different subjects open on your computer at once and toggle back and forth?

Are you first to arrive and last to leave at the informal staff chats?

You know where I am going with this.  Be brave and identify the time wasters in your workday.

Small Steps to Gain Back your Time

If you are in the second camp and know exactly what your bad time management habits are (I am guilty of compulsively checking my email). Pick one time suck behavior to address.

It is always best to start with the one you think will be easiest to control.

Set a goal for yourself on lessening your reliance on that habit for two weeks.

So, if you are a nonstop email checker, set a goal of just opening that screen hourly.  You may eventually get to the point where you are comfortable just checking a few times throughout the workday.

If you are the social butterfly, set yourself a clear goal of how much time you will chat before returning to work.

If you are always checking your phone, stow it away in a place where you have to get up to see it.

You follow where I am going, aim to cut down these behaviors, just exercise small moments of control.

It will build your confidence and most importantly you will feel better when you see your to-do list getting smaller

Acknowledge progress

The goal is to increase your self-awareness of your personal time wasters and make incremental changes to your daily habits, so you don’t always feel behind.

You will find by cutting down on the distractions you bring your full attention to the tasks at hand.

When we are locked in on a task we tend to produce better work, limiting the need to continually redo and revise the initial effort.

I am not suggesting never taking a break.  It is important to take healthy breaks which break up your brain waves and leave you energized. 

But breaks that are compulsive, leave you continually agitated and non-focused is a negative spiral.  I have never spoken to anyone who tells me they feel refreshed after scrolling social media for 10 minutes.

Being able to set a small goal to shift a habit and achieving that goal deserves recognition. 

Progress supports progress.  By noting the change in your behavior, you will feel empowered and most likely want to push a little further.

Most importantly you do not leave the office feeling like you did not get anything done.  Feeling good gives us the energy to seek out additional behaviors that make us feel better not worse.

Which leads me to the power of doing nothing.

Importance of doing nothing

There is a body of science called attention management which examines the amount of time the human brain can productively attend to a task.  It is focused on the ability of the brain to synthesize various stimuli and process the information.

 It is a complicated formulaic enterprise, but the upshot is -because of the way our brains are wired, our ability to focus is hampered when it has to process different stimuli at once, like listening to the radio while you are writing or eating and reading simultaneously. 

It is scientifically proven that is hard to initially concentrate when you have multiple stimulation at once.

Do you notice that you cease to hear the background noise once you get immersed in reading?

Your brain is like your cell phone -it needs time to recharge after it is heavily taxed.  Think about how often you need to recharge your phone after spending a day using google maps.  It is the same thing as having the radio on while you toggle between computer screens for an extended period.

Your brain needs to reset.  At work it is extremely productive to unplug occasionally.  Step back from the computer, put the phone down and let your mind recharge.

Notice I did not suggest scrolling through Facebook as a way to revive.  You are using the same part of your brain processing system when you scroll online. 

To recharge you need to give your brain a break from the same stimuli and expose it to something different, using a different set of neurons.

Research says the best thing to do it to take a walk, move your body, allow your other senses, those of smell and sensate to get exercised.  A ten-minute walk outside around the building lets your brain reboot and return with new energy to focus on cognitive tasks.

These are simple steps.  Part of my 5-month signature system helps you develop other smart systems and habits to leave you with head space to tackle the big issues facing your agency.

A good first step is to identify counterproductive habits, setting attainable goals to cut them down and noting your progress.

Now go reward yourself with a quick walk around the block.


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