How to Take Back Control of Your Time

We know that time management can have a powerful impact on people. It can reduce stress and propel people to success they never even dreamed of, as if by magic. 

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Identify your time bandits: what tasks or activities do you do that you probably don’t need to? This could be personal time-wasters like going on social media or browsing the internet. Or it could be work-related tasks that you don’t really need to do, or shouldn’t be responsible for. Perhaps you do a colleague’s report when they could do it themselves. Or you produce regular updates, but know that no one reads them. Have a real think about the time bandits in your life, and consider why you do them.
• Set some goals: Big or small, goals are a huge part of time management and productivity. Not to mention well-being and personal satisfaction. You’ve probably already got some ideas floating around in your mind, but now’s the time to write them down and really get invested. It’s also a great prompt to address those time bandits, because odds are, they aren’t helping your goals.
• Devise a plan: you can’t achieve a goal without a plan, and you can’t manage your time without one either. So take some real time to draw up a robust plan. Think about what you want to achieve, the things that might get in your way, and those that will help you. Then decide on each step, and begin doing them.

• Watch out for self sabotage: there’s no denying that a lack of time management can sometimes be a self-sabotage technique. It’s probably not intentional, but it is powerful. Maybe you’ve become subscribed to the idea that ‘I’m busy’ means ‘I’m important’, and don’t want to sacrifice tasks because you worry people (including yourself) will view you as less important. Or maybe you’re carrying around a fear or failure or success, which means you secretly don’t want to achieve your goals. These are all totally normal feelings, but are not helpful. So watch out for behaviour that’s taking you off-track, and keep telling yourself that you can do this, and you are worthy.
• Keep going: sometimes you might make amazing strides one week, and slide all the way back to the beginning of the board the next. That’s fine, but don’t give up. Dust yourself off and try again. But if you keep trying the same thing and it never seems to work, try something else for a while. You might find that your time management needs are actually different to your best friend’s or your boss’s.

The ideas above are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of time management skills. If you’d like to do a deep dive, and really get on top of your time, you can book on to our one day Prioritisation and Decision Making public course, and take your skills to the next level, view our Public Programme Dates, to see the next available training date for this course. To book your or find out more, place please email us on training@underscore-group.com.

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