On the podcast this week, I talk about time management and productivity.
I’ve finally figured out what is missing for women on this topic!
Everyone needs a schedule. You need a plan and you need to proactively tell yourself what you should be doing. Because if you don’t, you will just end up sidetracked and distracted.
I haven’t talked about time management and productivity very much in the past. That is because I think that you need to get physically organized first before you can get mentally organized.
This is a little different from what you’re used to hearing me say. I do think that change happens in your mind first and then in your physical reality – as far as getting physically organized and decluttered.
But when it comes to productivity and time management, we’re at a whole new level. Now we are visualizing what change will look like and mentally making the changes.
That is why I want to make this physical for you. I have created some AMAZING printables that I’m so happy to share with you.
They also go with episodes Morning Routines For The Modern Day Woman and Creating Afternoon & Evening Routines on routines – all of the podcasts that they relate to are explained in the printable itself.
Making changes to our time management and how we manage our schedule does not happen overnight.
I have devised 4 steps for creating a plan for time management.
Steps 1 & 2: Morning and Afternoon & Evening Routines
I recently created two podcast episodes on my morning routine and my afternoon and evening routines.
Thank you for all the feedback that I’ve received on these episodes – I loved recording them and they’ve been really well received.
Many people talk about morning and evening routines, but for me, my afternoon routine is my most important routine right now (between 2-5 pm – after my productive work).
In this week’s podcast episode, I talk you through exactly what I want you to do to create your routines and my worksheet will help you formulate one – just add ONE new thing into your morning, afternoon, and evening routine.
Step 3: Work out all of the roles that you are responsible for in the household
This step is going to overwhelm you!
I take you through the task of working out how many roles you are responsible for when it comes to running your household.
There are A LOT of roles and you will be surprised how many relate to you. For example, healthcare coordinator, taxi driver, vacation planner, etc.
On the worksheet, you are then asked to work out all of your ‘to-dos’ for each role. You may find this difficult, but give it your best shot!
To put this into context – a couple of years ago, I completed a time study for me and Greg. We discovered we were spending 36 hours a week on household and childcare-related tasks.
Step 4: Plan your time and create a schedule
In this final step on my worksheet, you actually plan your time. You create a schedule.
The focus is on being PRODUCTIVE. When you plan your time in advance (right down to the minutes), you will find that you have more minutes. Yes, you get more time back in your day!
You NEED a schedule – especially if you work from home.
Whether you are an entrepreneur, a work-from-home employee, a stay-at-home mom, or you have any other role that requires you to work from home, you NEED to have a schedule.
I consider “work” as your life purpose. That is how I define work. This could be paid or unpaid (i.e., stay-at-home mom). Whatever your work is, it’s your life purpose.
Time is so valuable and you can never get it back so you need to work out a schedule that ensures you do not fritter away your time.
Focus Days, Buffer Days & Free Days
I have been following Dan Sullivan for a few months now. He is a strategic coach and I’m intrigued by his ideas.
Dan has 3 types of days – I love this.
For me, I’m implementing Dan’s concept, but in a way that suits me. My 3 days are defined like this:
- Focus Day – A day where you are focused on your work and you do 3 work-related tasks per day.
- Free Days – Your non-work days. On these days, I do some work, but I don’t have big tasks to complete. It really would be impossible for me to have a completely free day.
- Buffer Days – For me, I call these days “flex days,” and they are on Tuesday and Friday. On these days, I schedule personal appointments and try to keep my work schedule flexible, and I do house and childcare tasks.
On the printable, I ask you to work out when you could incorporate these 3 types of days.
Please listen to my podcast to fully understand the tasks you need to do to complete your worksheets and develop your super-productive schedule.
Please also make sure that you listen to next week’s podcast episode. I’m going to talk about “Good, Better and Best Goals.”
