A Simple Time Management Hack That Will Instantly Reduce Stress

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As a working mom with a full time career, a growing side business, two young kiddos, and a husband that travels most of the time, my life is busy.  Time management is something that has given me constant stress over the years. That was until I stumbled upon a time management hack that has significant improved my productivity and reduced my stress.

And this simple time management hack is so easy that ANYONE can do it.

The Simple Time Management Hack

And it’s as easy as this… as soon as you get a deliverable or something that you need to do, you immediately book time on your calendar to actually do the work.

For example, say I get asked to prepare a presentation for an upcoming leadership call. Immediately upon being asked, I  block out time on my calendar to prepare and practice my presentation.

 

Looking at the above example, my actual meetings or conference calls are shaded purple. My planning time is shaded yellow.  As you can see, I have planning time scheduled for any upcoming deliverables.  I also have time scheduled for other planning activities like weekly planning and weekly wrap up and reflection.  Time is blocked off for things that I want to do like having lunch with my kids and taking a walk.

Why Should you Block off Time?

Blocking out the time time ensures a.) that I  have time set aside to actually do the work  b.) most importantly, it allows me to know that I  have the time set aside. This allows me to relax a bit and focus on what is in front of me, versus worrying about all of the other things that I     have to do.

See, I was in the habit of moving through my week taking more things and talking about doing work, and not actually finding the time to DO the work. I was in the habit of working late at night and on the weekends consistently.

Once I started immediately blocking out time on my calendar, I found that I could really focus on what I was doing in the moment knowing that time was already blocked off for other things. I got out of the habit of worrying about my future workload and I was able to really focus on the present. My stress level dramatically decreased, essentially overnight.

Another benefit of this simple time management hack is that I have enough time during the day for all of the things that I  have on my calendar. I control my day versus others controlling my day which is a great feeling to have.

So let’s walk through a couple of things to keep in mind…

Use Your Calendar

This time management strategy will only work if you use your calendar. Planning out your day and week will allow you to control your time and budget it accordingly.  Without using your calendar, you are essentially leaving your productivity up to chance.

Format of calendar is entirely up to you.  Some people do well with a beautiful planner,  some people do well with your phone’s calendar, and some people work well with a blank sheet of paper.  The key is what works, not what is pretty or what everyone else uses.

Figure out the Required Time

The hardest part of this trick is knowing how much time you will need. Some things are easy to determine how much time you will need, such as scheduling a doctors appointment or meeting.   Some things like preparing a report or cleaning out your basement can be harder to figure out.

For the more complicated tasks that you don’t know how much time you will need, book the time a bit earlier than you will need. For example, if your boss asks you to prepare a presentation for Friday you should try to book time on Tuesday or Wednesday to complete. That way if you need some extra time, you still have a couple of days to complete.

Over time, you will gain a better sense of how long things take and you can plan more accurately.

Ensure Other’s Protect Your Time

A key to ensuring this time management hack works is ensuring that people respect your time. YOU own your time, no one else does. So often, we let other’s control our time with their wants and needs.  You need to take back control or your time in order to be truly productive.  This means that you may need to educate people that you work with, employees, or even family members on protecting your time.

Don’t let people schedule meetings during times that are blocked off and don’t allow people to take you away from what you are scheduled to be doing. I know this sounds very rigid, but it’s necessary. People will only respect your time if you respect it first.

Ensure that people can see your availability (they don’t need details just whether you are busy or not) and don’t accept any meeting that falls during a busy time. If it is an emergency and need time when you are blocked, just have them contact you and explain when and how they need.

So there you have it, a simple time management hack that will help you control your time and reduce stress!

What other simple ime management hacks do you use?  Have you tried this strategy before? How did it work out?  Leave a comment below!

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