Ep.2/ Three Time Management Hacks
Grab a seat & tune in!
↑↑↑ Subscribe to the show or listen on Spotify by clicking the little radar icon in the middle!
Whether you're starting out in your business, or already have been running for a few years, you're probably juggling between many roles at the same time. Maybe you're servicing your clients, doing the marketing, the admin and paperwork, and on top of this, maybe you want time for self-care, social life, family life.
In this episode, I'm going to share with you 3 hacks so you can reclaim your time and have more peace of mind navigating your business and personal life.
Hack #1: Track your time to increase self-awareness
I use the Toggle free app, but I also use to do it manually on an Excel spreadsheet.
Knowing precisely where your times are going allows you to draw attention to what could be streamlined or eliminated.
Hack #2: Allocate less time for each activity to become more time-efficient
The time you allocate is the time you will end up using. What if you cut down the time by 15 minutes? If you have 3 activities that normally would take 3 hours, if you allocated 15 minutes less for each, you will gain 45 minutes!
I started to do this, sometimes I can really keep in the timing sometimes I’ll go over it, but that’s OK. I think that if you set it as an intention to spend less time on it, you'll definitely end up using less time and become more time-efficient!
Hack #3: Check and respond to emails and messages at designated hours instead of any time to become proactive instead of reactive
[ “Make an estimate on how many times are you are distracted during an average workday, by your emails and message notifications? Now take that number and multiply it by 25. That’s how many minutes of concentration you’re losing.
It takes an average of about 25 minutes (23 minutes and 15 seconds, to be exact) to return to the original task after an interruption, according to Gloria Mark, who studies digital distraction at the University of California, Irvine."
In other words, that “30 seconds to check Twitter” isn’t just 30 seconds down the drain. It’s 25 minutes and 30 seconds.” ] Extract from How Distractions At Work Take Up More Time Than You Think by Blake Thorne.
Other things I did to eliminate email and messages’ distractions:
I set up an automated email responder to set expectations and tell people that I will get back to them within the next 48 hours Monday-Friday. So this takes out the pressure to have to check my emails all the time.
I compartment my personal conversations and my business conversations, and for my clients, I use a separate platform called Voxer. This way, I'm not tempted to check all the time, I can check it at designated hours, and I can give my full support and attention.
When I check my emails on a daily basis, I will move the emails in folders. I have 20! But the main 2 that I will check at my designated email hours will be: Important/, Urgent and then "Follow-up", and then "Send later". That's because if I write email replies, I will schedule them for sending at a later time, to avoid "email ping pong"- that would be unproductive. This would be a less intentional way of using time, and basically being reactive instead of proactive.
Conclusion
Making the right changes and shifts in your business and life starts with creating more self-awareness and having this crystal clear clarity on how you spend your time. So you an break through the unconscious patterns and start using your time more intentionally so you can focus on what really makes an impact in your business.
It’s worth knowing the true cost of distractions.
Links and resources mentioned in this episode;
Article by Blake Thorne: How Distractions At Work Take Up More Time Than You Think
Voxer for voices notes and messages with my private clients
