Thursday, April 5, 2012

Time Management

    With the recent change in my life I've had a hard time deciding to do with my time and when to get things done. I feel so scattered. I'll start a project only to stop halfway through and start a new one, thinking I have to get this done now or I won't ever get it done, then I proceed to start the process over again when I walk into the next room. Having a newborn throws a wrench into things, especially when I don't have a plan for the day. I find myself cooing at her, watching her wiggle around without getting anywhere, reading her books, singing to her, and thinking what a cute baby she is when my husband texts me and tells me he's on his way home from work. The house is a wreck, dinner isn't going to be ready by the time he comes home, and I wonder what happened to the day? Not that it's bad to love on your baby, that's not at all what I'm saying, but all things in moderation, right?
  I was in a good routine for about 12 years. (Potential exercise) In Mary Kay they had us write down our goals for 20 years from now, 15 years, 10 years, 5 years, and 1 year. Then we broke down, based on our 10 year goals, what ratio of our lives would be dedicated to which of our goals (mine: family 30%, business 15%, education 10%, spiritual 20% writing 20%, vacation 5%).  Then I broke down my activities for the previous day. We worked out how much of what we did was related to our 10 year goals. Based on 16 hours of productive time in the day, how much of that time did we spend working on something relating to our goals. You're doing good when 70% of your daily activity relates back to your goal. Well mine, at the time, was 89%! Looking at my schedule yesterday, I don't think I could say the same. So what happened? Well, change happened. My life is so different than before and since my life has changed my schedule needs to change too. My 12 years of time management training has kicked in and I've become reinvigorated. I can tell already (since 11am today) that I'm becoming more productive and thought I'd share!
  Let's begin with the perfect day.  It has been a long time since I've updated my perfect day, but having it helps me to know that I don't need to get everything done all at once and I even have my fun (reading time) planned into my day.
Question for you: What would you want to accomplish in a day to make you super happy and productive? Be generic but plan it out hour by hour, minute by minute, etc. 
  For example: I came up with my own plan today while sitting in Hillside Tire and Auto Repair in Sandy, UT (great place by the way) waiting for my oil to be changed.

Perfect Day Schedule
8:10-8:30 Spiritual Time (scriptures, prayer, etc)
8:30-9:00 Breakfast and get kids out the door
9:00-9:30 Feed Baby & get her ready for the day
9:30-10:15 Exercise
10:15-11:45 Clean
11:45-12:30 Study Writing/Feed Baby
12:30-1:00 Lunch/Errands
1:00-1:30 House Project/Errands
1:30-3:30 Writing/Feed Baby
3:30-3:45 Clean
3:45-4:30 Kids/Snack/Homework
4:30-6:00 Project/Kids
6:00-6:30 Make Dinner/Feed Baby
6:30-7:30 Eat/Family
7:30-8:30 Read a book
8:30-9:00 Kid's Bedtime
9:00-10:30 Project (Computer Related)/Feed Baby
10:30 Baby Bedtime
10:30-11:30 Project/Hubbie time
11:30-12:00 Get ready for bed
12:00 Bedtime

   You'd be surprised at how freeing it will be to have one of these, and even how much fun it is to plan out! I was so excited, I had to mentally stop myself from jumping up and down as I was counting and scribbling in the waiting room of the mechanic shop. I got so caught up that my 9 month old daughter squirmed out of her car seat without me noticing (no, she is not yet crawling).
 
 Of course the "projects" are broad and can be related to business, writing, home, school, or church activities (ex. decorate, clean, garden, paint, scrapbook, fill orders, scout training, email someone, enroll kids in extra curricular activities, call customers, blog, organizing, etc) and I have a daily task list that I fill out (Astrid app on the Android lets me categorize my tasks, so when that time slot comes up I just click on my list related to that slot and start with my Red Priority tasks-SO EASY) so I know what to do when the time comes. No more, "Nap time! I have 20 minutes to actually get something done!? What to do... what to do..."
 
  SO, what are you waiting for? Get out a blank piece of paper and list out the things you'd like to accomplish in a day. Break it down into time slots, accounting for even the little things. The first go-around may be kind of messy. When you're done, re-write it and post it--somewhere that you can refer to it often (I've put mine in a Google Doc so I can refer to it from my computer or my cell phone depending on where I am). You can even print it out and laminate it if you want. Then you can mark it off as the day progresses with a dry erase marker (surprisingly rewarding).
   In Mary Kay they also teach us to fill out a 6 most important things list. You write out the 6 most important things that need to be done the next day. You fill it out before you go to bed at night. This is so helpful! Also if you need to call someone or some place, write down the number while you're making your list and the likelihood of calling increases dramatically!
   Obviously not every day will fit into this schedule, but having the schedule will mean that more often than not, you'll be able to have your perfect day. Yay for happiness and productivity!