{"id":1200,"date":"2019-01-14T19:07:17","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T19:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/?p=1200"},"modified":"2019-01-14T19:27:27","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T19:27:27","slug":"five-simple-steps-to-mastering-time-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/personal-matters\/lifestyle\/the-simple-life\/five-simple-steps-to-mastering-time-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Simple Steps to Mastering Time Management"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Are you someone who is late for almost everything?  Do you often find yourself surprised that the deadline for a major task is today, even though you knew about the deadline weeks in advance?  Whether you have full blown Attention-Deficit\/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or just a tendency to procrastinate, you don\u2019t need to lead a disorganized life when it comes to time management.  By following the five steps outlined here, you can repair your bad relationship with time once and for all and discover the greater peace that comes from leading a simpler, more organized life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Schedule everything<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADHD expert, Wes Crenshaw, Ph.D. says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I schedule every hour of my week, including dinner dates with my wife and vacation itineraries. That may sound lame, but we\u2019re having a blast hitting every ride at Disneyworld, while less organized people are waiting in line to ride Dumbo. (2014, p. 139)<\/blockquote><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to master your time management, then get a physical or digital planner, fill in every inch of it for the week ahead, and become “married” to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Schedule a time to schedule <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the book Getting\nThings Done<\/em>, author David Allen (2001) suggests that we schedule time at\nleast once per week to revisit our project list and to process our work\ninbox.  I add that we need to also tend\nto our planner at least once per week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lots of people report to me that they have tried planning in\nthe past, only to do a great job for a short time before losing the new\npractice.  I have discovered that the\nsecret to forming a new scheduling habit is to schedule a time to\nschedule.  I recommend scheduling a time\nslot towards the end of every week for scheduling the following week and making\nthis time slot unmovable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3: Ask the three “magic” questions all day long<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of us procrastinate by doing leisure activities when we should be working.  Others tend to work on the easiest tasks instead of the longer, boring ones, which might be more important to get done.  Whatever your form of self-sabotage in this area is, following Crenshaw\u2019s (2016) advice in an article he wrote for ADDitude Magazine may help you to improve.  In the article, he recommends that teens with ADD ask themselves these three questions many times per day:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • What am I doing?<\/li>
  • What do I \u201cmean\u201d to be doing?<\/li>
  • Why does it matter?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Crenshaw\u2019s advice is not only for teens, it is invaluable\nadvice for anyone who wants to improve his or her time management skills.  I recommend changing the middle question to:\n\u201cWhat did I schedule for myself to do now?\u201d \nBeing \u201cmarried\u201d to your planner means that when you find yourself just\nabout to click on something in your Facebook feed, you first check your\nplanner, to see if that was what you had scheduled to do at that moment in the\nday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 4: Overestimate how long everything takes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In his book Essentialism<\/em>, author Greg McKeown (2014) suggests that we schedule procrastination.  He says that this can be accomplished by estimating how long something takes and then multiplying it by a particular percentage or constant.  To simplify things, I recommend that you just overestimate how long everything takes by a significant amount.  Add an extra 15 minutes for shorter tasks and at least an hour for longer ones.  We don\u2019t plan to go to the bathroom, yet nature calls at any time during the day that it feels like.  This is only one example of the inevitable \u201csomething\u201d that will throw your whole day off unless you provide buffers in your schedule for every task for the entire day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step 5: Only commit after checking your planner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Don\u2019t commit to anything<\/em> without first checking your planner.\u00a0 It is a good idea to think of yourself as someone who has the inability to remember things, one who is utterly dependent on his or her planner.\u00a0 If you are randomly asked, \u201cWould you like to play tennis this Saturday at 9am?\u201d, even if you \u201cfeel\u201d certain that you have Saturday completely free, don\u2019t say \u201cyes\u201d unless you have your planner with you so that you can first check it and then write in the new entry for the tennis date right then and there, if<\/em> you don\u2019t already have a commitment scheduled at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Improving your time management skills doesn\u2019t have to be complicated.  By putting into place the five easy steps outlined here, you can transform your flakiness into dependability today and experience the peace that comes from leading a simpler, more organized life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Please let me know your thoughts about this article in the\ncomments below.  Do you think you can\nfollow the five steps outlined here?  If\nyou have failed in past attempts to get better at managing your time, what step\nwere you missing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Allen, D. (2001). Getting\nThings Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity<\/em>. New York: Penguin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Crenshaw, W. (2014). I\nAlways Want to be Where I\u2019m Not: Successful Living with ADD & ADHD<\/em>.\nUSA: Family Psychological Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Crenshaw, W. (2016, Fall). Want the Secret to Motivating\nTeens? Start with These Three Questions. ADDitude:\nInside the ADHD Mind<\/em>.  Retrieved\nJanuary 14, 2019, from ADDitude Magazine: https:\/\/www.additudemag.com\/motivating-a-teenager-with-adhd\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    McKeown, G. (2014). Essentialism:\nThe Disciplined Pursuit of Less<\/em>. UK: Virgin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Are you someone who is late for almost everything?  Do you often find yourself surprised that the deadline for a major task is today, even though you knew about the deadline weeks in advance?  Whether you have full blown Attention-Deficit\/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or just a tendency to procrastinate, you don\u2019t need to lead a disorganized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[78,77,79,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-1200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-simple-life","8":"tag-add","9":"tag-adhd","10":"tag-organization","11":"tag-time-management","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1216,"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions\/1216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healingandpeace.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}