From the course: Time Management Tips

Get your time management back on track

From the course: Time Management Tips

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Get your time management back on track

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- We're all human, and because of that, we all have the capacity to get off track and forget things that we should be doing. One of those things is time management. This is a challenge that I've experienced myself even within my own program that I teach to people. When you, and I, get off track, how do we get back into the groove of doing things the most productive and focused way? First, consider an ounce of prevention to keep it it from happening in the first place. I'm a big fan of accountability, specifically making myself accountable to a third party. I have a coach who I report to on a weekly basis about my numbers in terms of how I'm processing with my gathering points. I recommend that you find an accessibility partner as well, be it a coach, a manager, a mentor, or a friend. Have someone who you'll check in with on a regular basis about simple things. For example, how many emails do you have in your inbox? How many hours did you spend processing each week? Accountability slows the rate of knowledge decay. But even then, it's still going to happen at some point. When you start seeing the symptoms of items not making it to approved gathering points, of your email not reaching zero once per week, of lots of to-dos floating around in your head, stop. Take a few minutes. Look ahead in your calendar and ask yourself: When is the next time I can devote one day to getting back on track? It may take you less than a full day, but I recommend thinking in terms of one day at your workplace where you do nothing but revamp your adherence to your time management system. Then block that day out on your calendar. Even if you have to look two, three, four months out into the future, find that one day and schedule it. Then, what do you do during that day? It's simple. Go back through Time Management Fundamentals starting at the beginning. One caution. Avoid skipping something simply because you know it or you've heard it before. Repetition is a powerful teacher. By hearing the principles again, you'll catch new things and you will further condition yourself. If for any reason you feel silly that you're having to do this again, just keep in mind that the time management expert talking to you had to do the exact same thing.

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