Ep 185 Time Management Habits

Join me today as I discuss the top 3 time management habits to begin implementing if you are looking to have more control over your agenda.  This is not a “how to hack” podcast today – it is a “how to change your life” discussion.  Ready?  Let’s get started.

In This Episode:

• Current time habits
• Time journal tool
• Zones of time management – Gay Hendrickson – The Big Leap
• The problem with being busy
• Prioritizing 
• Planning your needle mover items – Brendan Buchard
• Starting new habits – Atomic Habits – James Clear
• Morning routines – Mel Robbins – 5 Second Rule
• Miracle Morning Millionaire – Hal Elrod

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Episode Transcript:

You are listening to the richer time podcast and I’m your host certified life coach Michelle Arnold Berg, and today’s episode, I’m discussing time management habits. Unknown Speaker 0:13 Welcome to the richer time Podcast, the podcast where busy professionals like you get the practical solutions and support you need to gain control of your schedule. So you can strive to be the best in your career, but without the stress and overwhelm. If you’re looking to increase your energy and decrease your stress, you are in the right place. Unknown Speaker 0:39 Hello, hello, hello, welcome back to the podcast. Friends, I am so happy that you are here. And I think today is going to be a very helpful episode for many of you. Well, let me take a moment, I usually think every episode will be helpful for you. But I guess today, especially helpful, okay, since we are talking about time management habits, let’s get right into it and respect of your time. Now, a little background for you as I begin, for those of you who have been here with me for a while, you may recall that I started the podcast on how to drink less. It was mostly for women who were not alcoholics, but just felt like maybe they wanted to cut back in order to feel more energized, or to maybe lose some of those last lbs. And as I did more of the work both on myself and with my clients, I realized that the reason most of the folks I worked with, Unknown Speaker 1:42 were actually kind of having more wine than they wanted was to find ways to relax, because they were so overwhelmed with work or anxious from everything going on around them. So I thought, might I still be able to help these women, and many more, if I did the podcast around ways to use your time, it’s your time, in order to feel better, to be able to excel in your career, for example, but without the stress and overwhelm. And so today, I really want you to consider how some of the habits that you are currently doing may or may not be helping you in that area. And the habits I’m talking about today, they are not going to be time hack habits, they are much deeper than that, I want to get to the core of what you have going on around how you look at time, and how you use your time. And have you decide how you want to spend your time moving forward. It really is one of our most precious resources. And I will tell you, I got coached hard on this topic a couple of years ago, because for such a long time, I was right where you are likely at today, I felt like work was everything. And I never had time for anything else. And I just kept thinking there has to be more to life. And I will tell you, there is more to life. And if you keep doing this work, it can seriously be life changing. Now, let me start by asking you, if you even know how you currently spend your time. And I mean, really no, my guess is you have some idea. But it’s really important for you to become aware of where you are now, in order to decide where you want to get to, and what needs to be done in between. So one of the tools that I like to use with folks is taking the time to do a time journal. And I would say track it for two weeks to get an idea of how you spend your time. Because so often we are reacting to what is going on around us instead of owning that it is our time and knowing that we get to decide what we are doing with it. And let me be clear, you are currently deciding you may not think you are but you are. So you must be clear on what it all looks like for you in order to continue deciding to spend your time in ways that are exactly what you want. Now the tool that I share with my clients is a calendar broken up into 15 minute blocks. So from the time you get up and yours might look a little different than mine because I think mine starts at like 230 Unknown Speaker 5:00 Am and then until the time you go to bed journal, what are you doing with your time? That is the first step. So 15 minute blocks, journaling, what it is that you’re doing in those time blocks. And I want to take a moment to pause. Because when my coach first had me do this, I was like, Does she really think I have time to do this? So if you are telling yourself that or thinking, I’m crazy requesting this, I will answer that question for you, you do have time to do this. If you really want to change what you have going on, you will do this, it actually doesn’t take that much time at all. Now, once you see what you are doing, and I want you to be specific, because the next step is to look at everything on the calendar and decide where does it fit in the following categories. And I think a Hendrickson talks about these zones in his book, The Big Leap, if I remember correctly, number one is going to be your zone of genius, this is your sweet spot, you can achieve flow state here and you are the most powerful. Number two is going to be your zone of excellence, you can do it and you are great at it. Number three is going to be your zone of competence. And that is where you can do it, you’re good at it. And someone else could also do it for you. And then number four is your kryptonite, you procrastinate, your skin crawls, and you want to hide from it. So you can name the zones, whatever works for you to be honest, but this will at least get you started. So take a look at what you’re doing. Unknown Speaker 6:56 Label each zone, and then decide if it still makes sense. Because a lot of times we’re doing things that could actually be delegated, they aren’t our zone of genius. And doing more in your zone of genius and excellence will help make tremendous changes. And not only how you feel but what results you end up with. So, again, step one, become aware of how you are spending your time. And I want to just take a moment and share with you the importance of awareness, because I talk a lot about it here on the podcast. And I want you to think about Unknown Speaker 7:37 if you were going into the next room, and I told you ahead of time, I am going to come in and I’m going to scare you. Unknown Speaker 7:44 That is going to be a different reaction for you. Versus if I just snuck in followed you into the room and scared you. The awareness is what changes everything in that instance, the awareness of what you are doing in your life is what changes everything. So become aware of how you’re spending your time. What habits have you implemented, that you might not even realize you are doing that is going to give you so much insight and allow you to make changes as you see fit. Now the next idea I want you to consider is how you talk about your time. And I kind of chuckled because sometimes I hear people around me talk about time and again, totally out of love because I was there. But words matter. Someone recently told me that she was so busy, she didn’t even have time to brush her hair. And that is not true. I know she was trying to portray how busy she was. But those types of things. Those are the lies that we tell ourselves or something like I don’t have time to do that, or I don’t have enough time or I’m too busy to do that or things have been so chaotic, or it’s just been hectic. Sidenote, the only thing chaotic and hectic in those situations is your brain. Right? So what is it for you? Or maybe it is those thoughts? Did any of them resonate for you? What is it that you’re telling yourself about your time? Here’s the thing. We all have the same amount of time. It’s how we prioritize our time that allows us to quote unquote, manage it. We are always in control of our time and knowing that is super powerful. There is always enough time you choose to do what you want with every single minute. And I know it doesn’t always feel like that but I am telling you when you Unknown Speaker 10:00 on it, you can decide to change it, you’ll see the difference in these examples. If you’re telling yourself over and over, I never have enough time versus I have the perfect amount of time. Just think about how you feel, when you say each sentence out loud. What if it was true that you do have the perfect amount of time? Hint? It is, you know how I know? Because again, we all have the same amount. So why is it some people get way more done and less amount of time than others? I know, especially in this industry, that it can be a little, shall I say uncomfortable or extremely at times, to lay down that busy badge of honor. You know, talking about how busy you are, that is a habit, it’s a tendency, and it can be changed. And I know being in sales, being busy is highly regarded, that must mean that you are really doing a great job. Not always, I want you to reconsider this idea. Because being busy, doesn’t always mean being productive. Being busy, doesn’t always mean being strategic. Being busy, doesn’t always mean getting results. And I want you to think about how you show up when you are telling yourself over and over how busy you are. Usually, when we’re thinking that we are so busy, we feel overwhelmed. And we sometimes don’t even know where to get started. Because we have so much to do. And we sit in inaction wasting time, instead of thinking, I have the perfect amount of time. And I always figure it out, I am going to be productive. Today, I am going to do exactly what needs to be done today. Because the words you say after I am, are super important. So make sure you’re lining yourself up in a way that allows you to do more of what you want. And that brings me to the next idea. What does need to be done each day. Now in the past, I’ve talked about not having a to do list. But instead taking that list and scheduling it getting all the things that you want to complete on the calendar for a specific time and for a specific amount of time. And you might ask, Well, how do I know how long it will take to complete a project or an activity. If I haven’t done it before, you guess, just put it on the calendar and put your brain to work. A lot of times, our brain will complete the item in the time that we have allowed. So I could say I’m going to write this podcast, for example, in two hours. And then I might be more likely to check notifications or take a call. As opposed to if I’m saying I’m giving myself 30 minutes to write the podcast. Guess what I am getting to work on completing it. The call can likely Wait, heck, find us cut the time down by an hour and a half, I have time to do the call later and write another podcast. Think about it. Give yourself an amount of time and take it from there. A lot of times, we overestimate what it is that we can get done in a day. And we underestimate what we can do in a year. So start being intentional and start paying attention. So intention and attention to how you are using your time. And listen, if the amount of time that you put on the calendar doesn’t work out, you at least learn from it. And then you adjust accordingly next time. And I also like to have buffer time built in for situations like this. Now, I will tell you one thing that I have shifted over time is that I don’t so much plan out my entire week like I used to. I have the items that I want to have completed for sure by Friday, Friday finishers as Brendon Bouchard calls them. And then each day I like to take the top three to for things that are going to move the needle. And I use those things that are important in any aspect of my life. So it might be the top three to four needle movers and personal corporate business. It’s just three things that at the end of the day, I know if the day explodes, I will at least have done these three things and doing that being more intentional with what needs to get done. Unknown Speaker 15:00 I will change your life. And I will end by suggesting that you really look at your morning habits. These habits are the ones that set up your day. Do you hop out of bed after hitting snooze a couple of times, and then feel rushed, grab the coffee, check the email race to get the kids. My guess is that might start the day feeling kind of busy. Instead, give yourself permission to do things differently. Don’t get me wrong, sleep is very important, but snoozing doesn’t help the situation. You can even backup in the process. And let’s go to the night before. So at the end of the night, remind yourself what you are looking forward to doing the next day. How will you plan to get up when the alarm goes off, set your brain in motion so that you are going to sleep knowing that you are going to have something to look forward to when you get up. And two things here I will share the idea of snoozing. Mel Robbins has the five second rule. And if you haven’t heard of it, check it out on YouTube, she talks about the science behind counting down 54321. And then just getting out of bed. I used it when I started working on getting up earlier each day. Unknown Speaker 16:30 It’s can change so many aspects of your life, not just getting up out of bed, but it’s super interesting. So again, the five second rule with Mel Robbins, check that out on YouTube. And if you haven’t listened to my podcast on the book, atomic habits, if you are looking to set new morning habits, I think it’s like episode 30. Go back and check it out. It’s also a really great book atomic habits that I highly recommend if you are looking to implement any new habits. Unknown Speaker 16:59 Now today, I’ve been talking more around mindset and awareness habits. But that book was great for the action step habits. And as I discussed in some of the ideas on the podcast, our mornings are so important, actually. I think I also have my morning routine podcast from a time back if you wanted to search for that. And if you’re looking for a really good book, on changing your morning routine, I would suggest Miracle Morning millionaires by Hal Elrod and David Osborne. Okay, friends, this has been fun. I love talking about time. I love talking about your time. It’s such an important part of your life. So number one, become aware of how you are using your time. Number two, decide if you want to continue doing that. Number three, be intentional with how you prioritize and plan your time. And do not let me continue without adding. A big thing I didn’t mention yet is that you have to be sure that you put self care on that calendar. You must take care of yourself in order to keep doing all of what you do. Not taking care of yourself leads to burnout, and overwhelm and all of that stuff. You must must must take care of yourself. Number four, set up your morning habits in a way that sets you up for success throughout the day. Listen, I love this. It’s totally my jam. If you need help with it. Please be sure to get on my email list. I share free weekly content and tools Michelle Burt coaching.com forward slash list. Okay, that’s what I have for you today. Let’s circle back next week but for now, make it a great day. Take care