If you go through your days and can't get it all done, here is a tool that might help. It can help you make the invisible visible.
Do you ever meticulously plan your week only to end up with a larger to do list at the end of it? Why does this happen?
If we don’t have a realistic view of how we are spending our time, our plans will fail. We simply run out of time. As a business owner, I have become aware of how important “making the invisible, visible” as the authors of Influencer: The Power to Change Anything put it.
What does that mean? In relation to time management, it means we do things, unconsciously, that waste time. This in turn throws us off our schedule because we don’t plan them. For example, do you go back to your desk after a meeting and check email? You aren’t there to look for an urgent message. It’s just a habit you’ve developed to help you transition from one activity to another.
Let’s say every time you check email it takes you 30 minutes. If you have four meetings a day that each last a hour. With the invisible email time, at the end of the day, you’ve spent six hours between meetings and email. That’s why you are taking work home because you can’t finish it during the day.
One way to make the “invisible, visible” is to time map your days.
What did you spend more time on than you thought?
What days did you feel good about how you spent your time?
What days were stressful? Why?
Were you realistic with your to do list?
Were you realistic with how long things take you?
What does how you spend your time tell you about your values?
The last question is important because if we say that we value our family, yet you look at your time map and you only spent a couple of hours with them during the week (and you were aggravated to boot!). This may tell you that although you want to value your family, you spend your time in other places.
What can you do?
Watch out for invisible time thieves. If you need time to transition between meetings, fine. Build it in. This will give you a realistic perspective of what “free” time you have.
Create a realistic to do list. If you know how much time you have to accomplish things, build your list based on the time you have not the other way around. What you will find is you get the most important things done and you start to drop the time wasters.
Plan only 50% of your “free” time. If you have 4 hours for to do’s, plan enough work for 2 hours. This allows you the flexibility to address unexpected needs. Once again it helps you prioritize which to do is most important.
Be realistic with how long things will take. For example if you need to travel to an appointment or to do errands, add the travel time into the appointment. If on the other hand, you work from home and don’t have to “commute” between clients, you still need time to transition. Plan it in. Learning something new, it will take longer. Shopping in a new store (or newly remodeled store) it will take more time. We stress ourselves out because we don’t plan enough time to get things done. Once you figure out how long things really take you, you’ll have a more accurate schedule.
Time mapping can be a huge eye opener. It can tell us so much about our invisible activities. It can help us build healthier work habits. Finally it can help us realign our actions with our values.
Personally I’ve rediscovered the value of reading. My time map revealed the lack of time I spent reading. Now I plan time to read. This readjustment added new balance to my life. With that…I’m off to the library. Until next time.
Learn more about the author, Jen Vondenbrink.
I think you are so right about the relationship between where we spend our time and what we value. And I'm sure that I'd be surprised to see my "time mapping" results. It seems as solopreneurs, it's always the quality time with family that suffers, because it seems to be the easiest thing to cut.
Thanks for helping me think about time management in new ways, Jen.
Thank you for your article. I know from experience how quickly my time can get away from me. Especially when you have a day job while trying to get your business off the ground.
Excellent article. This is so true. Time can get away so easily . Great tips!
Nicely written. Thanks for sharing with the community.
Jen, great point about the "transition time" between activities. This is definitely my weak spot. I've also discovered a tool called Rescue Time (www.rescuetime.com) that will track your computer usage and send you a weekly report. It's all there in black and white where you are spending your time. Yikes!
I used to work in Foxboro (and live in Milford) - I'll bet it is beautiful there right now! Thanks for your article.
I'm going to check into Rescue Time. Sounds like a great resource.
Thanks!
Ironically, no sooner did I read your article than have the most what-did-I-do-all-day day!
I did think of you midday when I was tempted by the mindlessness of my Inbox, so thanks for the self-awareness, anyhow!
Joe
P.S. I too lived in Foxboro -- back in 1997 for three months during Sales Training in Kraft Foods' Boston office.
It sure is a small world! I was telling Betsy that I actually just moved back here from Seattle.
Glad the article helped in your day.
Jen
Thank you for this article, Jen. I have been feeling very overwhelmed by my work schedule over the past few months and have been toying with tracking my time to better manage it. After reading your article, I know it is something that I must do to better manage my time. Those invisible items are killing me!
Jen, Great article! Once you have put down on paper what you have been doing and for how long, you begin to see where all your time is going. "Mapping" your day is very similar to keeping a "food journal" and we all know how that turns out. We had no idea we were eating that much but once it's down on paper, there is no denying it!
Great analogy with the food journal, Marlene. I love that!
Jen Life Simplified www.yourlifesimplified.com
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