Fiona Duncan-Steer, founder of RSViP Business Networking Agency, offers tips on how to organise your time more efficiently to create a more productive and enjoyable day.
We are all spinning plates, trying to manage a multitude of tasks on a daily basis and most of the time end up giving ourselves a hard time when we fall short, whether it’s arriving late, missing an appointment or generally chasing our tail when it comes to being organised, leaving us with feelings of dissatisfaction, frustration and even guilt.
Having been self-employed, running a business single handily for the past fifteen years, I have had my fair share of experiences with the above feelings and have since learnt a thing or two about how to navigate myself in order to avoid a repeat of them going forward. Granted some days don’t go as planned and that’s just life, but what’s important is that I have also learnt how to manage mindfully those ‘not so great’ days when they occur – and they do and will occur.
Here, through my own personal experiences, I share my top six tips on how to organise your time more efficiently in order to create a more productive and enjoyable day:
- Build a routine – We as humans are habitual creatures and as such love a routine, so create a realistic one for yourself which incorporates your personal needs, the needs of anyone you are responsible for in your life and of course your work/business. If you are thinking “well, this is nothing new, I’m already in a routine,” why not write down your current routine and then write down a second version that you wish it was more like (e.g. ‘the dream routine’), and by cross checking the two, identify any tweaks you can make to your current routine to edge it nearer to the dream one.
- Write it down – To make a start on creating your routine, write it down in list or timeline format – starting with the non-negotiables. Maybe for you that’s the school run, breakfast, gym, work, and cooking dinner, maybe it’s something different. This works great for leaders to structure a work based plan for your teams too, but remember this is YOUR routine so make it work for YOU (or the individual in question by working together to meet all needs). Once you have covered all of the non-negotiables, move onto filling the gaps with any other key responsibilities you have during the day/week/month.
- Make time for you – I say this to all of my coaching clients – make time for YOU. Even if your schedule doesn’t seem to allow it, edit it so that it does. One hour per day, every day at least should be allocated to something that nourishes you, makes you happy, inspires and motivates you or simply gives you the space and time you need to refocus and re-energise, whether that is a form of exercise class/gym/sport, a walk to get your steps in each day, cycling to work, taking time for your hobby, or if work-related some business development or idea generation time in order to encourage creative thinking and growth.
- Create task lists – On top of your daily routine, you will have ad hoc tasks to complete perhaps both personally and in business, so make a list – seeing the words in black and white will help you to remember and keep accountable to the tasks that lie ahead. You can then incorporate these task lists into your routine, segmenting them against a timeline, again whether it be daily or weekly. I for example make to do lists for the week in order of priority. I tick each task off as I complete them, which gives an enormous sense of satisfaction and I don’t give myself a hard time if I don’t complete them all in the same day – they can simply roll over to the next day.
- Set reminders – There are useful software platforms and tools out there that can assist in your daily task busting endeavours, however simply adding reminders to your calendar will suffice, usually these can be accessed on your desktop/laptop/phone as everything of course links up nowadays. I am however old school and still rely on my trusty Filofax, as nothing beats handwriting down my to do lists and tasks, which in turn helps me to remember what I need to do.
- Delegate – Ask yourself, “are there certain jobs I can give to other people to do for me?” Can you subcontract some work out – for example can you hire a bookkeeper/accountant/virtual PA/assistant etc? Since delegating work from my business out to others over the years, I have been able to focus on business development and working on the things that I enjoy, rather than spending all my time on, for example, bookkeeping and admin which are super time consuming and don’t necessarily make my soul leap!
However you decide to manage your time and navigate your day, remember to try to prioritize YOU – after all if you don’t who will?
Fiona Duncan-Steer, RSViP www.fionaduncansteer.com www.rsvipnetwork.co.uk
See this column in the October edition of East Midlands Business Link Magazine here.
