The Key to Time Management

We’re all convinced that there’s got to be a secret key to time management. If you just knew what it was, you’d be more productive than you even dreamed possible.

It’s that one mental shift that makes everything click. Since our brains and thinking patterns aren’t all the same, there are actually several keys to time management. You only need one, and I’m going to talk about a few of them here.

You keep forgetting how much time certain tasks take.

Whenever you say “I just have to…” you’re heading for a time crunch. Even small tasks take several steps.

Let’s say you want to hang a framed picture. It’ll only take a couple of minutes, right? Oh wait, you have to get out the necessary tools and hardware. Don’t forget the level. And the stud finder. Where do we keep the pencils?

Sure, the last few steps will only take a few minutes, but you have to do a bunch of stuff to get there. You really need to block out 15-20 minutes for the task, not the 5 you expected it to take.

The key with this one? Break tasks down into subtasks so you get a realistic idea of how big they actually are. If it’s something you do regularly, you’ll eventually start to remember that it’s A WHOLE THING and not just a little task.

The Accomplist app lets you add subtasks to any task. Just saying.

You keep forgetting about all the routine things that take up a big chunk of your day.

You make your daily to do list and it looks a bit sparse so you add a few more things. But your list was probably too long in the first place. You’re forgetting all those routine tasks that take up most of your time and energy.

Even if you eat lunch at your desk, you still have to make or obtain this lunch from somewhere. Providing yourself with a meal is a task unto itself. You don’t think about it much because it goes without saying. But if you consistently forget about that part when you’re putting together your schedule for the day, it does need to be said.

Even if you don’t have ADHD, you may find it useful to include all these little routine tasks in your daily to-do list. That way you can get a better idea of how much you can accomplish in a day.

I go into this in depth in my mini-course, Task Management for Recovering Perfectionists.

In the Accomplist app, you can create repeating tasks so these things will be automatically added to your daily list.

You keep forgetting that you need to rest

You figure you have a lot to do, so you're just going to buckle down and do it all. You imagine yourself running on your metaphorical hamster wheel all day. You know that if you tried that with a literal hamster wheel, you'd collapse from exhaustion. Your metaphorical hamster wheel works the same way.

You sit at your desk working for an hour or so and then your brain stages a work slowdown. You keep at it for a bit and your brain escalates to a full work stoppage. You surrender and decide to take a break. But you do it at your desk because you're going to get right back to it in a few minutes.

An hour later, you realize that you’re still scrolling social media or playing games.

Oops.

So you get back to work and since you're not feeling refreshed, you're less productive than you were before your break. The whole process repeats a few times until you're done for the day.

The key here is to actually rest when your brain and body start telling you it's time to stop working for a bit. If you’re working at a computer, step away from the screen. If you're doing something physical like cooking or cleaning, sit down. Stretch your tired muscles, take a little walk, read a book, text a friend. Do something as different from work as possible so that your body and brain can actually relax.

Experts tell us to rest our eyes every 20 minutes and stop sitting almost as often as that. It seems excessive, so you don't do it at all. Taking a break every 60 - 90 minutes will preserve your eyesight and lengthen your lifespan, yet those reasons don't seem as important as getting as much done as possible.

It seems counterintuitive, but taking breaks actually lets us do that. Resting let's us get more done in the time we actually are working.

You don’t leave yourself any wiggle room

You have a lot less control over your schedule than you think you do. Let’s say you have to pick up a prescription. It could take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. There could be a long line. Maybe there’s an issue with your insurance that takes ages to resolve. The pharmacy could have technical issues.

Expect the best, but prepare for the worst. There’s probably a bunch of stuff you can do while you’re stuck waiting somewhere. If only you could remember those things.

In Accomplist, you can create an entire list of things you can do while waiting - do a little online research, text that old friend you’ve been meaning to get in touch with, start planning that surprise birthday party. When you’re stuck with some idle time, open the app and get started.

You try to do it all yourself

We’ve all had that job where your boss or grand boss or great grand boss has a packed schedule. Between all the meetings and calls, they have to stay late just to read their email. Though realistically if they commute by rail they probably do their emails on the train. We think we all should be able to pack our days like that. But someone in that position is making enough money to outsource the things that take up half your day. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, child care, pet care, you name it.

So what can you do? Delegate some tasks. Laundromats pick up and deliver. Buy frozen precut veggies. Ask your partner, kids, or friends to take care of some things. (You don’t have throw that entire surprise party yourself.)

Accomplist lets you mark some tasks Delegated, and then moves them to a special Delegated list so you can easily follow up on those things.

At the end of the day, the key to time management has nothing to do with working harder or being more organized. It's about using your time mindfully, in a way that makes sense for you.