"Either run the day or the day runs you." John Rohn

I always found that at the start of the month I’d have good intentions around getting things done. By the end of the month that good habit would have failed. I realised that this is purely because of my lack of discipline and routine when it came to tasks. I ignored the 6 essential elements that make time management easier.

Not anymore. Those days are long gone for me. Why? I change up my time management strategy when I need to! I found that at different times of the week/month or year I needed the flexibility to change up what I was doing to suit my energy and needs.

So what are the 6 essentials?

01 Be intentional with my time.

Spend 20 minutes on a Sunday getting all the things floating around in my head out onto a page.

02 Prioritize those items.

Not everything has to be done at once, by actually filtering out what I needed to do versus what I would like to have done really helps. (This for me was the biggest mindset shift)

03 Be focussed.

I have to manage distractions, this includes occasionally bribing my dog with a chew so I can focus for 20 minutes without feeling the urge to tell her she’s a cutey pie! Other things include, shutting off my emails, tunring of Facebook and sometimes when I’m really struggling, turning off the WIFI!

04 Be self aware.

I know what makes me procrastinate… I am awful for it, I work best on a deadline but I have to admit I hate the stress that brings. So I have learnt all about Power hours and making them work for me!

05 Be structured.

I block out my diary to focus on a particular piece of work. I always have meetings on a Thursday but never on a Tuesday. I found the patterns and structure that work for me.

06 Track your time.

Apps and timesheets that record time are great for finding out what your ‘wasting’ time on.

Here is a quick video of some of my favourite tips-

What top tip would you share with others? Let me know!

I touched on this earlier but it has taken a LOT of practice for me to get to where I am with my own time management. I played around a lot and tried to hold myself to account.

Tools I use

I use a Daily Greatness Journal everyday to plan my quarter, month, week and days out. It really doesn’t leave my side. (here’s a link to find out more: Check out Daily Greatness )

I also used a time tracker at first called Toggl, this allowed me to easily track my time and see where my time was actually going (Spoiler: It was very different to what I thought!)

I use Later and Canva to batch my social media to help me save time across the week rather than having to be online everyday!