Unleash Your Potential #22 - Hectic Schedules

Douglas: Welcome to the Unleash Your Potential Blog, what question can I answer for you today?

EmpowerEngine: How can I better manage my time with a busy schedule? 

Douglas: This is an excellent question! It is also a subject that is near and dear to my heart. I suspect that you are asking this question because you are feeling as though you can’t balance everything you are committed to. As the years have progressed, I think we as a global society have gotten much busier. And certainly, in the United States culture (the one I am most familiar with), there seems to be a drive to do more and be more. All this leads many of us to wonder how to fit everything in.

Without having talked with you directly, I am going to venture that you might already be pretty good at time management, but the sense that you need to improve time management is a symptom of a different challenge, you might be over-committed. If I am wrong and time management is a real struggle for you, I would suggest you check out my entries on Work-Life Balance and Goal Management.

I don’t know about you, but I strongly dislike the feeling I am letting people down. Because of this, I tend to say “yes” when I really should be saying “no.” As long-time theater people, my wife and I often joke that we are people who like Ado Annie, “just can’t say no.” When we feel the other has overcommitted, we will sing the first few lines of the song to each other. Add to that I have another tendency that when I do choose to do something I go all-in and foot to the floor. These two character traits are the perfect storm of over-commitment. There have been many points in my life where I have felt terrible at time management with my busy schedule.

For me, and possibly you, the problem comes when I start to feel the pain of self-disappointment. That point when I feel like you are keeping it all together or that you are starting to drop the balls you are so artfully juggling. This is when I start to feel like I have poor time management skills. I draw up schedules to try and balance everything. I have sat down and crafted a schedule that accounted for every minute of every day for a week. It was impressive but it was also a straight-jacket and impossible to follow. Overseleep by a minute or sit in traffic for an extra minute I was off. This led me to beat myself up for not following the schedule.

This was all a lead-up to tell you, I understand. The key is not better time management. I suspect you could probably write an article about time management. The key is to evaluate your priorities. You have to take stock of everything and decide what you need to be doing.  Start by looking at the areas where you are starting to “drop the ball.” Chances are these are areas where you want to be successful, but you feel like you are not because you cannot give them adequate time. What are the other things that are taking up that time?

It is important to be completely honest with yourself about who you are and want to be. If getting that promotion is your top priority, then you have to let go of personal things to allow the time you need to get the promotion. But remember to ask yourself, is letting go of your health worth the promotion? Or is that promotion so important that you want to sacrifice time with your family? If it is, then explain that to yourself or whomever and make the change. But if you are concerned about letting down your family, perhaps they are more of a priority than you first anticipated.

I am going to tell you that this will not likely be an easy journey. You may decide that things you committed to that you thought were a priority may not be anymore. You will need to find a way to un-commit so you can focus on the things that truly matter to you. It may take some time to make the adjustments and you will need to give yourself some grace as you move through the process.

The key to effective time management and a busy schedule is to make sure you are working on things that matter to you. We feel the pinch of being busy when we are engaged in projects or activities that don’t matter as much…because we feel like we are wasting time. Figure out what matters to you, make some changes, and then rebalance your schedule. I am pretty sure you will feel better about your time management.

I hope my answer sheds some light on your question. If you want to dig into this concept further, I encourage you to reach out and set up a conversation. In the meantime, check back tomorrow for the next question in the Unleash Your Potential Series!

Be Well!

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