Many years ago, at a company where I was working an intern came to us and after a few days there he asked me: “Why is it that everyone here has no time?”
I did not know back then how to answer and that question stayed with me for many years until, after a lot of self-development through training, books, and so on, I discovered for myself how this works.
Then I started to share it in webinars, and training as well and other people could relate to how to bring awareness to their time management.
This is the reason why this post is about this.
How is your brain working?
Your brain gets sometimes busy, right? Does it feel overwhelming and too much happening at the same time? This is because in your brain the “stage” is full of actors. Thoughts, people, whatever happens, there gets crowded. And if you are not aware of this and start making order, it just gets more and more.
If there is no prioritization of the things you WANT to do first, then your day will be filled with things you do not want but have to do. Because there is no conscious decision happening of what is next. I know, we are not doing all the time only the things we like at work, but being aware of this makes a big difference in the way we prioritize our day. Prioritization takes a lot of your mental energy, so it is a good idea to do it when you have a fresh mind.
When was the last time when you visualized your work and limited the work in progress? It is called “Personal Kanban” and it helps you see how much work is there and experiment with how many things you can have in progress so that you can have the performance you wish for. This helps your brain focus on what is relevant to finish first before starting something new and also for you to say “No” to the things that are not now urgent.
What are the 5 steps to bring awareness to your time management?
1. Take some time to reflect
Ask yourself:
✔️ How overwhelmed do I feel now with my work?
✔️ How many things do I have now in progress at work?
✔️ If my brain was a stage with actors, how many actors were now on the stage?
✔️ Whom can I bring out of the stage?
✔️ What do I want to change?
2. Prioritize the prioritization
Schedule the most attention-rich tasks when you have a fresh and alert mind.
3. Be aware of your mental energy needs
Break work up into blocks of time based on the type of brain use, rather than the topic.
4. Decide upon what's not urgent now
Become disciplined about not paying attention to non-urgent tasks, unless, or until, it’s truly essential that you do.
This can mean saying "No" is also fine.
5. What's next?
What are your next steps now?
Commit to what you decide to do or not to do.
Visual to download - created for you!
I have created for you a PDF to download with these steps in case you want to have it by hand and also share it with your colleagues/friends.
Bottom lines:
It is in your power to take control of your time.
Ask yourself: “What do I believe about my time management part which I think does not work for me and is it possible that this is not true?”
If the above words did not click with you, it’s worth a try to listen to this song:
Resources:
Our Brain As A Theather Stage - Inspiration from D.Rock's book “Your Brain At Work”
Book “The Values Factor: The Secret to Creating an Inspired and Fulfilling Life” by J. Demartini
Powerful NLP question from the bottom line inspired by Radu Sofronea’s training about emotional intelligence