Time Management Tips To Get More Done AND Have a Life

I was talking to a highly motivated client the other day who was proudly sharing her new insights about writing out her "To Do" lists. She said that for quite a while she had the habit of making her lists too long.


As a result she would get to the end of the day feeling like she hadn’t accomplished enough and found herself feeling frustrated and angry. She decided the solution was to make the lists shorter. This allowed her to accomplish everything on her list and then go ahead and give herself permission to enjoy the rest of her day.


I nodded my headed constantly throughout our conversation. I knew exactly what she was talking about I had discovered a very similar thing for myself recently.


I used to approach my to do lists like Arnold Schwarzenegger on "speed". I would wake up each morning and eagerly write out my list – but I would often get overwhelmed and side tracked before the end of the day. After several frustrating and failed attempts at the "Schwarzenegger" approach, I quickly abandoned it and began to highlight just the top priorities. That worked for a little while, but I still felt overwhelmed with all the other items on my list.


I’ve created my own unique approach with writing my to-do lists that has really helped me get more done WHILE having more balance and fun in my life. Here’s what works for me. Try out for yourself, and see if it doesn’t help you get more done this summer while you juggle things like vacations and fun family outings.


Write out a weekly list. We overestimate what we can accomplish in a day and underestimate what we can accomplish in a week. You can accomplish a lot more in a day when you’re clear about the specific tasks that you need to accomplish throughout the week.


When I write out my weekly to do list I identify the top four most important things that I want to accomplish at work that week. Before I would list nine or ten, and I was completing maybe one to two tasks on my list. Ironically when I shortened my top priorities, I found that I often accomplished my top four priorities and then some!


Integrate work-life balance into your weekly list. Include the rest of your life in your to do list. The reason many of us never get to the rest of our life is because we give priority to planning our work lives. We have to bring the same discipline into planning our fun time and free time. If we don’t our free time will be consumed by some other pressing matter. Make a list of the important areas in your life. Health, Finances, Spiritual, Friends Family, community, etc. And identify the top priority that you want to accomplish in each of those areas.


Include lifestyle prosperity in your list. Now think about what would really make your heart sing this week. What’s something that would be really fun for you? Maybe you’d love to have some unstructured free time. Or maybe you’d love to get together with friends, or having an evening out with your spouse. Or perhaps you’d like to indulge in some precious alone time and just be quiet, sip some tea, journal or watch a movie. Give this some thought when you write out your weekly to do list and decide when you will do it and what you want to do.


Transfer your weekly list to your daily list. Don’t feel like you have to accomplish all your personal goals that are listed on your weekly list, maybe it will take you a couple of weeks or a month to accomplish all your personal goals. The important thing is that you are striving for balance and not perfection.


Be willing to be flexible and give yourself breathing room. Give yourself permission to be inspired. Give yourself breaks or go for a walk. Make the process of getting things done and having more balance in your life more important than the end result.


Make it your goal to end up with energy by the end of the day instead of checking off a certain amount on tasks on your list. As the Chinese proverb so eloquently says, "The journey is the reward." Instead of a stressful sprint to getting more and more done make your weeks and days a rewarding journey and you will not only get more done but you’ll have a lot more fun doing it.