Manage Your Time by Prioritizing Your Time
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We all have the same 168 hours in a week. No more and no less. Yet we often feel rushed and wish for more time to accomplish all we have to and want to do.
Doing a time audit over a week or two is a great way to see exactly how you are spending your time. While no one can be “on” all the time, if we were honest with ourselves, we may find we actually do have more time to be productive than we thought.
Dermot Buffini, the CEO of Buffini & Company says he does not like to focus on time management but rather, priority, management.
“If you don’t have control of your calendar, then you don’t have control of your business,” he notes. “We are either wasting time or we are not on ‘purpose’ time.”
How to Do a Time Audit
- Commit to documenting everything you do over the course of the week. Get a small notebook, use a spreadsheet or use a time-tracking app such as Toggl Track or Timely.
- Try setting an alarm for every 30-60 minutes so you will be diligent about recording your activity. Note how many hours you devote to sleep, eating, working, etc. Adhere to your normal schedule as much as possible and don’t try to “cheat” (i.e., don’t check Facebook because you don’t want to really know how much time you really spend on it!)
- After you have done the audit, categorize everything and add up how much time each thing took you to do.
Examples:
- Sleep — 8 hours -4/week; 7 hours – 2/week, 9 hours – 1/week = 24 hours
- Commuting to work both ways — 30 minutes – 5/week = 2.5 hours
- Bringing your kids to soccer practice — 15-minute drive – 2/week, actual practice 2 hours – 2/week, getting dinner at the drive-through and driving home, 1 hour – 2/week = 5/week
- Standing in line for coffee at your favorite shop – 20 minutes – 4/week = 80 minutes/week
- Morning “check-ins” with your colleagues (include non-work chatting) — 30 minutes – 4/ week = 2 hours
- Making calls to clients — 30 minutes – 5/week = 2.5 hours
- Writing personal notes to clients — 20 minutes – 3/week = 1 hour
What Are Your Absolute Non-Negotiables?
The first step is to determine what your absolute non-negotiables are in your personal life. It could be breakfast with your family, driving your kids to school or exercising for 45 minutes first thing every day.
Then determine what your business non-negotiables are. Perhaps it’s creating a weekly status report for your manager, reviewing your financials, contacting 10 clients or attending a weekly meeting with colleagues.
These non-negotiables should be added into your calendar first. They should be treated as important appointments that can only be rescheduled due to a true emergency.
TIP: Allow yourself some downtime. It’s ok to go on social media and scroll. Consider logging off of each account every time so you then have to log back on each time. Or check to see if your phone has a timer built in that you can use to reduce social media usage as well. That may help reduce the urge to mindlessly scroll.
Working with an experienced Buffini & Company real estate coach will help you prioritize your time more efficiently, helping you get more referrals, more sales, more income and more time off. Sign up for a free Business Consultation today. We’ve got you!
