Time-management
Time-management tips*
for busy women
(*You probably already know these but forget to practice them)
However smart, resourceful and organised you are, for most women the simple fact is that there is always more to do than there is time in the working day.
Time-management
Time-management tips*
for busy women
(*you probably know these but forget to practice them)
However smart, resourceful and organised you are, for most women the simple fact is that there is always more to do than there is time in the working day.
Time-management
Time-management tips* for busy women
(*you probably know these but forget to practice them)
However smart, resourceful and organised you are, for most women the simple fact is that there is always more to do than there is time in the working day.
Four time-saving tips to try now
1. Make the most of mornings.
Research repeatedly shows that important projects should be tackled when short-term memory is at its peak – in the morning. Emotionally, we are also more likely to feel ambitious and self-confident earlier in the day, so this is the time to be bold.
2. Leave time between each task.
This gives you a buffer zone if you over run the task, but more importantly gives your mind a break before switching your focus to the next task. Go for a walk or try some breathing exercises.
3. Start saying ‘no’.
Most of us are people pleasers and feel that by saying no to invitations or doing favours for people we are letting them down, and will be thought badly about. But it’s simply not the case. A polite refusal will go a long way and your absence will soon be forgotten about.
4. Download a time-management app.
Freedom allows you to lock off from distracting items on your phone during the day to help you avoid procrastination. Alternatively, reset your whole approach by following the method in David Allen’s bestseller Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity.
Four time-saving tips to try now
1. Make the most of mornings.
Research repeatedly shows that important projects should be tackled when short-term memory is at its peak – in the morning. Emotionally, we are also more likely to feel ambitious and self-confident earlier in the day, so this is the time to be bold.
2. Leave time between each task.
This gives you a buffer zone if you over run the task, but more importantly gives your mind a break before switching your focus to the next task. Go for a walk or try some breathing exercises.
3. Start saying ‘no’.
Most of us are people pleasers and feel that by saying no to invitations or doing favours for people we are letting them down, and will be thought badly about. But it’s simply not the case. A polite refusal will go a long way and your absence will soon be forgotten about.
4. Download a time-management app.
Freedom allows you to lock off from distracting items on your phone during the day to help you avoid procrastination. Alternatively, reset your whole approach by following the method in David Allen’s bestseller Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity.
Ever feel like you’re always ‘doing’ and yet never reach the bottom of your to-do list? Join the club. Dr Jessamy Hibberd, a chartered clinical psychologist and bestselling author of The Imposter Cure: How to Stop Feeling Like A Fraud And Escape The Mind-Trap of Imposter Syndrome, says the best place to start when it comes to boosting your productivity is to look at how you currently divide your time. ‘Write down everything you are doing – include work time as well as time spent eating, responding to emails, time on social media and time for you. Include absolutely everything that is part of a typical day. Next to each activity write down a time estimate, then add up the total time. Can you really fit all this in?’ If not, she says, then you need to prioritise. ‘Ask yourself what’s most important and where should your focus be each day – what can you let go of or delegate?’
Ever feel like you’re always ‘doing’ and yet never reach the bottom of your to-do list? Join the club. Dr Jessamy Hibberd, a chartered clinical psychologist and bestselling author of The Imposter Cure: How to Stop Feeling Like A Fraud And Escape The Mind-Trap of Imposter Syndrome, says the best place to start when it comes to boosting your productivity is to look at how you currently divide your time. ‘Write down everything you are doing – include work time as well as time spent eating, responding to emails, time on social media and time for you. Include absolutely everything that is part of a typical day. Next to each activity write down a time estimate, then add up the total time. Can you really fit all this in?’ If not, she says, then you need to prioritise. ‘Ask yourself what’s most important and where should your focus be each day – what can you let go of or delegate?’
This is a parallax text block. Click the edit button to change this text.
For Kate Taylor, who runs a music events company in London, a key change has been only responding to emails at allocated times in the day – once in the morning, once at lunchtime, and once in the afternoon before leaving the office. ‘This way, I give the responses my full attention as I’m writing them, and then I turn my full attention to something else. Dividing my time properly is so important.’
Taylor, who has spent the past few months working on her efficiency after a stress-induced near-breakdown, also advocates making a list every night before bed. ‘I write down every single thing I have to do the next day. If I have everything set out, it feels like my brain has cleared itself and can address tasks in a manageable way rather than everything feeling like it’s spinning in my head and keeping me awake.’
When you know you have a super busy or important day ahead, pre-empt pressure points and time zappers. ‘When I became a magazine editor and started attending fashion weeks in Paris, Milan and New York, I had to plan exactly what I was going to wear for each day and evening, as the stakes were high in terms of looking the part,’ says Trish Halpin, editorial consultant and co-host of podcast Postcards from Midlife. ‘It’s a habit that’s stuck with me and having a well-curated work wardrobe means it’s easy to plan what to wear the night before,’ she says. ‘It’s worth the five minutes it takes before bed, as I know something will happen in the morning – kids, an urgent email – that will mean I inevitably end up running late.’
According to Hibberd, it’s also worth being honest about your personality type. Are you an avoider? If so, it’s likely that when you have something important to do it can make you feel anxious. ‘Avoiders dread having to do the task, so ignore it and do something that makes them feel immediately better,’ Hibberd says. ‘Although procrastination might help delay feeling bad, it’s only temporary and in fact makes thing worse in the long run, as you add stress, shame and guilt to the mix.’ A mistake that procrastinators tend to make is to hope that a time will come when they will feel like doing a task. ‘This time is unlikely ever to arrive,’ she explains. ‘So, the best thing to do is just to get started. Even if you don’t feel like it, you can still get it done.’
At the other end of the spectrum is the over-worker. ‘If you’re an over-worker you need to do less even if you don’t like the sound of it,’ says Hibberd. ‘Instead of aiming for 100 per cent, aim for 80 per cent and stop agonising over the last 20 per cent. Break the cycle by putting in the work and effort that a particular project deserves based on its merit and difficulty level.’ The good news, Hibberd concludes, is that while it might seem unthinkable, others are unlikely to notice you doing less. ‘When I suggest that people do this in my clinic, they usually find that cutting back makes little difference – no one notices (or cares) that they’re working differently. The extra time they have for rest or pleasure can even improve their performance.’
For Kate Taylor, who runs a music events company in London, a key change has been only responding to emails at allocated times in the day – once in the morning, once at lunchtime, and once in the afternoon before leaving the office. ‘This way, I give the responses my full attention as I’m writing them, and then I turn my full attention to something else. Dividing my time properly is so important.’
Taylor, who has spent the past few months working on her efficiency after a stress-induced near-breakdown, also advocates making a list every night before bed. ‘I write down every single thing I have to do the next day. If I have everything set out, it feels like my brain has cleared itself and can address tasks in a manageable way rather than everything feeling like it’s spinning in my head and keeping me awake.’
When you know you have a super busy or important day ahead, pre-empt pressure points and time zappers. ‘When I became a magazine editor and started attending fashion weeks in Paris, Milan and New York, I had to plan exactly what I was going to wear for each day and evening, as the stakes were high in terms of looking the part,’ says Trish Halpin, editorial consultant and co-host of podcast Postcards from Midlife. ‘It’s a habit that’s stuck with me and having a well-curated work wardrobe means it’s easy to plan what to wear the night before,’ she says. ‘It’s worth the five minutes it takes before bed, as I know something will happen in the morning – kids, an urgent email – that will mean I inevitably end up running late.’
According to Hibberd, it’s also worth being honest about your personality type. Are you an avoider? If so, it’s likely that when you have something important to do it can make you feel anxious. ‘Avoiders dread having to do the task, so ignore it and do something that makes them feel immediately better,’ Hibberd says. ‘Although procrastination might help delay feeling bad, it’s only temporary and in fact makes thing worse in the long run, as you add stress, shame and guilt to the mix.’ A mistake that procrastinators tend to make is to hope that a time will come when they will feel like doing a task. ‘This time is unlikely ever to arrive,’ she explains. ‘So, the best thing to do is just to get started. Even if you don’t feel like it, you can still get it done.’
At the other end of the spectrum is the over-worker. ‘If you’re an over-worker you need to do less even if you don’t like the sound of it,’ says Hibberd. ‘Instead of aiming for 100 per cent, aim for 80 per cent and stop agonising over the last 20 per cent. Break the cycle by putting in the work and effort that a particular project deserves based on its merit and difficulty level.’ The good news, Hibberd concludes, is that while it might seem unthinkable, others are unlikely to notice you doing less. ‘When I suggest that people do this in my clinic, they usually find that cutting back makes little difference – no one notices (or cares) that they’re working differently. The extra time they have for rest or pleasure can even improve their performance.’
