Time Management : Harness Focus, Achieve More, Stress less. Use time wisely.
A few years ago, I stumbled upon my elementary school report card. Reading it was both endearing and telling. It’s one of those times when you see a picture or flashback to a memory from childhood that feels vulnerable. You want a time machine just to go back to hug your younger self.
My report card shared a note in the comments from my teacher, “Please encourage and praise Michele at home. Her self-confidence is low, and I feel she is under stress to compete.” Mrs. Kraus was looking out for me. However, as for the grades, while there were definitely some 'O's for outstanding in various subjects, a couple of "needs improvement’s” were glaring. In the section on behavior, there were two 'N's. One scribbled next to "lacks self-control” - another bold 'N' next to Uses Time Wisely.
That one landed like a thud. While I feel pretty good about my self-control now, the other still haunts everything I do. It’s fairly tender when you can see that the issues you carry with you now started a very long time ago. We all start striving and struggling pretty early on.
Mind pits & Time traps
I’ve always gotten lost in time. It’s made me late for dates and appointments. It’s often taken me twice as long to complete projects. It’s made me feel like I’m slow in my productivity. But I’m not the only one. Scientists in the late 70s, Kahneman and Tversky, originally explained the concept of the “planning fallacy." Essentially, it's when a person optimistically estimates how long a task will take. Why wouldn’t we want to finish something as quickly as possible?
The issue is that missed deadlines we optimistically set, result in our being overly critical. We feel like we've failed at being productive. In those self-critical moments, we develop an unhealthy relationship with time and ourselves.
Healing fractured time.
What I have discovered is there is a very thinly woven thread connecting time and energy. Productivity and creativity aren’t based on the constraints of time; they’re a product of our focus. It's often not a matter of having insufficient time to complete a task; rather, it's about lacking concentration. Time and energy must be managed each in their own way. Neither are unlimited resources, both run out. It’s a matter of balancing the scheduled and unscheduled, the work and the rest. Here are a few tips if you feel like you need improvement.
Break up your big projects into smaller tasks: If something will take longer than two hours to complete, break it up into smaller steps on your to-do list. As you check off each step, you build a natural motivation to keep going. You can see the progress, which boosts your sense of productivity.
Conduct a 48 hour time audit: Get a clear understanding of how you spend your minutes throughout the day. Keep a diary in 30-minute increments to see when you are focusing on a project versus when you are distracted by everything under the sun. Begin to take note if there are any patterns or cycles to your focus. Also, notice when you are at your most creative. This is the time you want to prioritize for yourself.
Beware of energy vampires: Usually, this refers to people who suck all the enthusiasm out of a room. In this case, think of what thoughts and mindless activities are draining your precious energy. We are subject to an overwhelming amount of stimuli in the quick-moving digital age. It’s exhausting for the mind to try to keep up jumping from one thing to the next.
Practice techniques that allow the mind to slow down: Between 2000-2015, scientists noted the average attention span dropped from 12 seconds to 8.5 seconds. As much as our muscles need to be trained and strengthened, so does our brain. Yoga, breathwork, meditation, and mantra are all concentration practices that allow the mind to slow down. Not only do these practices yield rest and relaxation, but studies show a notable improvement in brain function and focus after just 3 months.
Refuel the tank: After accomplishing some tasks on your to-do list, give yourself a break. We need some time to recuperate. It’s great to be productive, but we can get caught in an addiction. Without sufficient rest and time away from work, we become less effective at everything we attempt. Working on a task with diluted concentration can take twice as long.
Energy is the undercurrent that runs focus. We can push ourselves for a while, but eventually, we lose our rhythm. We tap out our creative power. At that point, it may take more than a week-long vacation to rekindle our fire. There are thousands of articles on time management. This is just another. Perhaps it really does need a reframe. We don’t need to manage our time; we need to use it wisely. I bet that the younger version of me would have something to say about that.
