Maya Advises: Time Management
Maya Advises: Time Management? We asked Maya to give an overview of the topic of time management. Here are her thoughts on time management before giving us a general definition.
Personal experience
One of my favourite new skills is time management. “What does she mean?” “Newest skill?” I will explain. I was terrible at managing my time. Far from being lazy, I worked hard.
I was the opposite of lazy. There were so many things I wanted to accomplish, and I didn’t have the time to achieve them.
Lack of time made me feel helpless.
I didn’t have enough time to read as much as I would have liked.
Chatting with friends is not possible because of a lack of time.
Joana needed all the care she could get, but there wasn’t enough time to do it all.
Taking classes or workshops is not possible due to a lack of time.
I didn’t have enough time to travel or have fun.
I don’t have enough time to take care of myself.
All of this finally changed; I caught the tiger by its tail. Time management has become one of my most sophisticated skills, and I no longer use the phrase “I don’t have time.”
It needs a bit of work, but you can also manage the time much better if you try and keep reading this text.
It reminds me of Maya, who could never seem to find a moment for herself apart from the most basic things.
I remember Maya set her alarm for 7 am so she could be at work by 8 am. I would say: No, I will put it for 7:10 the night before. Better yet, 7:13 it is. Sleeping for at least one minute more was a calculation I made in minutes.
It’s been a long time since that Maya was here.
What is time management?
What is time management? Time management is simply a skill that helps us make better use of our time.
Time is a concept that causes a lot of illusions.
There is no such thing as more time. The concept of time is not something you have or don’t have. Every person has precisely 24 hours, seven days a week.
What you can do is have a plan. Alternatively, you can make excuses. A plan and an excuse are the things you have or don’t have.
What has made me so good at finding time for everything?
The first thing I did was write down my current situation. As I wrote, I could see on paper everything that was happening in my life, including family, marriage, work, finances, friendships, success, education, and health.
My self-reflection was brutally honest. I mean brutally sincere when I say that. The document was not public; no one would see it. This self-reflection was to put reasonable grounds for the beginning of your personal development.
Be honest with yourself if you want to change for the better and move forward. I touched on habits again, and you can read about those more in this article and in this one.
After establishing where I was at that point, the next thing I did, was write down where I wanted to be in the future in all those previously mentioned aspects. Again, I was honest regarding the priority and importance of each element separately.
Analyzing those aspects gave me a pretty clear idea of what activities and actions I need to take to achieve my goals. So I needed a plan to be set up for every one of them. Finally, I had to analyze how much time I would need for each activity and implement it in the final plan.
For the last three years, I have been segmenting my time into a month, a week, and a day.
My efficiency increases as I get more detailed in this segmentation.
There are times when it’s so detailed, such as:
*Waking up at 6 am *Morning routine by 6:40 *Replying to emails by 7 *Writing blog article by 8 *Breakfast by 8:30 *A session with a client between 9 and 10 *Raping up notes from the session by 10:30 *Go for a walk or prepare lunch *A session with a client from 12 to 1 pm And so on, and so on.
The details are important to me. It was because I would get distracted or procrastinate when I wasn’t specific. My mind would wander endlessly, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do next.
I wouldn’t have been as efficient if my plan had been more general. A more general example would be:
Monday: *Emails *Write a blog *Cook something
*Two sessions with clients
I will get distracted if I am not specific about what and when doing something. It would be more frequent for me to check my phone. I would often daydream or call people who wanted to talk to me on the phone (which is excellent, but not too often.) I would let them distract me.
(For example, I turned off my phone for 1 hour to write this article. When I turned it on again, I had missed calls from my mother and two of my friends. I also received several messages on social media.
I probably would have spent 4 hours trying to finish this article if I hadn’t followed my plan and turned off my phone.)
Managing time wisely requires segmenting the day.
The time you have allows you to accomplish almost anything. In the absence of this, you won’t know what your priorities are. So decide what your priorities are as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will come up with a lot of excuses.
If you claim you don’t have time for everything you want, remember that there are others in the same situation who do.
A single mother with three children runs a successful business.
People with health challenges write books or host workshops and seminars.
Having time for family and friends is possible for some people who run multiple projects and businesses. In addition, they have time for their partner and romance.
Across the globe, some busy parents exercise 30 minutes a day.
People your age and with similar life circumstances read 10 to 20 books a year.
Stop saying you don’t have time!
You always have time for your priorities. So now your home play is to write down how you spend every day every hour. After one week, read it, and you will know your priorities.
You might be surprised to learn that:
- maybe, You spend 2 hours a day on Youtube and Social Media.
- or, You Spend 2-3 hours daily on the phone with family and friends.
- perhaps you watch 3 hours per day on Netflix.
- for example, you spend an hour day-to-day thinking about what you will cook today.
When you realize this, you set your priorities and start pushing those minutes and hours to a more productive time, where you will be happy with your progress and accomplishments at the end of the day.
In the following article, you will learn how to organize your time to accomplish what you want.
If you are facing any difficulties and need help on any subject, you can reach out to Maya, who is always ready to share pieces of advice and help you.
You can find all the collection of Maya’s advice columns in our Wellness section.
