Mindset Made Simple Tip #205
Time.
What do you think when you read this word? “I don’t have enough time.” “I need more time.” “Time flies.”
No matter who we are, what we have or what we do, we cannot make more time. And at the end, the very end, most of us wish we had more of it. This hits us square in the face when we lose someone too soon or as we watch our kids move from stage to stage and wish for just a bit more time watching them ______. You fill in the blank.
Yet, we give it away so frivolously.
I hope some of what I write helps you, but to be honest, I may need this more than anyone else!
Although we often wish for more time, I usually find that the more time I have, the less efficient I am. Weird! But like all conundrums, they have a name for that. It’s the Parkinson’s Principle. Give yourself 8 hours to complete 2 hours of work and by golly, it will take the full 8 hours!
Today is a perfect example. I have time and this has taken me FOREVER. The topic is at the top of my mind since I am creating a presentation on “the season of separation” for a large insurance company this week. I have the information. I have the time. And yet, it is late afternoon, and I am not done!
I started thinking about this before summer began. Summer is crazy. Swim team in the morning. Baseball in the afternoon. Pool time in between. Outside work added to the inside work. Work…you know the drill. At the same time, my cousin Mark (the pastor) did a sermon on building a financial budget. That may seem like a weird topic for a Sunday morning, but he did a great job with it, and it made me ask “Why don’t we build a time budget?”
If we want to be financially sound, a budget is very important. If we want to be sound all around, a time budget is, too!
Here are a few ideas I have read on the topic that will help me build a budget and I hope they help you, too!
First, in their book, Organize Tomorrow Today: 8 Ways to Retrain Your Mind to Optimize Performance at Work and in Life, author Jason Selk and his colleagues talk to us in coach speak. They suggest we approach our time budget (my words there) with these three budgeting rules in mind.
Watch the “game clock”. We must have a realistic assessment of how long something will take to complete AND how long we will commit to the activity in a certain time frame. (We know everything takes 3 times as long as we think it will – or according to my dad, I think I can fit 24 hours of work into an 8-hour day – I guess he is on to something like the authors!).
Attack the open space. What will you do with the transition time between meetings, car time, or other time worked into a packed day?
Ask W.I.N. and focus on your first step. They call this “ask and chop.” What is the most important thing I can get done now or next? Then “chop” your W.I.N. down to the first step to get moving and build momentum. As I am sure you have heard Brian Cain say many times, “It’s the start that stops most people.” Author James Clear is a huge proponent of focusing on ONE STEP and letting that step lead to the next. It’s about getting started on what’s important instead of sitting and thinking about everything you need to do!
If we watch the “game clock” as they suggest, we prevent ourselves from falling into Parkinson’s Principle. This also allows us to schedule time for what Cal Newton calls “deep work.” Deep work, Newtown says, is becoming increasingly rare. Why? Because we check our emails 200 times a day, aimlessly scroll and allow our attention to be diverted by a million other things.
But if we can schedule “deep work” blocks into our day and make them non-negotiable, we will accomplish more in less time by focusing intensely on important tasks without interruptions. Because this engagement pushes our cognitive limits, we will learn faster and develop skills more efficiently. Our focus and uninterrupted (or less interrupted) concentration leads to fewer mistakes and higher-quality work. And we feel more productive and satisfied…and we know that feeling productive leads to a more positive mindset and positive emotion is one of the biggest predictors of peak performance!
How do we stay focused for our 25 to 90-minute blocks, depending on what time management expert you follow? Use the “I’ll do that in 10 minutes” rule I often employ. Want a drink? I’ll get one in 10 minutes. Need to stretch your legs? I’ll do it in ten minutes. Yes. We will be distracted and we will get pulled to the pantry for a snack or toward our phone for a habitual check of nothing. But if we tell ourselves we will do that at a later time, our brain often seems satisfied with this, because we said we will do it in a certain time frame, and we can get back to work.
We can also talk to that annoying distractor in our head like we talk to our non-productive thought producer. “Hey, thanks for reminding me that I can get a drink, but I’m good for now.” Or, “There’s that distraction devil again.” Pretending you don’t have thoughts only makes you have more. So, acknowledge it and thank it for reminding you that staying on task is hard, then follow your intention and do what you said you were going to do!
What we do to “attack the open space” with time between tasks is as important to our success as what we do when we are in a focused block of time. There must be a break. We shift from task to task.
We only have 5 minutes between phone calls. How can make this time work for us? HAVE A SIMPLE STUFF LIST of simple tasks prepared for the day or week. Keep a running list of things you need to accomplish that take little time and instead of opening a social media app, open your “simple stuff” list and do ONE THING. This helps you keep your momentum in the downtime AND it shortens your list (and keeps you from reading stuff that makes you roll your eyes, pissed off or put you in a “I wish I had time for that” mindset (and then maybe you will since you are getting stuff done!).
Don’t want a list? Simply ask yourself, “What can I get done in the next 5 minutes” and move RIGHT INTO that thing. No debate. Take action!
Another way you can attack the open space is to automate as much as you can. We can only make so many decisions in a day, so save those for the big stuff. To free up as much space in your brain (and calendar) batch and automate. Checklists get a bad rap, but writing things down helps you save worrying time…the worry that you’ll forget. Dump it out…everything. This will also help you analyze what needs to be done outside of your head. Sometimes what goes on in our head gets bigger than it is in reality. Writing it down puts it into reality and allows us to keep it in check. Then check it off and move on!
Then batch your tasks. Don’t get up every time something needs to be filed or thrown away. Do them all at once. This approach saves time and too many stops and starts…and the attentional blinks that come with them. Selk and friends also suggest we “Seek single choices that eliminate future decisions.” The fewer decisions we make, the more time we have! This also helps us, as they say, “Seek simple actions today that can prevent complications tomorrow.” We can “invest two minutes of effort once to end recurring frustrations.”
And finally, if we ask W.I.N. and take ONE SIMPLE STEP toward that goal, we are well on our way toward a productive day. Before we take our first step, we may want to ask as author Greg Mckeown does in Effortless, “How am I making this harder than it needs to be?” Or, instead of thinking about how hard something seems, ask “What would I do first if this was easy?” This seems like a weird question, but it gets you thinking about what you could do instead of what you can’t or don’t want to do!
If we end each day by taking 5 minutes to set our intentions and plans with “ 3 most important” and “1 must” for tomorrow, we are engaging our subconscious mind and our reticular activating system to look for solutions, even as we are completing less cognitively straining tasks and sleeping. We can then start to “chop” and instead of thinking about these things in “whole projects” we focus on one step at a time, which is much less intimidating to our “I’d rather be comfortable” brain and we are much more likely to get moving. Write the first sentence. Make the first call. Read the first page. Move the first box. Take the first step, then the next one is much easier. Just like the 2nd mile is always easier than the first!
Every choice we make either maximizes or wastes our most important commodity. I am tired of wasting it! I am certain that these three things will be helpful to my productivity and momentum. If I budget my calendar (or game clock) realistically. If I use my discretionary funds (or open space) more appropriately and if I pay my big bills (or most important things) first, I think I’ll be a lot richer! I hope they help you, too!
Manage the moments!
Julie
P.S. Reach out and get scheduled for a THREE-PART MENTAL REHEARSAL PROGRAM. Shoot me a text at 234-206-0946 or an email at juliej@ssbperformance.com and get on my schedule as you wrap up fall and look ahead to the next phase of the season!
Julie Jones
Mental Performance Coach
SSB Performance
juliej@ssbperformance.com • 234-206-0946
Comments