When you’re managing time effectively, you’re also managing stress (sometimes that includes managing other people’s stress too).
How many times do we hear, ‘I haven’t got time’? What it often means is ‘I haven’t got clear priorities.’
The clearer you are about what you want, the more control you have over your time. The skill is not to make a plan and stick to it, but to make a plan and ask constantly, ‘Is it working?’ If it isn’t, change it.
In a season where time and calm reflection are at a premium, take a breath and take stock of your real priorities. Try these tips to keep calm and increase productivity:
1. Having a huge to-do list can lead to task paralysis. Not everything is your #1 priority. Put three things on your list to hone your focus, and do those first.
2. Checking emails and notifications every 10-minutes? It’s a distracting time-waster. Set aside two times during the day for your messages. It takes discipline, but productivity will soar. If you’re worried about appearing inefficient, set up an auto-response to let people know you’ll be in touch with them within ‘X’ number of hours.
3. Congratulate yourself for small daily wins. Focusing on what you’ve accomplished rather than what’s left to do will trigger a productive, positive mindset.
4. Talk to us. The hours you spend sorting (and stressing about) tax and cash flow every month could be put to much better use!
"I have had regular monthly coaching with Michelle for two years, I found Michelle kind and thoughtful, also analytical. It is helpful each session to review the numbers, budgeting and discuss forecasting with the different events that are occurring in the trust regularly. Each meeting our discussions resulted in myself as CEO to understand the numbers more and receive helpful tips towards improving our financial reporting to make them more readable and understandable to the board."
