They say time is money, and if that’s true, we can learn a lot about time management from the way we manage our finances. We take such care to manage and track our money and it’s not even a finite resource. There is always a possibility of getting more! That’s not true for time. We only have a set amount, so we should treat it with the utmost care. Here are three ways to treat time as carefully as we treat our money…

 1. Track it diligently

To keep from overspending, many people keep a budget. Whether you save your receipts, keep a spreadsheet, or categorize your credit card expenses, tracking where your dollars go is a good way to keep more of them in your pocket. The same is true for tracking time. Track your time for a day or two to see where you’re over or under spending.

 2. Avoid impulse purchases

Ever walk into a grocery store for milk, and come out with milk… and a soda? Impulse purchases are those pesky little unplanned expenses that add up so gradually we don’t realize they’re derailing our budget. Time killers are the “impulse purchases” we make with our time. Not work, not planned relaxation, but rather mindless distractions we allow to steal our focus. Get rid of those distractions so your work finishes sooner!

 3. Save for a rainy day

It’s important to save for emergencies so you can pay for that flat time or busted water heater when you least expect it. It’s just as important to save for time emergencies. Have your support network in place so you know who to call when you’re faced with a sudden time constraint you didn’t prepare for. Have your materials organized so it’s easier to ask for help. Anticipate when your hectic times will be and ask for help in advance.

Be sure to treat your precious resource of time carefully!

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“If you want something done right, do it yourself.” Haven’t we all said that before? What a waste of time. If you want something done your way, do it yourself, but if you want it done NOW, for goodness sake, recruit some people to help. Here are three things to consider when recruiting for spots on your team:

1. Play to People’s Strengths

You wouldn’t ask the slowest person on your team to be your star running back, so don’t ask your disorganized coworker to help you clean up your files. Figure out people’s strengths and delegate accordingly.

2. Replace “Right” With “Accurate.”

We tend to think there is only one “right” way to do things (our way) but there can be many ways of doing a task accurately. Just because you do it differently doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Instead of trying to get someone to do it your way, explain what the end product needs to look like and let them find the way that’s best for them.

3. Plan Ahead

Asking for help can seem like more work in the beginning when it seems easier to just do it ourselves rather than explain to someone else how to do it. Don’t get caught in that trap. Think of it as a time investment. If you invest the time now to train someone else, you’ll save tons of time later when the task comes up again!

It takes practice for a good team to work together, so don’t give up if your first attempts at delegation are rocky.

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How many almost-finished tasks do you have on your to-do list right now? For some reason, we tend to do all the difficult parts of a task and then leave the last details unfinished. Lucky for us, when WE do this, we don’t have millions of football fans watching us around the country. Watch what happened when Utah forgot one small detail at their game against Oregon this Saturday…

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=400548304

In the video, you can see Utah almost score a touchdown, but the player drops the ball in celebration before he actually crosses the goal line. Oregon picks up the ball and runs 100 yards the other way for a touchdown.

Whoops…

Our almost-completed tasks may not be that public (or embarrassing) but they can really slow down our time management.

Why do we save the last 5% of tasks until the last minute?

1. We want it to be perfect. Keeping a task “not quite done” gives us the option to come back and fix something later to make it better.

2. We’re lazy. A large task might be intimidating enough to schedule it into our day, but once it’s become a small task, it’s easy to infinitely put it off until later.

3. We lose momentum. If we’re forced to stop a task before we’re done, sometimes it’s hard to get back into the groove of it to finish up.

This week, take a look at your to-do list. Do you have any tasks that are 95% finished? Make it your goal to see them through to completion…before someone else picks up the ball and gets the credit!

Speaking of college, check out “The Time Diet: Time Management for College Survival” for the high school or college student in your life! The holidays will be here soon and it makes a great stocking stuffer.

Time Management Book for Students

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“Packing a lunch every day is a great way to save money…” says everyone. And it’s true. I conjure up imagines of healthy, crisp salads, immaculately chopped red pepper slices, fresh fruit, and hummus and crackers packed in an adorably small Tupperware container. Sounds delicious…if someone else is making it. I don’t have that kind of time in the morning and I’m sure you don’t either. I used to tell myself, “I guess I don’t have time to save money and eat healthy” until I stopped making excuses and did this instead…

My Realization
At first I tried making my lunches the night before. This worked for a little while, but then I realized, “I hate finding a few minutes to do this after an exhausting day just as much as I hate waking up a few minutes earlier to do this in the morning.” I had the astonishing realization that there are other times to make lunches other than 10:00pm or 6:00am.

My Sunday Ritual
I now make all of my lunches for the week on Sunday afternoons. It’s wonderful. I make a big batch of something that can be put into a wrap. Last week it was chicken salad. This week it’s quinoa and kale salad. I put aside 5 granola bars and 5 pieces of fruit and call it a day. Then, all I have to do in the morning is throw the salad in a wrap, put it all in a bag, and walk out the door. It takes 30 seconds. I checked.

I’ll admit, this is not a revolutionary idea. I mean, seriously. Read ANY money or time saving blog and they talk about this. But it’s revolutionary to me because I wasn’t doing it. You know that awesome feeling of finding a 10 dollar bill in your winter coat you forgot about? That’s how I feel, only with time. I found extra time in my morning I didn’t have before and it feels golden!

Again, The Time Diet is so not a food blog, but if you care to join me in my time-saving culinary endeavors, here is what I’ve been eating this October. Can’t promise it’s healthy, but it’s quick and delicious!

Procrastinator’s Chicken Salad

2 cans of Kirkland shredded chicken ( I love Costco so much I can’t even tell you)
2 apples, diced
A few handfuls of grapes, halved
A half cup of slivered almonds
As much or little mayonnaise as you desire

Snooze Button Quinoa Salad

1 package of quinoa, cooked
1 can of Kirkland chicken (again with the Costco…)
1 bag of “Cruciferous Crunch” salad (It’s from Trader Joes. It’s basically shredded kale and Brussels sprouts)
A bunch of slivered almonds
As much or little sweet poppy seed dressing as you desire

Put either salad in a sandwich wrap. I’ve been buying “Flat Out” Flatbread from, you guessed it, Costco, and it’s great.

Good luck on your time saving lunch experience. If you have your own favorite quick lunch, please leave a comment.

For more time management tips, check out my book on Amazon.com

The Time Diet: Digestible Time Management

Office Hours: you know, that thing you swore you’d attend in college but never really did. Professors have office hours to give students a chance to get a hold of them outside of class. How do YOU communicate to your colleagues when you’re available for questions? Why not try this…

One of my favorite things about running time management workshops is that I always learn something in the process. This week I spoke to NHS Phoenix and had a blast meeting some truly fabulous people. One man shared that he puts his availability in his email signature. For example: “I return phone calls between the hours of 2 and 4pm” or “I return emails three times a day, at 8, 12, and 3.”

I love this concept because it gives people a reasonable expectation when they can expect to hear from you, so they don’t get upset with their communication isn’t immediately returned.

If having regular hours like this doesn’t work for you, maybe giving a broad time frame would work better. For example, “I try my best to return all communications within 24 hours.” While that might seem obvious (of course we want to be prompt with our communications) it reminds people that they can’t really be upset if they haven’t heard back from you 20 minutes later.

So what are your “office hours?” Remember, people need to get a hold of you, and if you haven’t conveyed when communication is convenient to you, people will be left to guess or assume, and you know that they say about assumptions.

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Have you every caught yourself driving all over town to run one errand? Maybe you’re looking for the best price, or the perfect item, or the best combination of both. In this case, the time management and the money management part of our brains seem to be in direct conflict. If this sounds like you, read on…

Wasting time vs. saving money

I’m a huge bargain shopper. I never met a coupon I didn’t like. Because of this, I know what it’s like to become fixated on a discount. I don’t like paying more for something if I can get it cheaper somewhere else. It’s partly about the money, but it’s also because having the knowledge of a cheaper price and not using it bugs me!

But as you’re driving across town to save $5 on item, ask yourself: is my time worth more than that? How much extra time will it take you to go to that other store? Pretend that the potential money saved is an hourly wage you’re paying yourself. Is your time worth more than that?

The hunt for perfection

Our extended errands don’t just apply to searching for a bargain. Sometimes we run all over town looking for a perfect item when “good enough” would be just fine instead. Either way, we end up sacrificing our precious time without really thinking much about it.

Instead…

The next time you find yourself embarking on a string of errands that seems to be taking too long, ask, “What else could I be doing with my time, and is that thing worth more than looking in one more store?”

Sometimes you may decide that the discount or perfect item really is worth it, in which case, a little extra planning can save a lot of time. Maybe you can wait a day or two and combine it with another trip in the same area of town. Either way, make sure that you take the value of your own time into account. It’s one of the most precious resources you have.

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Photo Credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

Happy Mother’s Day from The Time Diet. Share with a super mom you know!

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