Emily Schwartz

How To Turn “Meaning To” Into “Done”

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Time Management Reminder“I’ve been meaning to get to that!”

Have you uttered that phrase recently? When we say this, it’s usually our way of saying, “Hey, look, I know that what you’re asking of me is important, and it’s been on my mind frequently, I just haven’t made it a priority yet.” The next time a task you’ve been meaning to do is on your mind, ask yourself the following three questions to turn meaning to into done.

1. Can I do it now?

When an important task is on your mind, it’s easy to say, “I’ll do it later” but what is stopping you from doing it right now? Is there a reason you can’t pick up the phone right now and make that call? Or type up that document? Or send that email? You might not feel like doing it now, but will you feel any more like doing it 24 hours from now? Instead of thinking about how long it will take, or how much you wish you didn’t have to do it, focus on how good it will feel to not have this task tugging at your mind anymore.

2. If not now, when?

Sometimes, we think of important tasks when we’re in the middle of something else and it would be distracting and counterproductive to drop what we’re doing and switch gears. In this case, instead of saying “later,” pull out your calendar and commit to “when.” Even if it’s a tiny task that doesn’t seem like it deserves it’s own place in your agenda, add it anyway. It’s much harder to put something off when you’ve validated its importance with a spot in your calendar.

3. If not when, ever?

If you’re still having trouble making this task a priority, is it really necessary? Remember, we make time for the things that are important to us. If you can’t make time, perhaps it’s because what you thought was important is really just something you wish was important or should be important. Either acknowledge it as something you value and start making the time, or accept that it’s something you can live without, and let it go.

Last week, I joined Toastmasters. I’ve been meaning to do it for the past year or so and just haven’t. I finally decided it was important, so I found a club, put it on my calendar, went to the meeting, and loved it. What have you been “meaning to do” this month? What are you waiting for?

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Are You a Time Management Carnivore?

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Time Management Lion-Do the most important task on your to-do list first.

-Everything on my list is important.

-What now?

When I started The Time Diet almost three years ago, my goal was to combat this type of thinking. The “priority paralysis” described above causes stress, unfocused work, and forces people to somehow decide which is more important:  finishing a task for work, or taking time to relax and do something enjoyable.

With The Time Diet, I took importance out of the equation in favor of balance. I teach people how to label their tasks as either a Meat, Vegetable, or Dessert and choose a balanced selection of tasks each day. I’ve found, however, that the definition of Meat Task has morphed a bit, and it has created far too many time management carnivores. If you feel like all you do are Meat Tasks, let me help!

A Meat Task is Something Difficult, Not Just Important

In The Time Diet, your Meats are your difficult tasks, your Vegetables are your easier tasks, and your Desserts are your enjoyable tasks. The importance of a task has nothing to do with how it’s classified. If you look at your list and everything seems to be a Meat, ask yourself: “Is everything on this list really of equal difficulty?” Perhaps you are falling into the trap of labeling tasks with urgent deadlines Meats, even if they are easy to complete.

Meat Tasks can Have Vegetable Components

Even if you are staring down a big, difficult Meat task, it’s unlikely that every single component of that task is difficult. Learning to break up big tasks into much smaller pieces allows you to appropriately label easier parts as Vegetables.

A Vegetable for You Might be a Meat for Someone Else

I hesitate to give too many examples of Meats, Vegetables, and Desserts because the designations change drastically from person to person. If writing comes easily to you, drafting an email or a memo might be a simple Vegetable, but to those who struggle to find the right words, it might be a formidable Meat. For a fitness enthusiast, going to the gym might be an enjoyable Dessert, but to others it might be their least-desirable Vegetable.

Finding Your Balance

Remember, the whole point of The Time Diet is to ensure that your schedule consists of a balanced diet of Meats, Vegetables, and Desserts each day so you don’t become overwhelmed with difficult tasks and neglect to make any time for yourself. Learning to properly label these tasks requires practice, and the discipline to remain focused while working through your list. Thank you readers! I hope that The Time Diet has played at least a small part in helping you conquer your time management goals.

For a more detailed explanation of The Time Diet time management system, check out “The Time Diet: Digestible Time Management” on Amazon.com

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Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net

3 Reasons the New Gmail Compose is Great for Time Management

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Time Management EmailIf you are a Gmail user, you found that your inbox looked a little different last week. Gmail rolled out a new interface that changes the way you compose messages. Instead of using the whole screen to compose a message, a small “compose box” now pops up in the bottom right corner.

I (along with the rest of the world) enjoy complaining about even the most miniscule adjustments to popular free websites, so this monumental change to one of the most basic functions of Gmail sent me into a bit of a panic. However, after living with the new compose box for a few days, I realized it’s actually helpful to our time management. Here is why:

1. It encourages shorter messages

When you have the whole screen to write a message, you feel obligated to fill it. How many times have you received a lengthy email requiring you to wade through tons of extra information just to get to the purpose of the message? The new smaller compose box feels much more like a chat window, encouraging shorter, more to-the-point communications. This saves time for both the writer and the reader.

2. It’s easier to reference other mail while you write

When composing a new message, I frequently have to reference previous emails, which was not easy to do in the old format. You had to save your current message as a draft, close it, open up your inbox again, and then return to the draft. Now, you’re able to keep your new email open while browsing your inbox for older messages, which is so much easier.

3. You’re less likely to forget about half-written drafts

In the old Gmail, if you were interrupted while writing a message, you saved the incomplete message to your “drafts” folder to come back to it later…assuming you remembered to come back to it later! For me, placing a message in my drafts folder was a pretty good sign that it would be quickly forgotten about. With the new compose box, you can minimize your drafts and they stay at the bottom of your inbox as a reminder to come back and finish them.

…and one reason it’s not

On the whole, I like the new compose box and think it makes my email experience quicker and more streamlined. There is, however, one big time management detriment I’ve discovered: it’s more difficult to stay focused. When the compose box took up the whole screen, it was easier to stay focused on the task at hand. Now that I can see my inbox while I’m writing, it’s easier to be distracted by incoming messages. If you notice your focus start to shift, click the “pop out” arrow on the top right of the compose box. This makes the window bigger and you can easily cover up your inbox until you’re ready to face it again.

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Procrastination, Peeps, And Why Both Are OK Sometimes

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Time Management PeepsThe day after Easter is a pretty fabulous day on my calendar. It is the day that my local grocery store puts Peeps on sale for 75% off. I suppose I use the sale to justify eating those glorious, sugary, terribly unhealthy marshmallow chicks once a year.  That’s why I put off buying them until the last minute before they clear off the shelves. Now, doing anything at the last minute makes me a little uneasy, what with being a time management speaker and all, but I’ve found that sometimes a little procrastination doesn’t hurt, especially when you have a good reason. That advice saved me hours of time this week. Allow me to explain:

To Procrastinate or Not to Procrastinate

I have a grant proposal due tomorrow. Not wanting to put it off, I sat down to start it earlier in the week, and immediately became frustrated. Words and ideas just weren’t coming to me. I stared at the blank computer screen, occasionally typing a mangled sentence or two, and then immediately deleting them because they made no sense. I was not at all in the right mindset to conjure up brilliant thoughts and began to realize that writing a 10-page proposal could easily take me all day at this pace. This was torture.

I closed my computer telling myself I would come back to it later, but that didn’t feel right. “I’m procrastinating!” I thought. “I should just do this now and be done with it.” But as the minutes ticked by and my document continued to remain stagnant, I knew I was wasting my time. I would have to give “do it later” a shot. (Besides, NPR said it was OK.)

Coming Back to it Later

Over the next couple of days, I wrote down a few scattered proposal ideas that came to me while doing other things. I woke up on Friday morning feeling inspired and took a look at the ideas I had written. The picture of what I needed to do was all starting to become clear, and I sat down and hammered out 5 solid pages pretty much without stopping. After getting a strong start, doubling that number proved to be no trouble at all.

Had I continued to work on the proposal the first day I tired, I probably would have finished it, but it would have taken hours. I had the luxury of time and needed to step away from the project for a while and come back to it later. Was I procrastinating? Sure. But it ended up working out for the better.

What’s The Point?

The point of this week’s blog is not to say that you should always stop doing things when they become difficult and put them off until later. The point is that sometimes procrastination can be justified. Whether you are waiting to buy your favorite once-a-year sugary snack for a few pennies, or waiting for a spell of writer’s block to pass, there are times when waiting until “later” can pay off. Just don’t make your last minute solution a habit.

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10 Time Management Tips in 3 Words

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Time Management TipsUsually, I strive to fill this blog with eloquent, helpful commentary that addresses a specific need in the time management world. This week, I came across an awesome blog called Do It Marketing that gave great advice in only three words. “This is genius!” I thought. If there is any subject that should be distilled down to three words or less, it’s certainly time management. After all, who has time for more than that? So, here are 10 time management tips in three words. Quick to read, easy to remember. No room for excuses!

1. Don’t say “later”

2. Write it down

3. Schedule your Desserts

4. Productive not busy

5. Banish Time Killers

6. Focused work always

7. Delegate when possible

8. Stop making excuses

9. Plan in advance

10. Do it now

Got some more 3-word advice? Leave a comment!

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Is Poor Communication Harming Your Time Management?

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Time Management CommunicationTell me if this sounds familiar: Someone asks you for a “tiny” favor that ends up taking three hours of your time. You change your whole schedule around and bend over backwards to finish the task, only to be told later that it wasn’t really that important. This leaves you feeling angry, unappreciated, and overwhelmed with the tasks that are now still left on your plate. Improving your time management communication can help avoid the wasted time and resentment that occur as a result of these misunderstandings. Try these three tips to strengthen your communication:

1. Don’t “Cry Wolf”

If you frequently ask people for help and then forget about the task and lose interest, when the time comes that you truly do need assistance with something important, you’ll find that there is no trusting person left to help you. When you delegate a task or agree to help someone, make sure you are both on the same page with the task’s level of importance. Is this an urgent priority? Is it more of an idea than a directive? Taking the time to communicate these details lessens the chance of someone feeling taken advantage of.

2. Take a Look at Someone Else’s To-Do List

Just as you gain perspective by “walking a mile in someone’s shoes,” you also learn a lot about the responsibilities on their plate by looking at a month from their calendar. When people are great at their job, they may make it all look easy. We might try to heap more tasks on their plate because we don’t realize how much work they already do. Look at other people’s to-do lists. Talk to them about what they do and what their struggles are. It’s important to understand the unique pressures of our friends’, family members’, and coworkers’ lives so we don’t expect an unreasonable amount of work from them.

3. Practice Good Time Management Karma

Treat other people’s time the way you would want your time to be treated. Do not make a habit of showing up late. If you must be late, apologize. Make time in your day to complete tasks that will help people reach their number one priority, even if it’s not also your first priority. When we make an effort to respect other people’s time, they are also likely to respect ours and everyone ends up more productive and more appreciated.

Time management is not always a solo endeavor. We rely on others to help us out, cheer us on, and hold us accountable. Clearly communicating our schedules and priorities is essential to making sure everyone is on the same productivity page.

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The Dos and Don’ts of Productivity in the Car

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Time Management in the carWhen we have a long commute each day, we spend a good deal of our time behind the wheel of a car. Since this time is neither spent being productive nor doing something relaxing, it can end up feeling like truly wasted time. We long to use that time for something other than grumbling about the traffic, or listening to the same cheesy morning show.  However, there is a fine line between a productive driver and a distracted driver. Follow these Dos and Don’ts to be productive without being a road hazard.

Do… Listen to Podcasts

Podcasts are a great alternative to the radio. If you’re bored of radio’s morning programming, why not use that time to learn something that can help you with your job or hobby? There are podcasts for nearly every industry or interest imaginable. Also, because podcasts are shorter than audio books,  you can vary your listening selections from day to day.

Do… Use Your Hands Free Phone

We could all be better at keeping in touch with friends and family. Our lives get busy and we never find time to chat with the people who are important to us, but with a hands free device for your phone, you can use that idle time in the car to keep those connections alive. I’ve also used the time to make lengthy customer service phone calls. For example, you know you’ll be on hold forever if you have to call and ask your cable company a question. Why not make that call when you literally have nothing better to do?

Do…Record Your Ideas

Sometimes we come up with brilliant ideas while we’re alone with our thoughts in the car. Don’t let those ideas go to waste! Use a voice recorder on your cell phone to capture those brilliant thoughts before they leave your head. I’m sure many grand ideas have been lost when I promise myself I’ll write something down as soon as I get to my destination…and then forget.

Don’t… Check Your Email

It starts off innocently enough. We say we’ll just glance at our inbox at a red light. Then the light turns green and we’re still reading. The roads aren’t too crowded so we say we’ll just finish this one paragraph and put the phone down. Remember, when we keep our eyes on the road, it’s less about seeing the things we expect, and more about being prepared for the things we don’t expect — the car in front of us slamming on their breaks, a child running into the road, a ladder falling off the truck in front you, etc… Taking your eyes off the road to check your email is not worth the risk of an accident. Just don’t do it.

Don’t…Put On Makeup

Ladies, ladies. I know we want to look good, but really, putting on mascara takes only a moment. Just do it at home. It’s bad enough when we’re stuck being people who didn’t see the light turn green while they were powdering their nose. It’s worse when people try to do this while actually driving. If you woke up late, throw your “beauty tools” in your bag and take care of your primping when you get to your destination.

Don’t…Eat Food That Needs Two Hands

It’s one thing to sip coffee or a smoothie on your morning or afternoon commute. It’s another thing to try to eat a three-course meal. I’ve seen people eat everything from yogurt, to cereal to salads while behind the wheel. If 9 of your fingers are being used to hold your food and 1 of your fingers is being used to steer, this is not OK.

Finally, in our busy society of constant distractions, we often complain that we never have any time to just…be. Rather than trying to squeeze an extra few drops of productivity out of your commute, you may find it better to just roll down your window, turn off the radio, and breathe once in a while. It certainly wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world!

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7 Ways to Make Flight Time Fly By

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Time Management AirplaneIf you travel frequently, you lose hours of valuable time sitting in a cramped airplane seat dreading the pile of work awaiting you at home. It can be difficult to either sleep or be productive with the limited room and resources available, especially if you didn’t think about how long the flight would be until you buckled your seat belt (2 hours sounds like a much shorter time when you are surrounded by all the comforts of home.) Try these 7 tips to make the most of your flying time. You’ll be on the ground before you know it.

1. Sketch It Out

Use your air time as an excuse to unplug and put pen to paper to outline a new project. When we’re surrounded by technology at home, it can be difficult to take our eyes off of our screens. Sometimes the freedom of a pen and a blank piece of paper can get your creative ideas flowing.

2. Charge It Up

If you do want to use your laptop or tablet while inflight, there is nothing worse than getting on the plane and realizing you forgot to charge it. Don’t forget to charge your devices, and then turn off WiFi and dim the screen to save battery.

3. Pre-write Emails

Rather than lamenting the fact that you don’t have WiFi on your plane, why not use the time to craft a few lengthy emails you’ve been putting off? Then all you’ll have to do when you land is copy, paste, and push send.

4. Read

You no doubt already have a book in your bag or on your Kindle, but what about those proposals and trade journals in a heap on your desk? Everyone has that office pile of things we want to read, but never get around to. Throw a few in your bag before you leave and finally cross them off your list.

5. Organize Your Desktop

You might not be able to clean your physical desk while in-flight, but you can certainly clean your digital one! Use your flight as an excuse to delete old downloads, clean up your files, and remove old programs you no longer use.

6. Thank You Notes

An old-fashioned, hand-written Thank You Note will never go out of style. Expressing our gratitude takes only a few minutes, but somehow we don’t get around to this small task as often as we should. Next time you need to fly, grab a few note cards before you leave and write a few letters to those who have helped you recently.

7. Network

Planes are a great place to talk to people you might not otherwise have occasion to meet. Ask the person next to you where they are headed and what they do. You’d be surprised who you might end up talking to!

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Photo credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

And The Oscar Goes To…Time Management?

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Time Management OscarOh, The Oscars. That yearly tradition when many of us sit down to see our favorite movie stars, then collectively look at our watches around 9:30pm, realize we’re 3 hours into the show, the “good” awards haven’t even started, and we all have to work in the morning. We may groan at the lengthy Oscar telecast, but don’t we all have tasks in our lives that seem to go on far too long? Follow these three tips to keep your lengthy tasks in check.

Give Yourself Deadlines

Many people contribute to the success of a film, and the directors of the Academy Awards know, if given the time, actors will thank each and every one of them. Just like award winners have time limits on their acceptance speeches, you must give yourself deadlines for your tasks.  According to Parkinson’s Law, work expands to fill the time we give it. If you give yourself a week to finish something, it will take a week. If you give yourself a day, it will take a day. There will always be “one more thing” that can be done, just like there will always be one more person to thank, but at some point, it just needs to be finished.

Leave A Buffer

If you plan for everything in your day to go perfectly, well, you’re likely to be disappointed! Sometimes things take longer than they should. Mistakes happen, we hit a wall, we have a technology mishap, etc…Setting your own deadline a few days before the real one creates a valuable “buffer zone” to plan for these things. After all, when Ben Affleck gets snubbed for best director, and then ends up on stage anyway, you just let him talk. As long as he wants to. Make up the time somewhere else.

Focus

One of the easiest ways to instantly make your work take longer is to lose your focus. Constantly checking your email, sneaking a peak at Facebook, looking at all the other tasks still waiting on your to-do list –– all these things distract us from our primary objective: finish the task at hand as efficiently as possible. We lose all hope that the Oscars will be anywhere close to three hours when they start showing seemingly un-related musical numbers and the presenters start deviating from the script. Focus, people, focus!

By forcing yourself to focus and get your work done efficiently, you’ll find that some of your most dreaded tasks really don’t take as long as you once  thought. You’ll spend that extra time thanking yourself for having the discipline to stick to your schedule…and of course, thanking The Academy.

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Photo Credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

5 Ways to Tune Out Your Social Network While You’re Working

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Time Management Social NetworkIn today’s distraction-heavy world, staying focused while we work is tough. Social networking sites in particular are very good at stealing our attention and interrupting our time management.  They have all the makings of a perfect Time Killer: easy to access and difficult to look away. Those of us who enjoy being on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc… have a tough decision to make. How in the world do we continue to use these sites but remove them from our mind while we’re working? Start with these 5 strategies.

1. Log out

Many of us choose to keep ourselves logged in to our social network. This makes it all too easy to check Facebook “just for a minute” while we’re trying to work. Instead, log out of these sites and make sure your computer does not auto-save your password. This way, you will be less tempted to snoop on your news feed when you should be focusing! The extra step of having to enter your username and password can be just the deterrent you need.

2. Work Offline

If your work doesn’t require the use of the internet, shut it off. Remove the temptation all together. I turned off the WiFi on my laptop before starting this blog post, and it has done wonders for my focus. Not only that, but my battery isn’t draining nearly as quickly as it usually does!

Time Management Smartphone3. Put Your Cellphone Away

Smartphones are great in that you always have a mini-computer in your pocket, but they also make your social network a distraction everywhere you go. To avoid mindlessly  scrolling through Twitter during every spare moment, put your cell phone out of reach when you need to focus on something. If you can’t deal with the separation anxiety that causes, try removing the  short-cut button from your home screen.

4. Pick and Choose

The first social network I took part in was MySpace. Then I got a Facebook, then a Twitter, then a YouTube Channel, and now I’m venturing into Pinterest-land. These have been great tools to grow my business, but personally I try to only pick a few to use regularly. It takes time to remain deeply involved in every social network available. Choose your favorites to stay involved with, and relegate the rest to “once a week” status.

5. Dedicate Time

At the proper time and place, social networking can be a fun Dessert in our Time Diets. Rather than glancing at YouTube only when you’re trying to do something else, give it some dedicated time in your schedule. Maybe it’s the way you unwind for a little bit at lunch, or what gives you a quick laugh after a stressful day. If we don’t allow ourselves time for these indulgences, they’ll just creep into our schedule when we need them least!

Number of times I checked my smartphone while writing this post: 0
Number of times I wanted to: 5,782,506.

How do YOU keep your social network from distracting you? Got a comment? Please leave one!

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