What a Pile of Laundry Taught Me About Time Management

Laundry: My least favorite chore, but alas it must be done if I want to wear clean clothes. Recently I was folding the mountain that had been piling up on the end of our couch when I had a revelation. If I had taken the time to fold the clothes when they came out of the dryer it would have taken less time than waiting until it piled up into an overwhelming amount of work that demanded my attention. My revelation didn’t stop there. Instead of waiting until most of our clothes needed to be washed, if I run a load every day the task is more manageable and, as a bonus, we don’t run out things to wear! It all comes down to time management.

From tackling laundry to writing your company’s next press release, time management is about how you choose delegate your minutes so your responsibilities don’t stack into an overwhelming amount of work.

The Importance of Time:

I came across an article, Time Management And The Power Of 1440, written by Kevin Kruse. It struck a chord with me. On the door to his office hangs a simple sign with the numbers ‘1440’ and this is why:

“There Are 1,440 Minutes In Every Day. Primarily, the 1440 sign was meant as a constant reminder to me that time was my most valuable asset. Every time I walked into my own office I saw that giant reminder. Tick, tick, tick. I could not be careless with my minutes.”

So often we forget time is one of our most precious resources and in turn waste it on activities that hold no value. Once used, time cannot be regained; there is no stopping the progression of the clock. When put into this perspective it is easy to see how important time management skills are to help you choose the most effective ways to invest your most precious asset and see the greatest results for your business.

Time Management in Four Steps:

1. Where is your time going?

Part of effective time management is knowing exactly how you use your day. You know what time you get up and when your office hours are, but have you tracked how long you spend checking email throughout the day or the time spent asking for clarification on tasks? This infographic from Atlassian illustrates how much a person’s time at work is wasted with excessive emails, meetings and interruptions, with 60% or less time actually being spent productively!

In order to see exactly where your time is being underutilized, and what times of day you work most efficiently, create a journal and record your tasks from start to finish. You will be surprised by how long you spend on “quick” activities such as email. If you are not doing well in time management you’ll notice areas that are producing little to no value to your business. By being able to see these gaps you can fit more significant assignments into your day and avoid the ones not contributing to your success.

2. Prioritize your workload

One of the best ways to delegate your time into value-added activities is through prioritizing. This is not a new concept; however, determining what should be at the top of your pile getting your immediate attention versus what can wait is a difficult skill to master. So how do you figure out what is actually important when everything on your list seems to demand a top standing position on that to-do list? Write it all down; that’s the first step. From there you can determine what has the greatest impact on your business and goals. The items with the biggest influence should be at the top. A point of consideration with prioritizing is how the task is ranked with other parties involved. While an activity may not have a great effect on your goals, it could a high level priority for another person, such as a business partner or client. Clarifying the importance level with those you are working with will help you determine where the item should stand on your own to-do list.

3. Create a schedule

Now that you can see where time is going and have a grasp on how to prioritize your tasks, creating a schedule is the next step. This is a perfect opportunity to grab that journal you recorded activities in from step one. Using this to see when you work most productively during the day, schedule the tasks that have the most value with start and end times within those productive windows and fill in the remaining spots based on priority level. Every day before you get started create this schedule to see where your time needs to be spent (in fact, you could even do this the night before so you can jump right in the next day). By doing this every day you visualize where your time is being put, plus it will help you become more accountable on how you spend your precious resource.

4. Stay flexible

No matter how much you manage and organize your time, this is life and as the saying goes, “life happens.” There are going to be events and issues that come up requiring your full immediate response. Whether it’s a last-minute interview with a reporter or a negative comment on your Facebook page that you need to address right away, no amount of planning will prevent this from happening. So what can you do? Adjust your priorities and schedule to reflect the new request. Being flexible in regards to your time management will help alleviate stress when situations arise that cause you to re-work your assignments.

Tools for Time Management:

From electronic to the old-fashioned paper and pen, there are a number of tools to help you manage your time effectively; everyone has their preference on what they use, so you’ll need to find out what works best for you.

The most common tool you will find is a calendar. There is nothing wrong with a paper calendar and manually entering in your day-to-day tasks; for many, the physical connection of writing helps them stay on track. If you are open to electronic calendar systems, Google Calendars are a great alternative. From being able to see multiple calendars and easily inviting others to meetings to color coding events and setting reminders, there is a lot you can do with this option. What’s even better is that they are accessible on your smart phone and other mobile devices, making them convenient for traveling without the extra paper weight.

Additional time management resources that are especially useful for busy entrepreneurs managing their company’s social media marketing are scheduling tools such as Hootsuite and Sprout Social. Both of these applications allow you to access multiple social media accounts at once and see everything there on your screen without logging in and out, saving you time and energy. A more valuable use of these tools comes with their posting abilities. There are multiple options available to fit your company’s needs, from setting distribution schedules to creating your posts ahead of time to post on a specific day and time. When making sure your posts are going out at a consistent time every day, scheduling your posts in advance will ease the headache of making sure you’re available and online as well as lighten your daily work load.

Take A Step Back:

While you can be the super hero of your company who has mastered the art of time management, remember to take a step back and breathe when your schedule is particularly full of low-level priorities. No one can go on forever at the intense level of work that comes with high priority tasks; burn out is far too often the result. When working on these high level tasks this Inc. article recommends to take a break every 50 – 90 minutes for at least 15 minutes. This breather from your work will help you stay focused and clear your mind. If you were struggling on a task, coming back after a short breather can make all the difference, allowing you to clearly see the solution that was hiding behind the frustration before.

What should you do during a break? According the article, don’t “stress too much about it. A quick ping pong game, a short drive, a brisk walk, a brief chat, a quick snooze–these are all great ways of taking a break.” In fact, if you work from home you could even fold a basket of laundry! The main point is shifting your attention from the work you were doing and taking a step back for a brief time. It’s a great opportunity to get your body moving after a long period of sitting and engaging a different part of the brain while using the time to relax.

While I am sure my family will appreciate having their clothes cleaned and folded on a regular schedule with better time management, the effects roll into managing business as well. I hope this article has helped you gain a better understanding on how to manage the tasks in your life and while providing some useful tools to get the most value from your efforts. With practice I hope you will be able to use all 1440 minutes in your day to your business’ greatest advantage.

Want to learn more about managing your time effectively? Check out these posts:
• The 24 Best Apps for Business Owners
• Social Media Management Tools: Hootsuite and Sprout Social
• Entrepreneurs – They Need Vacation Too!