Time Management is a Myth: Manage Priorities Instead
Time Management is a Myth
There is no such thing as time management.
Time Management is a Myth
There is no such thing as time management.
You and I get 24 hours in each day – 168 of them in a week. No more and no less. The seconds in an hour are a fixed resource that no one can manipulate or manage or finagle or cajole or multiply. So let’s all stop focusing on ” time management ” and do something MUCH more productive instead.
Manage Your Priorities and Intentions Instead
– and create more work-life balance this week.
Does this feel familiar. ..
You have had a very busy week filled with LOTS of activity – at work and at home. And as you sit here on the weekend you reflect on “Gee, I sure wish I could have had a date night with my spouse/significant other this week” and you begin to judge yourself or your career because that didn’t happen?
You may find yourself longing to
- Exercise more frequently
- Read a book
- Have some alone time with each of your children
- Take a vacation
- Go for a walk
- Plant or weed your garden
- (fill in your desires here ____________ )
The reasons these things did not happen has nothing to do with your skills at Time Management.
Let me go out on a limb and make a bet with you here. I will bet that you long for these things and have not made them a priority. You didn’t set a conscious intention to put them into this week and they did not appear anywhere on your schedule/calendar as the days rolled by.
“Be assured that you’ll always have time for the things you put first.”
~ Liane Steele
4 Steps to Get More of What You Really Want This Week
with Priority Management
[ Click Here for a .pdf download of the priority management steps ]
Most over stressed physicians will spend the weekend feeling bad about the things you did not accomplish in the last seven days. We tend to cop to the belief that, “I am no good at time management”.
If you really want to exercise more or spend some alone time with your kids, here are four steps to get that to actually happen … no matter how busy your life and practice are.
Step 1: Write down the things you want more of – make a list
I encourage you to make your list with a pen on paper. I admit I am old school on this and here is the reason why. When you transfer a desire into a phrase written in ink on paper … that is a step of creation. You have translated your desire into physical reality – perhaps for the first time. Somehow typing it into a computer and having a printer make the hard copy is just not the same.
Step 2: Pick just one of them to do this week
Pick JUST ONE to put into action this week. You are working on the skill of implementation here. You will probably want all of them at once and you will fail if you choose more than one at this point. Once you nail that one … you can move on to the next … and start with just one. Circle it on your list. Use a colored marker if that makes this more fun (I do).
Step 3: Make it a Priority
I know your priorities by the schedule you carry with you. I suspect you carry one calendar/schedule with you right now … probably on your phone. I will also bet the only thing on there is your work schedule.
The key to getting more LIFE in your week is NOT time management … it is having that life activity on a schedule that you are carrying at all times. Here is a Schedule HACK training on exactly how to do this (with no tech skills).
Get your chosen activity on your schedule and in your phone.
Step 4: Do It – Savor It – Celebrate It
Do It:
When your scheduled time rolls around, make this activity your #1 Priority and Intention in that time slot. Don’t let anything (short of some life threatening emergency) stop you from carrying out your plan.
Savor It:
When your time arrives, take a deep breath and let go of the stress and strain of the day. Become completely present for whatever this activity is. Invite it to soak into all the right places in just the right amounts. Savor it. Make a memory.
Celebrate It:
When you are done, give yourself a big pat on the back and congratulations. Be grateful for the experience and acknowledge yourself for your skills of Priority Management!
REPEAT that sequence weekly
With this four step Priority Management Process … I guarantee you will get more of whatever you choose to make a priority in your life … this week.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT … on how you bust the time management myth in your life as a busy doctor and the one thing you want more of this week.
