One of the biggest complaints I get from my customers and friends and family is this common statement: “I never have enough time to get everything done.” We can all agree that we only have 24 hours in a day. A simple deduction is that we all have different ways of managing our time. In this article we will resolve the following issues:
- We will discuss the mindset you have towards time management,
- We will develop your five daily habits and discuss your attitude behind them,
- We will create a clear five step action plan using a calendar write down your to do list and prioritize the important tasks, write down your five daily habits, keep a master calendar visible and delegate whenever possible.
My goal is to get you thinking of a different mindset about time management. To set yourself up for success you need to write down a well-defined action plan and understand your attitudes behind you daily routine. I encourage you to take out a pen and paper to take notes and start writing down your best action plan and five daily habits. Let’s start with our mindset.
Let’s start with a clear definition of what a mindset means. Our mindset includes, “our ideas and attitudes with which a person approaches a situation,” the wording came from Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition. The way you view each of your tasks is key to how well they are completed. Here is one of my favorite quotes that relates to mindset and planning. The best quote on this topic came from one of our country’s greatest leaders from our past. “Benjamin Franklin, supposedly once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” This quote came from https://www.goodreads.com. Now that you understand what a mindset means and that you need to write down your goals. It is time to write down a well-defined action plan to set yourself up for success.
How to develop success mindset through an exceptional routine.
- The keys to success is in your daily routine. Some of the most successful people I have had the privilege to meet mention that they attribute their success to their daily routine. One of John Maxwell’s books talks about your 5 daily habits and make it part of your daily routine.
- Your assignment is to write down your five daily habits in order of importance.
- I would like to have you rate your attitude towards each of these five habits from a scale of 1 to 3.
- There are three different types of attitudes we have towards everything we do in life.
- The first attitude is that you are adamite or against changing your mind.
- The second attitude is an indifferent attitude which means is neither good or bad and you have no interest in something.
- The third attitude is that you are an achiever and you do what it takes to obtain (as a goal) through effort.
How did you do on rating your attitudes towards those five daily habits? Your positive attitude can make a big difference in how you get a task accomplished.
- What is the perspective regarding your attitude towards the five daily habits?
We have written down your five daily habits and rated your attitude towards each of those habits. Now you must apply those daily habits into your life. Here is a perspective on when you apply those habits. How you choose to handle the small responsibilities will prepare you for bigger responsibilities. Know what your attitude is towards each daily habit and do the ones you like the least and get it out of the way first. Each time you master a simple daily habit you are building towards your success. Once you have mastered all five of these habits then you can write new ones and practice rating your attitude towards all five habits and then put them into action daily. Something amazing is going to happen you. You will discover a positive self-esteem as you master each habit and you will build on each success. All from practicing 5 simple daily habits and incorporating them into your daily routine.
- How to write down your best action plan for each day.
- Simply write what your daily activities are. Here are some categories to write down on a piece of paper write your priorities in the following suggestions:
- You should plan at least 8 hours -12 hours if you work from home as a professional writer, coach or speaker or business owner. Housework, Meals, Errands, 8 hours of sleep, travel time, etc.
- Plan how much time you have left and budget time to get your action plan finished. You should always build into your day for interruptions and emergencies as they come up they will not change your day completely.
- Develop a policy and procedures forms so you have checklists for your business. For example, your emergency policy and procedure form will provide the contact information for your virtual assistant who works remotely from their home and provide support during the times you need to step away from the office.
- The more information you provide on your daily action plan the better prepared you can be for each day.
- Know your priorities.
My goal here is to provide some simple methods to prioritize your day.
- Use a calendar that has both monthly and daily schedule.
- Develop a clear action plan.
- Take blocks of thirty minutes and write down a task or write down what calls you must make.
- I would also give your-self fifteen-minute time slots in between calls or appointments in case someone runs late.
- What is the top five priorities of today list them in numerical order of importance?
- When there are larger projects, then break it down into smaller steps.
- Continue to write down the tasks from phone calls, emails, social media, writing reports or documents, appointments and so on.
Before you leave your office write your action plan and appointments on your daily calendar and this will help you prepare for the next day. Use these simple methods daily to prioritize your tasks and help you stay organized.
- The third action step is to write down your five daily habits. We have already discussed how important it is to write down your five daily habits. When you write down your five daily habits and put them into action those habits will become part of your daily routine. Here are some examples of daily habits:
- Make the bed.
- Prepare all meals at home.
- Wash the dishes.
- Wash the laundry.
- File papers at our home office.
Perhaps it sounds silly to you that make the bed is on top of this list. Keep in mind that even the simple task of making your bed daily starts your day off more organized and shows that even little tasks are important to you. Taking care of the little tasks will build towards larger tasks. Allow yourself time to create a habit and some habits will take longer than others to develop.
- Develop a master calendar. Post that master calendar that is visible both in the office and at home. Suggestions for calendars to use, a hard copy that you post where it is visible for where your office staff can see it at work or a common room at home where the family can see it. You can have a shared calendar in the office through the following websites:
www.gmail.com, https://calendly.com/, www.monday.com/calendar,www.getapp.com/scheduling-apps,www.keepandshare.com/Lifetime-Free/CloudCalendar,free.calendarspark.com/OnlineCalendar/Download, https://zapier.com/blog/best-calendar-apps/, https://www.teamup.com/, and https://asana.com/.
For families I recommend www.gmail.com, it is free and has great tools and features to help everyone stay on track with events or your to do list. Make sure that everyone knows what role they must play and make sure they follow through with it.
- Delegate certain tasks. Once you know what your action plan is and have a master calendar you need to be able to delegate certain tasks. There are times when you need to hire a virtual assistant to free up your time to focus on the creative part of your business. The best virtual assistant can work remotely and assist you with writing and editing content for the following: Our virtual assistants can write and edit articles, blog posts, and emails. They can write and edit content for webinars. For events we can monitor chatrooms during webinars After the webinar we can provide a transcript on a PDF or Microsoft Word. We can book flights, hotels, and set up speaking engagements both on webinars and at conference rooms. While you are out of town we can arrange for a virtual assistant to manage your day to day tasks. Using a calendar program like calendly.com is a good way for everyone to track all their tasks on one program. Part of having a calendar and a plan of action ensures that every key person knows what role they must play for each day and that includes having the best virtual assistant to help delegate your most time-consuming tasks. This frees up your time and now you don’t have to be by yourself. To review, we have resolved the following issues about time management:
- You learned about the mindset you have towards time management,
- You developed a success mindset through an exceptional daily routine,
- The keys to success are in your daily routine,
- You determined your attitude towards the five daily habits,
- Write down your best action plan for each day and keep it visible,
- Narrow down your priorities,
- Write down your five daily habits,
- Develop a master calendar,
- Delegate certain tasks.
There are a few key components to understanding time management. Know where you spend your time. Understand your mindset behind the tasks you must accomplish. And adjust your calendar to be more effective on the use of your time. The more you plan for what you need for your day, the more you can get accomplished in your day the more organized your day will become.
- To get a free action plan that includes space to write your five daily habits please email me for the link. marievmason@gmail.com
- To schedule a 30-minute consultation with one of our agents please click onto this calendar link at calendly.com/marievmason
- We would love for you to send us comments about what you learned from our blog post and tell us what goals you would like to accomplish. And subscribe to our mailing list to get future blog posts. HTTPs