... Creating time and space

Just recently I attended a meeting for women entrepreneurs. It specifically was set up to support women with children who are also running their own businesses. We were asked what the single greatest challenge was to setting up our own business. There was one answer that everyone without exception gave. This was simply to Find The Time! Another common theme was dealing with Procrastination.

I am the Queen of the ‘To Do List’ and I typically I write my To Do list in the morning when I finally get kids off to school and OH out the door (XX)! I am remarkable for the depth and detail of the List, which my OH finds hilarious. However as a result I can feel that I have way too much to deal with in the limited time I do have available. So, then I tend to get involved in other things and diverted into a morass of daily routine tasks. As a result my To Do List is remarkable in how little it changes from month to month, and even dare I say it – from year to year (gulp!).

So in my drive to manage my time more effectively I have been delving into advice and expertise of those who have found some solutions to these problems.

Top Tips for Finding Time

1. Take time out for Connection

My Fabulous Coach, Corrina Gordon Barnes of 'You Inspire Me', recommends that you give yourself at least 10 mins a day to meditate, read the paper, talk to the flowers in your garden or window box, go for a walk, or light a candle or say a prayer. The point of this pause in the day is that it gives your psyche a chance to calm down and to step away from the hurly of running so fast that you never really get anything significant done. In that time you give yourself a chance to gain perspective, to focus on the big picture and to connect to whatever drives and motivates you. This brings clarity to ‘The List’ and for me often helps me to really narrow down my list to one or two real priorities that I need to focus on.

2. Divide up your TO DO list into the Covey Quadrant

This idea, from the well known book by Stephen Covey, 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People', is that you take your master list and break it down into manageable sections and these include:

DO IT NOW: Your Do it list is the things that must be done ASAP otherwise the world will crumble apart… ie pay bills, get your child’s parents evening appointment slip in, make that important phone call etc etc

DIARISE: These are important things but ones that can be done in the future. So get your diary out and write down the deadlines that are coming up Buy birthday gifts, send cards, get a report written, make appointments to see colleagues etc

DELEGATE Is there anything in your world that is taking up time but someone else could do for you? Simple changes in routine could free up big chunks of time for getting on with your DO ITS! A simple example from my life is not doing all the school drop offs and pick ups – my Other Half is happy to do his share, I just have to put him on notice soon enough that he can sort out the logistics with his workplace.

DUMP! What things do you get up to that eat away your time? Examples from my life – Checking email / facebook multiple times per day Playing my favourite online game (yes – I have to face it, I am slightly addicted)

3. Turn your TO DO list into a DO IT NOW List

This tip comes from a hugely inspiring book called “How to save an hour every day - guaranteed” by Michael Heppell. He recommends that you write a list of only 5 things in the evening. The premise is that you only write down the things that you know you will actually do. You limit yourself to 5 important things that are achievable and you do this at the end of each day. While you sleep your subconscious can plan your strategies for completing your task list. By limiting the list to 5 items, you avoid becoming bogged down in overwhelm, which is for me is the first step towards dealing with procrastination! Which brings me on to the thorny issue of dealing with time wasting.

4. DON’T DO IT list

Again, a tip from Michael Heppell – killing the time wasters in your life is a major step towards finding time to do things that have more value to you. He suggests drawing up a list of things you have decided not to do, or to limit your time for doing. For example this could include:

-       Having a social media detox

-       Limiting the time that you are available online or checking your emails

-    Choosing certain tasks that you will pay or ask someone else to do in order to free up your time -i.e. cleaning, gardening and taxi-ing family members around

5. Dreaming - Make a list of the things that you would love to do if you just had an extra hour of time in your life?  

For me that list includes:

·      Reading a book in bed

·      Making time to see precious friends

·      Having a whole bath without having any disruptions or an audience of children

·      Having time to work on my business ideas to turn them from dreams into reality

·      Gardening

It is really important to have that list ready and waiting for two reasons –

1)   Motivation - if you know what it is you are working towards it makes it so much easier to get it done.

2)   So that when the time comes you know what to do with your spare time!

Feedback from you…

>  How do you make space in your life for the really important things?

>  Have you any top tips for women trying to juggle work and life to find that elusive ‘balance’?

>  Do you have any practical tools that you use to manage your time well?