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How do I manage my time?
I’ll be honest, this is one of those that was going to require a lot of self-reflection…

Ya, I’m obsessed with Notion. Ya, I have a jam-packed Calendar.

But how do I stay sane with all the things that I’m doing?! I have a full-time job as a professional tutor—though I’ll already admit, this part of my life has gotten much more manageable since I stepped down as a manager. I have a business that is taking more and more of me with each passing year. Hell, with each passing quarter! I’m a content creator and honestly love creating content almost as much as I love helping people overcome the burnout and stress in their lies. Annnnnd…I have (🥁drumroll please🥁) 18 active objectives that I’m working on this year—I counted recently!

So, how do I manage my time? How do I make sure I take time off? How do I fit in self-care? How do I make sure that I’m not spending all of my time working? Let’s dig into this as much as I can.

01. DIFFERENT TIMES OF DAY = DIFFERENT FOCUSES

For me, different times of day can require different types of work. For example, I find that I’m most productive in the morning, so I schedule my most important tasks for that time. However, what is always first and foremost in my day is my self-care activities. So, right after I wake up, it’s about me and my own self-care. Then, the late morning/early afternoon is about my highest priority and business-related activities. In the afternoon, I tend to have a dip in energy and focus on less demanding tasks. This is also when I prefer having meetings. That might seem kind of odd, but, I struggle to focus on my own in the afternoon. Interacting with other people helps pick my energy back up and keep me productive in what otherwise wouldn’t be a good time of day for me. In an ideal situation (i.e. when I don’t have a day job), this would be when I would want to take a break. This is my preferred time of day to watch TV or a movie, workout, run errands, etc. If I have a say, I wouldn’t work during this time because, in the evening, I find I often have a second wind of focus on creativity. So, I will often do a bit more work late in the day if I’ve been able to take a break. But, if I haven’t, I like to wind down by doing activities that don't require as much mental energy, such as reading, watching TV/movies, or spending time with people.

Recognizing that different times of day have different focuses has been a big game changer for me and, slowly but surely, I try to adapt my daily schedule to fit with my normal energetic rhythms more and more. It helps me to maximize my productivity and avoid burnout. I don’t try to force myself to work on demanding tasks when my energy levels are low, and I don’t waste my most productive hours on less important tasks (if I can help it!). Instead, I always aim to tailor my schedule to my natural energy patterns, allowing me to be more efficient and effective, both in my work and in my personal life.

02. VERY LITTLE ON MY TO-DO LIST IS URGENT

This is a mindset shift I’ve been working on slowly but surely over the years—my to-do list really isn’t that urgent. I was on a call recently and she asked us to give her a “fact” about our life that day. My fact was I only had 3.5 hours of scheduled work that day. Only 3.5 hours. Now, that was an atypical day. This coming Sunday? I have 10.5 hours of scheduled work. My day job is weird like that.

But, basically, I’m telling you this because of this simple fact: everything else is not urgent. That email I need to respond to? It’s not actually that urgent. That YouTube video I need to edit? It’s not actually that urgent. As I’m writing this, the to-do list in my Notion Digital Planner to my right only has 1 thing in it that is actually urgent. And it’s not due for 2 weeks.

Because I have this mentality, I’m totally okay with rescheduling things and having an unfinished to-do list at the end of the day because I know I never really expected myself to get that to-do list done. I guess my approach to my to-do list is more of a convenient collecting place for things that I “could” work on that day for my various goals and projects. It’s not a list of deadlines for the end of that day or week. No sir. I work more long-term than that, which brings me to my next point…

03. I WORK LONG-TERM.

I guess this is another way I think about to-do lists and productivity that might contribute a lot to how I manage my time. Each time I get a new project at work, take on a new goal, etc., I don’t expect myself to turn it around in the next week or month. I spread it out over typically like a quarter.

My goal is not and never will be to accomplish all of my goals, projects, etc. over a short period of time. Instead, I spread them out. This applies to my goals in my OKR goal setting system, my content planning (which I usually schedule a month or a quarter ahead of time, and my launches. For pieces of content, I spread the action items out over the course of at least a week, if not more. For launches, I usually spread those activities over several months.

Now, I know this doesn’t work for some people. I’ve seen a lot of people who time manage by having daily themes (i.e. Monday is for planning, Tuesday is for content creation, and Wednesday is for clients). That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t work for me. I can’t do all my client work in a day because I end up getting too drained. Plus, that kind of a set-up bores me quite a bit. I need variety in my day, so how I schedule really aims to give me that.

What I also like about this is not only does it keep me from feeling overwhelmed by making larger tasks manageable, but it also allows me to make steady progress toward my goals, which helps me to feel fulfilled and validated. It also gives me a much more holistic view of my goals and projects. Rather than focusing on short-term deadlines, it keep the bigger picture and the long-term vision that each task contributes to at the forefront. Long story short: it keeps me motivated and focused, which helps me to manage unexpected obstacles or changes in my personal or professional life, without feeling like I’m derailed from my long-term plans.

Overall, working long-term is an essential component of my time management strategy - and I love it!

04. I DO PRIORITIZE.

One of the most important aspects of managing my time effectively is prioritizing my tasks. I have found that by using various methods to prioritize, I am able to focus my time and energy on the tasks that are most important and align with my long-term goals. I’ll be recording a video very soon about how I specifically prioritize. One method I use is considering the urgency of each task. I prioritize tasks that are time-sensitive and require immediate attention, which I usually designate as “Do First” or “High”. Oftentimes, this is things like client work and client support tasks.

Sometimes, though, we have tasks on our to-do list that are just things that would be “nice” to do, but aren’t actually super urgent to move the needle on. I actually would argue that, for a lot of us (especially business owners), that’s a lot of what’s on our to-do list. So, those tasks get a lower priority designation.

Prioritizing is so helpful because it gives a visual hierarchy to what I should focus on first and that makes things so much easier.

05. I HAVE NON-NEGOTIABLES—AND THEY’RE NOT CAREER-RELATED.

While I am passionate about my work and career, I recognize the importance of having non-business or career non-negotiables. These are activities or commitments that I make time for, regardless of how busy my schedule is or how many deadlines I have. For me, these non-negotiables include spending time with loved ones, exercise, and self-care activities such as reading and meditation.

This goes back to the different focuses on different times day. I’m able to get most of my non-negotiables in because I dedicate certain times of day to those certain things and that’s hugely helpful!

By prioritizing these non-business or career activities, I am able to maintain a healthy work-life balance and avoid burnout. It can be easy to get caught up in work and forget to make time for the things that truly matter, but by setting aside time for non-negotiables, I am able to stay grounded and focused on what is truly important in life.

So, that’s it!

Which time management trick do you use most?

Drop a comment below…