5 Telltale signs you are awesome at managing your time
Have you ever wondered if you spend your time in the best way possible?
In this post, I'm going to share with you five signs that prove you're awesome at managing your time and you're using it in the best way possible!
So hopefully you can take a deep breath, relax, and finally feel like enough, or have specific things that you can work on and maybe get some clarity on how to do that.
You get (mostly) everything done!
Sign number one that you are awesome at managing your time is that you get (mostly) everything done on your to-do list. This one may be an obvious one but let me explain, it's a really great sign that you manage your time when you get everything on your to-do list done but not at the expense of yourself and your life.
In order to get everything on your to-do list done and still enjoy your life, you put a realistic amount of tasks on your to-do list. Therefore, you get (mostly) all of them done. This means that you don't really struggle with procrastination or perfectionism.
And when you make a to-do list you are grounded in reality, so you know how long tasks take you. You aren't really into over-scheduling yourself, which is amazing, because so many people tend to over-schedule their life!
The flip side of that coin is, you tend to over-schedule yourself and you put a ton of stuff on your to-do list. You start working and things take way longer than you think they're going to take. You end up frustrated at the end of the week because you only got one or two things done from your massive to-do list.
I talk about this in another video but this means that you are most likely stuck in a to-do list shame cycle. So if you are stuck, start by putting less on your to-do list.
You can say no and delegate tasks
The second sign that you are managing your time awesomely is that you can say no and delegate tasks to other people. Saying no to the things that you don't want to do, or things that are not at the top of your priority list is huge! As goal-getters, or high-achieving people, it is hard to say no. Especially when you have tons of creativity, energy, and passion.
So, it means that you have a good grasp of what is important to you, your values, and the big picture of what you're trying to create in this world. It also means that you can set boundaries, which again, is huge.
The opposite, as you can probably imagine, is saying yes to all the things and having trouble delegating.
I totally get it, it's hard to say no, boundaries feel kind of mean and harsh. So, if this is you then just start with something super small. What can you delegate to someone else that you don't need to do? Or, what are you saying yes to that you don't really want to do? That's really all that needs to be done, just start prioritizing.
You can prioritize all your projects/goals
The third sign that you are awesome at managing your time is you prioritize the many, many projects that you are currently working on. Or, goals, dreams, and shifts that you want to make happen in your life. Speaking of the big picture, when you know your vision, your goals, and the things that you want to make happen in your life, you are able to prioritize what's most important to you and say no to the rest.
You are able to put a few projects on the front burner, and then everything else you're able to let go of until you have more time and space to do them because, I know you, I know you have tons of passion. I know you have tons of ideas, you are brilliant and you want so many things to come to life in your business and in your personal life.
So, it's really easy to work on all of those things at once. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of being multi-passionate. I am as well, I think it's important to have many different projects that you're working on, to switch between and to refill your cup. But, when you have too many projects, goals, and things that you're working on at once, then you're overwhelmed, scattered, and stretched thin.
That's not really a great sign that you're managing your time but, if you are doing that, I just want to say it's okay. There are things that you can do, so if this is you the action step that I would suggest is writing out all of the projects that you are working on currently, all of the goals, all the habits, all the routines, all the things that you're trying to do, change and be in your life. Take a look at that list and just pick three. I say “just” like it's simple, it's not simple, I want to honor that it's not simple but, I know you can do it.
I know that you know, you can focus on three priorities max for a month, or even just start with a week. Start there.
You can take time off
So the fourth sign that you are amazing at managing your time is you can take time off, you have hobbies and creative outlets. It is always a great sign to me, when high achieving people and entrepreneurs have things that they can do on the side that doesn't have an end goal, doesn't have a return on investment, it's just something to get your energy up, to refill your cup, to find joy and just have fun.
I also want to add that they are non-negotiable. So it's not just things that you do every once while when you have time. It's things that are built into your routine, like self-care habits that are just non-negotiable, that they just happen.
It is so important to take time away from work and your projects. A great example of why this is also important for business is, the other day I had a client who had like the best idea ever while washing dishes. It is so important for your brain to just let go and have space.
The flip side of this is, you have a really hard time stepping away from work. You don't really have things that don't turn into side hustles or extra businesses or extra leg of the business. There's nothing wrong with that either but, when everything in your life has an end goal, end result, return on investment type mindset, then there's less play, there's less creativity, there's less enjoyment.
I bet that you value enjoyment and finding joy in your life so, the action step here is, just take a few minutes a day off of work. This can literally be anything, it could just be watching the clouds, it could be watching Netflix. I don't care what you do but, take some time off and maybe pick up a drawing class or a pottery class and just do something for fun. Have fun!
You value your human-ness!
The fifth sign that you are amazing at managing your time comes from an acronym that I just think is brilliant. It is called HALT and stands for “hungry, angry, lonely, tired”. This is probably the most important sign of them all, you are amazing at managing your time if you attend to your humanly needs.
So, when you're hungry, when you are lonely, when you are tired, when you are angry, when you have feelings about anything, you don't push yourself. You don't hustle, you don't grind, you take time off to honor those feelings, to refill your cup. Are you sensing a pattern to refill your cup?
You are able to use the bathroom when you need to go to the bathroom instead of continuing to work for two more hours! You go and eat lunch, breakfast, dinner, and all the meals and snacks. You call up a friend and hang out with a friend when you need some connection, anything that you feel like a human, you can attend to.
Speaking of being human, you are compassionate towards yourself. Like we talked about earlier, if you are stuck in a to-do list shame cycle, you don't beat yourself up, you are compassionate towards yourself. Even if you don't complete everything, you celebrate yourself, you tell yourself “good job” and you understand that you are human.
So the flip side of this is, if you feel like you are a robot, you beat yourself up for not being perfect 100% of the time. If you put your work and your to-do list over being human, that is a huge red flag in my opinion.
There is something that you can do about it, take time off, rest, take care of yourself. Maybe even schedule in time to just check in with yourself every single day and honor that. This sign is like I said, the most important and it's also one that just takes time to fully integrate.
Speaking of being human, just to reiterate, you could not be perfect at managing your time either. None of these things are black and white, they are moment to moment type things. You can get your to-do list done and be realistic one week and then the other week you want to do so much.
This is all an experiment, we're all throwing spaghetti at the wall together. So keep doing your best, keep celebrating you, keep celebrating your humanness, and comment below what makes you feel like you manage your time really well? I would love to hear it!
