Dear
Jane,
I've been
dreaming about taking my passion of
decorating, and making collage style wall
hangings and creating a business. I've read
books about how women seem to do this all the
time - it all sounds great. But where do these
people find the time? With two children under
age 12 and my full time job outside the home I
can't figure out a way I can possibly do it.
Can you please help me? Thanks in advance,
Melissa H. Silverdale, WA
Dear Melissa,
This is a great question. We live in
a fast paced world with demands coming from
everywhere - family, friends, children,
colleagues and others. Ask anyone if they'd
like an extra 8 hours in a day and I guarantee
nearly everyone would say YES. The only
problem is after the initial celebration, we'd
only want more.
 Time is the great equalizer - we all
have exactly the same amount - 24
hours in a day - period. It's HOW we
utilize our time to accomplish our goals that
counts.
Time is never the reason why you don't
do something. It may sound harsh, but
in order to maximize your time and create more
time you must make critical choices. And once
you do that - the sky's the limit. You can do
anything you want to in the amount of time you
each have.
Here's How to Create More Time:
1. Evaluate how you're currently
spending your time: Do you know where
your time is used up each day? Are you setting
a daily schedule that includes allotted time
for your new business? Whether it is a few
hours a week or a few hours a day, schedule
time for this as though it was a very
important appointment that you could not miss,
because what you may be doing is always
finding other ways of spending your time that
are not efficient. Start evaluating where you
time goes so you can determine where you can
make changes.
---> ACTION Week 1: This week
you're going to do 2 things: 1) Keep
track of your time in 15 minute
increments all day for a week. This means
everything you do whether you're feeding
children, making calls, working, answering
emails, sleeping or whatever. We're going to
evaluate your time spent. Get yourself a small
notebook and diligently keep a running total
of time spent. 2) Schedule 2-two hour
blocks of time where you will get
started working on your business. This is
uninterrupted time where you have no other
commitments or responsibilities. In the first
block of time start planning your business
model.
2. What time could you give away?:
That's right I said "give away time" and you
ask how can I do that? It's easier and more
liberating than you can imagine. Giving time
away can be either eliminating a task that is
not necessary or delegating a task that you
don't like or someone else can do either
faster, better, more efficiently than you.
This is where you'll make choices - some very
clear and some more challenging.
---> ACTION Week 2: This week
you're really going to get on to something
BIG. 1) Go through your time tracker
from week 1 and categorize your time spent.
Pick your own categories such as: cleaning
house; paying bills; watching TV;
shopping/errands; being a parent etc. Add up
the time in each category and see where it's
all going - and be brutally honest, this is
just for you. No one except you needs to know
where the wasted time is. I think you'll find
some surprises here! 2) Decide what
you can give up and what you can delegate.
For example if you are spending 2 to 3 hours a
day watching TV, you've just found 14 to 21
hours a week you could use to start your
business. Or if you want to get rid of paying
bills delegate to your spouse - that might
give you some time. Also consider hiring
someone to run errands or do cleaning.
Hiring someone to assist you can be
the single most important thing you do.
It's a huge mistake to think you can do
everything - because you can't. Do what only
YOU can do and delegate the rest. Maybe
delegate slowly at first - but delegate - and
start immediately.
3. De-Clutter your environment:
Do you walk around your environment looking at
things that need to be done, cleaned,
discarded, sorted or filed? And each time you
look at the piles or project your mind says,
"Oh, I really need to work on that!" and day
after day it doesn't happen? Do you know how
draining that can be on your energy, attitude
and time? Arranging your environment to a
pleasant happy place gives you more energy,
helps your attitude and creates more efficient
use of your time.
---> ACTION Week 3: This week
you're going to start taking action with your
clutter, piles and environment. Take baby
steps at first so it won't seem so
overwhelming. 1) Select one (and only
one) room or area. It might be your
designated office; a space that you walk by
each day that makes you feel lousy; a living
or community space - whatever space you want
that really bothers you. 2) Start in a
corner and start eliminating clutter,
piles and essentially clear the decks. Go
around the room in the course of the week
putting a timer on for no more than 30 minutes
at a time. You will be amazed at how much you
can get done in 30 minutes of uninterrupted
time.
4. How you are organizing your time:
Are you currently organizing your week and
keeping to a schedule? As you probably know if
you have children, they do really well with
scheduled activities during the day. This
means with bath time, meal times, play time,
nap time, etc. I know things have to be
flexible with a family but keeping a rough
schedule really helps with time management.
Also planning in advance activities such as
weekly meals mean you can put together a
shopping list and do errands all at once.
Schedule you week so you have blocks of time
for your business and treat them just like you
would any other commitment or appointment.
---> ACTION Week 4: Now you
are going to plan out your weeks, months and
entire year - don't panic! This will be easy.
1) Get Planners: a 2 month
(60 Day) Eraseable Planner and a Yearly
Planner - also eraseable. I like the large
ones - you can find them online or at stores
such as Office Max. The reason I like the big
ones is because I can post them on my office
wall and easily see what's coming up currently
and the BIG picture all at the same time.
2) Start filling in your year with
commitments you already have such as
trade shows to attend, seminars or workshops,
vacations or other activities so you are
blocking off days. 3) Plan your basic
week. If you have school age children
it may of course be different during the
school year and summer vacation. Decide in
advance when you are working on your business
and when you are doing other activities and
schedule them. As you get better at this,
narrow your focus so on certain days you only
do certain activities. You can choose whatever
times you want - and even schedule time off.
It's all about what you want.
5. Stop Multi Tasking: This
is something I have learned over the years and
now studies show that multi-tasking really
doesn't work. You are better off sticking to
getting one task done as far as you can before
moving on to the next one. Not only will you
get a task completed but you will have the
satisfaction of checking it off your list -
DONE! It feels so good to have something
completed rather than having loose ends all
over the place. And if you have too many loose
ends it simply is not productive - schedule a
time for tasks or delegate it to someone else.
--->
ACTION Week 5: This
is easy - 1) Buy a timer and put it on
your desk. Set it for 15 to 50
minutes at a time - however long you think a
task is going to take you for a task.
2) Work for the designated time only
- and only on that one task - nothing else.
See what happens - did you judge the time
correctly? Did you get off task? Were you
tempted? Practice this over and over to learn
more about how you are using your time and see
how much work you can get done quickly.
I'd love to hear how you create more time and
learn about what your successes are. Again,
remember we all have the same 24 hours in each
day - it's all about how you use each day,
each hour and each minute. Planning in advance
is liberating and allows you to get more of
what you really want out of your life.
Love & Success,
Jane
© 2009 Jane
Button International Design2Market Success
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