The Time Experiment
Time is your most precious non-renewable resource.
I frequently talk to amazingly talented people who are overwhelmed and overextended. They may misperceive that these feelings are because they have a Big Job or that it’s a Busy Time. But all too often, their calendar has become something that runs them instead of a tool that helps organize their life into productive tidbits.
Don’t get me wrong – in a crisis, folks lose the ability to choose where their time goes. But crisis is, by definition, temporary. If you find that your days are consistently jam-packed or that the meetings are all blurring together, you’ve lost control of your time – your most precious non-renewable resource.
It doesn’t have to be like that. Reclaiming control of your time is an empowering act.
But how to do it? Well, like most things worth doing, it’s simple to say, easy once you get in a groove and sometimes challenging to put into place. And because it is challenging to architect, folks just opt out and keep running frantic. You can do better!
Creating Space to Calm Deskwork Clutter
Do you ever say: “I need some sustained time to get caught up and/or do projects but my day is super-scheduled”? A few hours of quiet worktime can be a huge relief for most of us because we can clear through the project planning, emails and deskwork minutia. So many talented execs fall into the trap of back-to-back meetings all day and desk work at home after hours. They know this isn’t a sustainable approach – but it feels like what they “have to” do.
Well, it’s not what you have to do. Creating and maintaining a bit of protected time to stay caught up helps you be healthier and more productively focused. Begin with determining how much time you need – daily? weekly? – to stay caught up. Keep in mind that you’ll always find a way to get the priority/crisis items done – you’ll squeeze out a few minutes for that email to your boss – but consider the stuff that hangs over your head and causes mental clutter. How many hours a week do you need to do the deskwork that bedevils you?
Once you know how much time you need – when you get the hang of this, it’ll become easier – you can identify when in your schedule it makes the best sense. Put a hold on your calendar and protect this time as if it is something you’d never ever cancel. Call it your Desk Declutter Experiment and start with holding 30 minutes a day for a week and pay attention to how it goes. Do you get your deskwork done in that time? Do you need more? Do you fritter the time away? Do you let people steal it away from you? After a week or a month, adjust as needed. Keep playing with the experiment until you figure out how much time you need to protect.
Do you find yourself resisting this experiment? If so, consider what is getting in your way and try to chip away at it. For me, a barrier is my natural tendency to people-please. When I began my practice three years ago, I wanted to accommodate my client’s needs – I was afraid about taking those hours off my appointment schedule. I discovered instead that when I am stressed with administrative tasks, it is harder to stay dialed-in with client work. Now, I guard that time fiercely; it’s how I show up for my clients 100%.
Still don’t believe me? In his article “Why you need an Untouchable Day every week”, Neil Pasricha of the Harvard Business Review introduces the concept of an “Untouchable Day” – a whole day that he holds for deep work. You may need a couple of hours once a week or a whole day once a quarter – let yourself imagine what works best for you. But the concept is a sound one, and healthy productive professionals seek ways to make it work in their schedule.
Wresting Back Your Time
If you’ve tried this – blocked out time on your calendar but it gets sucked up by other people, then you must engage in a quest called Wresting Back your Time. Your time equals your attention and your energy. Your time is also something OTHER people want to use. But remember, your time belongs to you – and when other people steal it away, you are the one making it up somehow.
The trouble with other people who grab your time is that they often are doing it for a good reason. You feel obligated to go to the meeting they have set or to take time out to talk to them. You are trying to be helpful. I love that you are so nice and available. Too much of that and you suddenly are in back-to-back meetings and no time for lunch!
Remember your Desk Declutter Experiment? Once you have blocked out time on your schedule and tried to protect it, keep a log of what – or who – gets in the way. Once you notice who the regular culprits are, you can help them adjust their behavior. Additionally, you may find yourself overcommitted to committees and projects across campus without enough time to do the things in your own department. When you must “give up” your protected time for meetings planned by other folks, you can choose which is the critical priority – focused time on your work? Or something you can delegate?
Breaking the habit of being overextended and overscheduled isn’t easy. The Day Planner Biz is booming for a *reason*! Give yourself a few months of experimentation to find your own sweet spot and consider asking your assistant or a colleague to be a thought-partner as you work towards better time management practices. Most importantly, remember that caring for your time is one of the ways you care for yourself! When you are effective in managing your time, you feel the “relaxed & confident” kind of busy, rather than the “rushed & frantic” kind of busy. Running your time well isn’t about not doing things that matter to you. It’s about having a system in which you distribute your time resources as you see fit.
