The bad news is time flies – Time Management Strategies!

Reclaiming Time – Time Management Strategies

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”

– Michael Altshuler

Ever caught yourself scrolling through your phone, only to realize an hour has passed and you’ve achieved nothing?

The other day, I had just come back from my workout.

It was about 8:00 AM!

I wanted to sit down for a few minutes before I could start with my daily routine.

..and what is the most common thing that you do these days, when you are sitting alone?

Scrolling!

I started scrolling some YouTube shorts.

It started off as binge-watching shorts from some of the creators I follow like Ali Abdaal, Jay Clouse and so on.

Soon, it steered away into watching from prank videos, then some funny videos, then some useless videos and it went on and on..

I had a discovery call setup for 10:30 AM IST.

By the time I realized that I wasn’t doing anything productive, it was 10:00AM.

I was so much sucked into the scrolling that I didn’t realize that those 60-second videos had eaten up my 2 precious hours!

Relatable?

Everything has become quick bites, these days.

But the truth is that those quick bites are a bait. You are not consuming them, instead they are consuming you!

TikTok, Reels, Shorts etc., all have re-programmed the way we were consuming content.

What was conscious consumption has now become unconscious consumption.

These short form content attacked our psychology.

We think that “small” things have no real impact!

And that is precisely what these short form content uses.

They make us think that we are only spending a minute. But it slowly adds up to become hours and we never realize it.

This is a common pitfall in our fast-paced, distraction-filled world.

But time, our most precious resource, is something we all get in equal measure—24 hours a day.

And time once gone, never comes back.

Even today I regret –

1. Not being able to see my little daughter utter her first word
2. Not being there when she went for her first vaccination
3. Not being able to lay her on my chest and sing her a lullaby
4. Not being able to hold her hand and make her walk
5. Not being there for my wife when she struggled with managing the crying baby and cooking

I am not sure how many of you can relate to all of those.

But that’s the truth.

We have lost so much and these we will never get back!

Anyways, back to time and the “don’t have time” myth!

So, ever wondered:

1. How do some people find time to roam around the world while a few others don’t get time to rest even when they are unwell?
2. How do some people spend time watching “Friends” on NBC, while others can’t find time to even know what their kids are watching?
3. How do some people manage to build empires while others struggle to start a side-hustle?

The answer?

Managing and prioritizing our time.

Why “Not Enough Time” Is a Myth!

Many aspiring podcasters and side-hustlers often tell me they don’t have enough time.

But the truth is, it’s not about having time, it’s about making time.

Take Steve Jobs, for example.

He had the same 24 hours as we do, yet he built Apple into a tech giant.

And so did some of the others like Sam Walton, Bill Gates etc.

The difference lies in how they prioritized and utilized their time.

Every hour spent on mindless activities, like browsing social media or watching videos, is an hour lost from building your dreams.

The key is to reclaim these hours and redirect them towards productive things.

Use it to grow, learn new things and spend enough time with your loved ones.

Reclaiming Your Time for a Side-Hustle – Time Management Strategies

If you want to find time to do the thing that you want to do, then you need to take control of your time.

You will have to reclaim your time.

It is not easy and takes a lot of conscious effort.

To put it in simple steps, here is how you do it:

1. Audit Your Day
2. Set Clear Goals
3. Create a Schedule
4. Eliminate Distractions
5. Use Tools
6. Seek Accountability
7. Stay Consistent

I had always struggled with productivity and time management.

In fact, time management is what most of us struggle the most with.

I read books after books and watched videos after videos to find out how to manage my time, only to eventually realized that it involves only those 7 steps that I spoke about.

So, I started with a conscious plan.

Audit Your Day

Everything starts by acknowledging that there indeed is a problem.

So acknowledge that you have a time management problem.

Then start by auditing your day.

Track how you spend every hour for a week.

You might want to keep a notepad and jot down the things that you are doing and the amount of time you are spending on those. It could be both online and offline.

I am mostly online, hence I prefer tracking my online activities.

This activity will help you identify your time-wasters.

Manual tracking can be difficult. So, I used a tool can Rescue-time to do it.

You can pick any tool of your choice if you are ok with some monetary investment.

Eliminate

Now that you have identified your time wasters, it is time to put them on your elimination list.

Keep in mind that merely putting them into an elimination list will not help. You need to make a conscious effort of eliminating them.

I use the native app blocker in Instagram to block out the time that I can spend on the app. That is a good feature and I think, we creators should be using it.

Here’s a quick video on how to do it!

You can also install blockers on your phone, computer, tablet to block anything that is a time-waster and in fact, I recommend that you do it.

I use an app called Cold-Turkey Blocker to do this!

It is free to use and they also have a paid option which gives you even more features. I found that it was worth paying for it and hence I am using the premium version.

Prioritize

This is probably the most important step of all.

Remember that, the time you spend on things will entirely depend upon what your priorities are. You pick the wrong priorities, and you are going to waste a lot of time.

Start by listing out what’s most important to you.

Whether it’s family, career, health, or hobbies, knowing your priorities will help with your time management efforts.

Mine was family, health, business and so on..

And hence my time allocation was in that order.

So, spend some time doing this activity because the rest of things will depend upon how you do this activity.

Goal Setting

This is one thing which has been talked about a lot by all of those productivity experts, leadership gurus and all.

There are a lot of frameworks also out there, which you can pick and follow.

SMART goal setting is one of those.

But, I don’t follow any particular framework because I didn’t want to be tied to anything.

If you understand the objective behind this exercise, it becomes extremely easy to set you goals.

Just keep in mind that –

1. These goals are going to be what will keep you motivated
2. These goals are what your life-objective is
3. Unless these are measurable, you will never be able to track them and achieve them.

Do remember that your goals have to be very specific. Ambiguous goals will only lead to indecisiveness and overwhelm!

And they should be clear & achievable.

Break them down into actionable steps to create a roadmap for how you will spend your time on working on these.

Schedule

Now that you have identified your priorities and set you goals, it is only about putting them into action.

The first step is to create Schedules.

Scheduling your day will help you with knowing what to do when. It will help you stay on track and avoid any unnecessary wastage of time.

You can use a planner or digital calendar to map out your day. I love doing it on Notion.

You can use the calendar on your phone, your Windows PC or, even on you Mac.. Whatever you prefer will work fine.

Allocate time blocks for work, relaxation, and activities that align with your priorities and goals.

Ensure you do it for every one of your activities in a day.

Time blocking is extremely powerful!

It helps you stay on course.

Organize

Do you what leads to the most wastage of time?

Searching for things, especially information.

We waste a lot of time looking for things or, information that we forgot after keeping it safe somewhere.

All of this time can be saved, if you organize your self – by organizing the way you collect and keep information.

There are various methods that productivity experts suggest and you can pick any one that suits you.

I used the PARA method from Tiago Forte to organize myself. I found it the most practical and the easiest to implement.

I now have everything – my phone, my pc, my hard drives, my cloud storage etc. – mapped according to this method. And it helps me find things pretty fast and saves me a lot of time.

Plan

I wouldn’t call this the last step in the method, because planning can fit anywhere in this entire process.

The truth is that planning is at the core of optimizing your available time.

If you want to do the most out of whatever time you have on hand, you need to plan it in advance.

And let me tell you a secret.

If you know what you are supposed to do in the next minute, next hour or, even the next day, it helps you get started immediately without having to look here and there and waste time doing these.

It also helps get rid of procrastination.

I recommend using a good tool to do this. There are numerous different tools out there.

I recommend using something like Notion, Trello, Asana to plan out things in advance.

BONUS Tips:

The art of managing time is not solely about doing things efficiently. Instead it is also about optimizing your time and making more time to do the things that matter.

These two bonus tips are focused towards that particular aspect of time management.

Delegate and Outsource

I understand that outsourcing might not be something that everybody can look at, considering the financial aspect involved in it.

But the truth is that you cannot be doing everything yourself all the time.

There are things that are too clerical in nature and doesn’t require a brain like that of yours. Delegate such tasks.

Delegate tasks not only at work, but at home as well, whenever possible.

There could be things that you are doing at home that can be done by others or, even helpers.

Consider outsourcing services like cleaning, administrative tasks, or meal preparation.

Delegating and outsourcing allows you to focus on the activities that are most important to you.

And when you start earning money, look at outsourcing.

Keep in mind that it is not an expense. It is an investment which will help you make even more money from the time that you are saving.

Practice Saying No

One of the most powerful time management strategies is learning to say no.

This is an art that you will have to learn because it doesn’t come naturally to a lot of us.

Protect your time by declining activities or commitments that do not align with your priorities.

It’s okay to say no to requests that will overextend you or distract you from your goals.

Conclusion

In today’s world, effective time management is crucial for prioritizing what truly matters, reducing stress, and achieving your goals.

By following these steps, you can take control of your time and make it work for you.

Time is the most precious resource you have.

Use it wisely.

Remember, it’s not about finding time, it’s about making time.

Start today.

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What am I reading?

I picked up “The Boron Letters”, this week after hearing a lot of good things about the book.

I have been a little slow for the last 2 weeks and focused more on eBooks that were pending completion.

I haven’t quite gone deep into the book, but the few pages that I have read looks very interesting.

To give you a context, this book is a compilation of letters that Gary C. Halbert, on of the best Copywriters in the world had written to his son.

This is a masterpiece in Copywriting, and a must read if you are really interested in Copywriting.

I will come back with more details about the book once I finish reading it.

To also give you an update, my book on affiliate marketing – “The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Affiliate Marketing”, will be available at a discounted rate only for another week!

If you are interested in learning more about Affiliate marketing, you can pick the ebook version now.

There is a parity discount available for countries where the purchasing power irregularity exists.

Check it out here!

If you would like to know more about all the books that I have read or, am reading, you can find all of them on my Amazon storefront.

Go ahead and check it out!

The Last week on the Podcast

The last week’s episode was on the importance of having a podcast website.

A podcast website is extremely critical when it comes to email marketing and list building.

You can listen to this episode now. And don’t forget to let me know your thoughts about the episode.

Episode – 146 : The Importance of having a Podcast Website!

And if you have any questions, just drop me a note and I will respond to your questions.

That’s it for this week!

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