Three Practices to Get Time Back
As I was wrapping up a jam session with a client located in Europe I asked, "Am I your last meeting of the day?" My client responded with an enthusiastic "Yes!" Then she held up her iPhone so I could see the calendar app. Her day had been completely full of back-to-back meetings.
My heart sank.
There will always be 'crunch times' where it's tough to avoid a day of back-to-back meetings. Many of my clients are in the midst of budget planning for next year, and given global economic headwinds they're creating multiple budgets corresponding to multiple scenarios for the year ahead. However, back-to-back days of back-to-back meetings do not lead to sustained high performance. They do lead to the trance of overwhelm, and in that trance it's easy to forget:
You are where time comes from.
No one will tell you to work less.
Yes, it will not all get done immediately and it will all get done.
(Read that last one a few more times. I promise it will sink in.)
As my great-grandmother reminded me in a letter she wrote after my high school graduation,
"Take time to be alone to intensify your awareness and recharge your batteries."
How do we get that time? I have over a dozen “go to” practices that I share with clients and turn to personally. Here are the top three that, based on client feedback, have made the most impact.
Reserve It
What's the most productive hour of your day -- the hour when everything just flows? For me, that hour is immediately after my morning practice ends. That's why 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. is blocked on my schedule. It's a recurring meeting with no end date. Are there moments when I "give up" that time? Absolutely! But there are more days when that time remains MY time.
Coco Chanel It
"Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off." That outstanding advice from legendary French designer Coco Chanel works well for time management, too. Just swap out a few words, and it turns into"Before you start your day, look at your schedule and take one thing off." Does it work every day? No! But give it a chance. It will work more days than you think.
Decline It
If it's a meeting where you're on deck to deliver something, go. (You can always ask the host if you can deliver your content at a specific point then exit the meeting.) If it's a meeting where you're receiving information -- and there are multiple people attending -- I guarantee there are more efficient ways to get the information. Your ego will hate this recommendation, pushing back with "What will people think if I'm not there?" but I really hope you'll give this practice a try.
I'll close with a quote from one of the books I'm currently marinating in, Matthew Dicks' Someday is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life:
"When I need to make a decision, I try to look to the future. I look to the one-hundred-year-old version of myself -- the one who understands the importance and preciousness of time -- on how I should spend this hour, this day, or this week."
Isn't that quote the BEST? I now have a Post-it note on my Mac with the words "Ask the 100 year old Ben."
That Ben sounds a lot like my great-grandmother. Create space to focus on what matters, recharge your batteries, and be more present. I hope these three practices help you do that. And by suggesting them to you I now have an idea for my theme for 2023: create space.