Time. You can’t buy it, but you’re always spending it.

Time is a finite resource. We can’t get more of it, no matter how hard we try. But, we can learn to make the most out of our time, so we’re prioritizing the things in our life that are the most important to us.

How many times a day do you find yourself thinking, “I don’t have enough time?”

A lot, right? We all want more time. More time to spend with our families. More time to work on our businesses. More time to pamper ourselves after a hard day at work. Yet, we always come back to claim we don’t have enough time.

Except…there is enough time for you to do all of those things.

You have the same amount of time in a day as everyone else. So, how come other people can get so much more done with their 24 hours than you can with yours? Well, it’s probably because they know what and where to invest their time.

Let’s call a spade a spade, if you’re not devoting the time to it, it’s not important to you. But, that can change. In this episode, I share the time management strategy that I’ve been using for years that helps me get so much done. And, it’s not like I have a lot of time to spare either. I’m a wife, a mama to a four-year-old and one year old and I’m busy managing a rapidly growing and hungry community of lashpreneurs.

If I can do it, you can do it.

So, if you want to find out how you can make sure that your time is spent being productive, accomplishing your goals, and having a little fun along the way, keep reading!

{If you want to listen to the podcast episode on this topic, click on the player at the top of the post. Alternatively you can watch the video below, or read on…}

 

1. Power of Three’s

Do you have shiny object syndrome? You know, when you’re working on your latest big idea, and then you come up with a new one, so you jump on it and leave the previous idea out in the cold? This continues until you’ve got a string of incomplete projects and your stress levels are through the roof.

It’s totally normal for an entrepreneur to have tons of ideas. But, there’s more to it than that. You’ve also got to have the determination to implement and execute those ideas effectively. And, if you don’t have a team of minions to help you out, you’ve got to learn to say no or ‘not right now’ to yourself, which is super hard for some people (myself included).

Having clarity on your priorities is really helpful when trying to decide where or what deserves your time.

So, my first challenge for you is to grab a piece of paper or open a new word doc and list your top three priorities. No more, no less. You only get three. That’s the rule.

Here are a few examples to help get you started:

• Health
• Kids
• Husband/relationship
• Friendships
• Family’s health
• Career/business
• School
• Self-care
• Faith
• Personal development
• A hobby or pastime

When you’ve got your three priorities, list them in the order of importance. The one perched on the top of the hierarchy is where you want to spend most of your time.

 

2. Brain dump your goals

 

This is the fun part. Now that you’ve identified your three priorities, it’s time to go all out and start brain dumping your goals for each of your priorities.

 

Take your time with this step. Find a quiet space and really think about what you want. They can be big goals, little goals, medium sized goals – whatever size goals you want. List them all down and then take a closer look at them and select the top three goals that excite you the most. You’ve got to be really disciplined here.

 

You can’t pick four or five goals because that’s too much. Three goals are doable.

 

If you’re having trouble deciding what three goals to pick, think about your goals as a wish list. Which three wishes would make you feel like you were floating on cloud nine if they came true? Grab a pen and draw a big circle around those three things. Now, you’ve got your three goals. Yay!

 

The next step is to take each of your three goals, write them out again and assign a deadline to each one. This should be the date that you need these goals to happen. You might have a different deadline for each goal, that’s fine.

 

One goal may have a deadline that’s way off in the distance. That’s fine too, but you’re more likely to stay motivated if you can realistically achieve your three goals sooner rather than later.

 

If you have a big goal, like save 20% for a house deposit, that could take years. So, try and break it down into smaller goals. Maybe you can try to save a certain amount of money within six months to bring you one step closer to buying your own home? By breaking big goals into smaller ones, it gives you the motivation you need to accomplish them.

 

 

3. List all of the ‘to-dos’ for your three priorities

 

You’ve got your three priorities.

 

You’ve got your top three goals.

 

And, you’ve got three deadlines for each one.

 

The next step is to take each goal and brain dump everything that needs to happen for that goal to be accomplished. We’re talking everything! This is going to be your ongoing to-do list.

 

A great way to work this out is to do some reverse engineering. This is when you take your end goal and use that as your starting point. Then, work your way back to the present day to work out what you need to do to achieve the end goal.

 

For example, if I wanted to buy my dream home for the hefty price of $500,000, I would need a 20% down payment. So, I’d work out that I would need to save $5,000 per month to reach the 20% minimum within my desired time frame.

 

Time management is something you can learn to do. But, there’s one thing you need to have effective time management:

 

DISCIPLINE!

 

So, at least once a week (or once a day), I suggest that you sit down with your list and break down the three actionable things you’re going to do the following day that’ll help bring you a step closer to achieving your goal. If you’re doing this weekly, you’ll create a daily to-do list for yourself for every day.

 

Then, assign three tasks that need to get done each day. Make it your focus to get those three tasks done.

 

Bonus Tip!

 

Shiny object syndrome is real. But it usually never pans out the way you think it’s going to. Add the shiny object (new training, new diet, new man) to your list of wants for the future, but nothing goes on your plate of three until one of the three things can come off.

 

Want to regain control of your time?

 

I’ve created a free time management download to help you go through this exact process yourself, and you can download that time management download at www.thelashpreneur.com/managemytime

 

Have a Good One!

Tara Walsh

The Lashpreneur