Time Management – too many jobs and not enough time – The 10 day plan
I was sat with a client who protested “I could have 10 days in a week and I’d still not have enough time to get everything done!”
I then coached them to create a 10 day week and they were right, they had too much to do! But through their coaching session they created the below plan and now miraculously have more time, less stress and achieve more.
The 10 day week is a strategy for time management that is so powerful that I share it with many business owners, teams and leaders and it helps increase productivity and creativity and reduce stress too. (It basically helps you use your brain in a more productive way!)
You will see how this strategy can be employed to support yourself and your staff when working from home or adopting a 4 day week too. Don’t fight who you are and how you think – honour it and this will enable you do that to be more productive.
Below you can download your own version and ensure you also ask the below questions (these are some of the ones that featured in my session with my client), because often when you don’t have enough time in your day these things are the real issue;
- Not wanting to upset someone by not replying immediately.
- Not wanting to look like you can’t cope.
- Fearing missing out or of what people will think of you if you leave the task they’ve asked you to do.
- Fear of missing out on opportunities.
- Getting on with the unimportant tasks because they feel easier and you assume the big tasks will fail, be hard or not work.
- Lacking confidence.
- Lacking skills.
- Lacking communication skills to ask for what you want or need.
Questions to ask yourself;
- At what time of the day do I set my to do list? (Last thing at night is the key time.)
- Do I open emails at all times of the day or at a set time? (Opening emails and not actioning them wastes precious time (and brain space!), so my clients learn to handle every item, message, email task only once.
- Am I on my agenda or manipulated by others needs? (Can you Justers feature in my book Fight the fear in Chapter 6. Learn how to communicate with them so you achieve more.) Learn more here.
- Do I have clear goals for this week? This month? This year?
- Do I honour my needs?
- Do I put myself at the bottom of the importance list? (Learn about the Importance List here).
- What stops me from believing in my ability to achieve?
- What stops me from picking up the phone so I hide behind email?
- What assumptions am I making on the outcome of this activity? Is it helpful or hindering.
There are lot of questions you need to ask yourself, but if you aren’t achieving it is more likely to do with your perception of what is importance, your confidence and communication and prioritising what your success needs. I’m happy to have a chat to look at this in more detail.10 day plan
- When you set up a 10 day week, start on any day you like. You can include weekends or block them out so you only have the working days featuring.
- Follow the instructions on the worksheet and question what reasons there could be on inaction or lack of completion.10 day plan
- Personally I use an A3 piece of paper and different colours to denote money making jobs, clients needs, silent working time, etc. You don’t have to include lines to your day column although for me I find it makes me take time seriously. I quite often find that I’m so focused on the goals for that week/month/year that I can get ahead of schedule and I’ve never been so update on emails too – hope it helps you too.
My online mastermind group (The Insiders) is only £10 a month and gets incredible results because I coach and mentor everyone, make them accountable to outcomes and we work together (and buy from one another) do join us!
All Insiders get 50% discount on my courses too. Learn more here.