Video Transcript
Hi, everyone, hopefully, you’re having a wonderful summer I am in Florida, some of you probably already know. And it’s been super nice, definitely hurricane season. So it rains during the evenings. But hey, I’ll take it. So one thing that has been happening is the fact that I’ve been dealing with moving here also, like just extra responsibilities at work, more activities happening, as well as figuring out the building of the house and trying to just get everything that I had in Virginia, happening here as well, medical appointments, daycare, school, etc.
With that, I thought about the fact that especially when you’re in a leadership position, you definitely have to have some level of time management. Time management is so important because if you don’t manage your time, and you’re not doing what needs to happen, you’re going to be burnt out and stressed. And as well as feeling as though you’re being taken advantage of which is something that you never ever want to feel.
Before we get to the tips, I just want to let y’all know that I started an Etsy shop. And with that, if you sign up for our newsletter, I’ll have the link down below, I will go ahead and give you some free templates, as well as digital stickers. Yes, I’m creating digital stickers is just super, super exciting, gets my creative juices going. So I will go ahead and link that below, you’ll get back free and then also check out the Etsy shop. And if you do decide to get something from the Etsy shop, please please give me a good review. If anything happens you know where to reach me. So let’s get started on time management.
Plan Your Time
The first one is definitely plan, plan plan. What I mean by that is to plan your week. And then in the evenings or early in the morning, go ahead and figure out what is happening that day, if it’s still what you planned during the week, or if things have shifted, and make sure to focus and get back down.
For the week, usually, I do it on Sundays, I spend a couple of hours when weekly reviewing what happened in the past week. And then I figure out lessons learned probably all of us are probably managers. And we know what that is. So I take that time to do a lesson learned of things that I could have improved on and things that went great. And make sure that I apply it to the upcoming week. Then I go ahead and just look at my schedule and write down all of those in my digital planner. I did a video maybe a few months ago about different types of planners that you can use. And at that point, I had not used a digital planner, I’m telling you love digital planners, especially since I’m trying to reduce how much paper I’m using, oh my God, my iPad has been a lifesaver saver, especially now that I have a planner. And I have to do list and all that jazz. So definitely like I sit there and have that and then things will never ever, ever go according to plan. A meaning will pop up.
Baby will get sick, there are a bunch of things that could happen during the day. So in the mornings, I always look at what I had planned for the week or for that day. And then I will shift things if I’m needed. And as well as like writing to-do lists of things that I have to get done errands I have to run people I have to contact that type of stuff. So that has really helped me make sure that I’m on top of everything I make sure to have a little planning session before the week gets started.
Automate Your Processes and Recurring Routines
The other thing that has helped me as well is automation. Automate as much as you can. What I mean by that is if there is a meeting that always happens, make it a recurring meeting so you don’t have to think about having to schedule it. If there are emails that you have to constantly write have templates for them so then when a milestone happens and you have to send out that email, you don’t have to look around for that. So that is one thing that has really helped is the fact that I do have automation in my today I make sure I have a very consistent morning schedule and a consistent evening schedule. The only times that things will be different is during the weekend of course and even then I tried to have a level of structure being that I have a toddler and kids especially young kids need routine. So that has really helped is having automated processes and trying to automate Different things as much as I can. So then I don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff, I can just have those templates have those processes down. And that definitely streamline my day. And lets me focus on the harder things that I have to focus on.
Delegate
And as a manager, I will tell you to delegate, so when I was starting out as a manager, and I think it’s because I’ll admit, I’m a control freak, it was very hard for me to delegate. Especially if someone screwed something up, I would just be like, I’ll handle it. And yes, I still battle with that, even today, I’ll be honest with you, no one is perfect, definitely, I’m not. So I have to definitely be self-aware of that and just tell myself, to let it go and delegate as much as possible. One thing that one of my co-workers said, and it’s true, Delegate what you don’t like doing so then you can focus on the things you do like doing. And I 100% agree with that. And it also helps the people who you’re delegating to learn in the process, so then they get a little bit of ownership confidence that they can get things done as well. Right now, I am managing three different work streams, I believe it’s about 20 people or so. And we have constant flows of customers coming in. And I have to make sure that my internal team and the customers are all happy. And the only way I can do that is if I delegate to my project coordinators, if I have tech leads, let them handle the tech. And I just handle what I can handle trying to get everything done is not going to help you. And I’ve always said this if the people who work with you are talented and intelligent, and you let them shine you in the process will shine. So sometimes take a step back and let them handle it. It will be okay. If somebody messes up, take that as a way to do some training, some mentoring, some coaching, and just set them up for success. And as well as yourself. So definitely delegate.
Just Say No
The fourth thing is saying no, I was someone who was constantly saying yes to everything. And yeah, there are things that you want to say yes to. But sometimes there are things that you should say no to someone who wants to have a meeting, that is an unnecessary meeting, that is my thing of meetings, oh my gosh, already hadn’t had enough meetings to deal with. I don’t need to have unnecessary meetings, meetings to have a meeting about a meeting, yes, sometimes those have means would occur. Now I am very, very, very protective of my time. Like I will not do a meeting if there is not some type of agenda, some type of reason for the meeting. And if there’s not going to be an outcome, if there’s no outcome that’s going to come out of the meeting, then I will not do it. I even told my customers that like they tried to have meetings with me and my team. And like I tell my team, I am like a police officer. And I’m the one that protects them from those meetings. So they can focus on the work that they have to get done. And I will say no. And I will just be like, Hey, let me see if I can help you. And usually, you can get it done by a chat, or just an email, pointing them to the right location for that information that they’re looking for. You will reduce the meetings. And that can be for anything, it doesn’t have to just be for work. It also is for your personal life. When the kids were young, I was always saying yes to everything because I felt like I had to compensate for the fact that I was a single mom and their dad was basically never there. And believe me, it didn’t help anyone. Now I am just like, No, I’m not doing that. And I’m fine with that. So definitely just learn how to say no to things that are not helping you and they’re just going to stress you out, you’ll be so much happier than the last tip that I have for you.
Document Your Day-to-Day for Others
Time management as a manager is to document your processes. And when you want to go on vacation, which he should, you’re able to just hand it off, go off, and not worry about it that will help you so much, and then when you get back you’re not going to be sitting there. I know people you’ve dealt with this where you before vacation, you’re working like crazy. And then after vacation, you’re working like crazy. You can reduce some of that. So definitely just make sure you document what you’re doing. Hand it over to your project coordinators headed over to Whoever your boss if you don’t have project coordinators, and just work don’t worry about work. So that will definitely help you. So those are the tips that I have please let me know your thoughts on them. Make sure to download the free to-do list, weekend planner, and digital stickers.
Let me know what type of templates and what type of content you want. I definitely want to have a section for project management templates. So I will make sure to create that already have a couple that I’ve created. And as well as just check off the Etsy shop and just let me know what your thoughts I would love to hear them. So I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.
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