Stop Wasting Time By Working Smarter Not Harder

Time Management Affects Everyone

One thing we all have in common when it comes to time management is the fact that life is a never-ending cycle of needing to do things and take care of things. We live in a home that gets dirty; there are dishes in the sink and laundry to wash. How we manage our home is super important because we want to make time for what’s important. To do this, we need to stop wasting time on things that aren’t important.

When it comes to organizing my home and creating systems to stay organized, I usually feel pretty confident in my abilities, but my time management skills are another story. When my husband, Mike, asked what I was writing about at the moment, and I told him time management, he chuckled!!! I know that I have control over how I spend my time, as everything I do is a choice, but what choices to make and how to stop wasting time can be very challenging.

The Reality of Poor Time Management

I’ve had the same thought go through my head for years: “next week I’ll finally get it all together and live life the way I want, that I will be able to keep up with the household chores and accomplish my goals”. The problem is, I have good weeks and bad weeks. Sometimes I’m super motivated to stay on tops of things, and other weeks I really struggle to want to do menial chores.

One thing I know for sure. There is constant pressure to get things done. Be more productive. Better manage my time. But it feels like there’s never enough time. Get more done in less time.

The 5 Elements of Time Management

• Time is finite. We each have the same amount of time in a day, week, month.

• Productivity is about how much gets done in a certain amount of time

• Efficiency involves accomplishing a task with the least amount of time, energy, or resources wasted

• The tasks themselves. Defining what you are doing or want to accomplish; setting a goal

• The importance or value of each task

If time management is something you struggle with, it’s important to clearly define time management. Time is finite, with 60 minutes each hour, and only 24 hours each day. Even though we each have different things we spend our time on, some of which are our choice, while others are set for us, we are all working with the same amount of time. How we choose to spend our time is the crux of the issue.

The other four elements are subjective. They are all important factors that need to be taken into consideration. They work best in tandem. When you leave one out of the equation, you might not make the most of the time you have on the most important activities. In this blog post, I want to focus on how much we’re trying to get done, and why we’re doing those things.

Stop Wasting Time by Balancing Productivity and Intentionality

The struggle with productivity and time management is real. Productivity involves how much we can get done in a certain amount of time. Time management determines how we go about getting these things done. We are obsessed with getting more done in less time so that we can accomplish more and more. This sounds exhausting because it is exhausting.

Shouldn’t this be easy? It seems like we should have our act together with all the technology, apps, and schedulers at our disposal. We can set our bills to autopay, add reminders to our calendars for just about everything, and even have Amazon order and mail us reoccurring purchases as often as we’d like.

The Negative Side of Productivity

Productivity is a current buzz word, something we all strive for in the home and the workplace. The more we can get done in the least amount of time possible the more accomplished we feel. Or at least that is what society and our employers tell us.  

But the main factor that is missing from this equation is the question of whether what we’re spending our time on and striving to complete is the best use of our time and energy. We can get stuck on the hamster wheel of life but drain us of one of our most valuable resources: time.  

Productivity is Important for Those Dreaded Tasks

This isn’t saying that we should abandon every task that feels menial and pointless, as there’s a lot of very important tasks that don’t feel very important but are very valuable and/or necessary. Productivity comes in handy because it allows us to push through a task that’s not enjoyable so that we can move onto more enjoyable, meaningful tasks.

Where does this leave us?

If we shift our focus off productivity, what is a better way to approach how we spend our time and to make sure that it’s in a meaningful way? The answer is to set goals and create to-do lists that are in line with what we want to accomplish and how we can make the biggest impact during our time on this planet.  

It’s best to stop worrying about how productive we are which focuses on getting as much done as possible, to be mindful and intentional with the time that we have.  Click To Tweet

How Being Intentional Fits into the Time Management Equation

The one thing that isn’t taken into consideration when it comes to being productive is the amount of motivation and effort it takes to complete a task. The more unpleasant and unenjoyable the task is, the less desire we have to complete it. 

It’s important to find a balance between necessary tasks and fulfilling goals and activities. There are things we need to get done, but we also want to put our time and effort towards things that make a difference.  

Homemaking is very important, as is being organized. Creating routines and developing good habits are extremely beneficial, but it’s also important to prevent these things from draining us of our energy and ability to find balance in our “work” and “life”. 

Here are three steps on how you can be mindful and intentional with the time you have:
Evaluate your priorities and what you are spending your time on; re-evaluate regularly. It’s easy to get sidetracked and distracted. Or your goals and vision might shift.

1. Life circumstances change so your priorities change.  

2. Find balance in everything

A. Taking care of yourself to take care of others

B. Create a routine to be efficient with chores/responsibilities to make more time for the things that make a difference

C. Add in enjoyable or fulfilling activities to counteract tasks and chores that are draining

3. Give yourself grace when things don’t go as planned. If you let life circumstances get you down, or you feel defeated and frustrated with yourself, you won’t have the energy or motivation to do the things that matter the most, leading to more frustration and disappointment in yourself.

By continually taking the approach that your life will be better if only you are more productive will lead to burnout. Trying to complete everything in less time will leave you feeling unfulfilled. Treating time as a commodity that is valuable instead of seeing productivity as the gold star, allows you to evaluate and prioritize the most important activities to spend time on and the best way to go about it.

What this looks like in real life for me:

I am prone to get obsessed with work and try to do more and more in less time. While it’s important to do the best job possible, I also need to realize that I’m only human and that this pressure I put on myself only leads to burnout. If I am doing the best that I can, that is all I should be asking of myself.

I am trying to be efficient with my tasks that are quick and easy, that doesn’t take a ton of brainpower.
To stay focused on them and get them out of the way so I can spend my time on more important things.

I also desire to have a very orderly home, but this can lead me to spend too much time cleaning things to perfection, or dreading tasks due to overcomplicating them, which leads me to not do them at all!

What does this look like for you? Are you too hung up on being productive? What would you like to change to feel more fulfilled?

Stop Wasting Time and Make Room for What’s Important