Time Management Is A Skill

It didn’t occur to me how natural time management is for me. I’ve gotten pretty good at designing my days so that I can stay focused and have the time I need to do all the things I want to do. I don’t overcommit myself, sacrifice my health or personal time unnecessarily to accommodate other people’s agendas, or load too much on my plate that’s too hard to handle. 

Here’s a perfect example: I had a call booked for 8am on the same day that I usually do my longer workouts. Looking at the commitments I decided to wake up at 5:30am, do my 45 minute morning routine, get to the gym for my hour long workout, come home, shower, and hop on my laptop for the call. I recognized that the most likely constraint to all that would be feeling too tired in the morning. So I planned for 7.5 hours of sleep, which means lights would need to be off by 10pm (half an hour earlier than usual) and I’d need to start my night routine the previous night 30 minutes sooner. 

The rationale I just described isn’t all that complex. It’s simply putting the pieces of my life together in a way that makes sense for what I’m trying to accomplish. But just because it’s easy for me doesn’t mean it’s an easy thing to do. The truth is, time management is a skill, and it’s a skill I’ve been developing for many years. 

Effective time management requires time consciousness. When you actually keep track of how long things take and how much of your energy it requires, you become more aware of the practical implications of committing to it. The more time you spend planning and reviewing a schedule for the day, the better you are at predicting what’s actually doable. The more reps you get, the more skilled you become at quantifying your tasks and making decisions about how to make it all work.

Like any skill, you need to start with a beginners mindset. Do your best to create a schedule for the day. It might take longer than you want it to and when it comes to doing it, you might be overlooking some really important things. Many times people throw their schedule out the window. That’s fine! It’s an opportunity to learn more about your day to day, informing you on how to better manage your time tomorrow.

With practice you build the skill, fluency, systems, and resources to make everything that much more effective and efficient. But that doesn’t happen overnight. It only comes with showing up, trying your best, doing the work, and improving the skill. So if that’s something you struggle with now, today’s the day to start working on it!

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