The Power of Focus

     I have already touched upon the drawbacks of distraction. Just to reiterate, distractions are very detrimental to productivity, efficiency, and for our general happiness. One thing I can't stand is being interrupted. I don't like interruptions even if I have nothing that important to do. I can't stand being derailed from what I am doing, just to do something else and again lose all the time it takes to switch focus from one thing to another. This is how working for someone else can possibly be difficult because you have little control of how you spend your time and what to prioritize. This of course is a case by case basis and many factors come into play. In my work experience so far, I frequently have had one boss coming with a priority, coworkers with priorities, customer/client requests, and so on. Everyone wants your time and when you are paid by someone else, they have control of the time. This is the classic trading time for dollars of working a "9-5" which can take the form of all different hours but ultimately is the same thing. I say all of this to emphasize the value of focus.

     Focus is extremely important. Just as distractions can derail you, focus can save you time and accelerate your goals and tasks. The first step to finding your best focus is finding out when you focus best. One way to go about this is to track your time. Do a task that requires a good amount of focus but doesn't take too long. Also, this task must always take about the same amount of time. A good example is reading a page of a book (use the same book with a comparable amount of words). If you already know when your focus is best, then you can skip this step and go ahead with working the best time. Some tasks are better at certain times than others. Everyone is different and there are several studies that talk about when it's best to be creative, best to learn, best to do physical activity, etc. The best solution is to find what works for you. This can change throughout the course of your life as well. For example, I used to read in the morning but if I have to be at work early, then I don't have time to read and it is better to read in the evening even if it's not my ideal time.

     Whenever you can focus the best is the best way to set up your schedule. Of course most of us have circumstances that prevent us from creating our ideal schedule. It could be a job or various family factors such as small children or being a caretaker that can prevent us from creating our ideal schedule. Since we live in a world that is not ideal, we should not drive ourselves crazy trying to develop this ideal schedule!

     Another important thing to remember is to not try to do this all at once. It is best to do this little by little. Keep making consistent progress and you will find yourself with a close to ideal schedule that allows you to be very productive. This will take time. I am still tweaking my schedule frequently and have been keeping schedules for 14 years!

Overly Complicated

   I don't like it when things are overly complicated. There is no reason to make things more complicated than they need to be. Part of efficiency is to make things simpler so we can save time and get more done. Many people are old fashioned and want to do things a more complicated way just because that is the way it’s done. One thing they don’t realize is that they are wasting time and energy and all they need to do is take some time and review their processes and see what can be modified and cut out. 

    One thing that is overcomplicated for one person may not be for someone else. For example, there are things that I do that seem very complicated, but actually help me. My schedule, time budget, and to do list are very detailed to the point that it may seem like it is overly complicated and not useful. For me it is worth the investment of time to be efficient and to be able to track what I am doing so well that I stay on track. For someone else, another method works. There is not one definition of "overly complicated". It is different for everyone. Nevertheless, it is always a good practice to review your schedule, to do list, time budget, financial budget, and/or anything else in your life. You can usually make things simpler and more efficient.

     There is freedom in making life a little more simple. We can usually remember a time in our lives when things were simpler. We often think back on those times and have a good feeling about them. There is a false idea floating around that having more to do or having more material possessions will automatically create happiness. I can personally attest that this is not true! Having too much to do and having too much clutter stresses me out and makes me anxious. 

      I can remember when I was 15 and I wanted to have a lot to do and wished I would be busy with activities. I then got more involved with clubs in high school, started working, and ran track. I was busy and I liked it a lot for a while. I enjoyed being busy with activities in my undergraduate studies in college as well. However, after I graduated and was working full time, I realized there was more value in resting and enjoying myself. I started to enjoy downtime. Now more recently, I am really particular about how I spend my time and that is why I have a time budget and I track my time so intricately. I am constantly working towards a life that is not overly complicated, I hope you are too!

The Drawbacks of Distraction

      It is common knowledge that distraction is bad for productivity. However, there are many different ideas on how bad it really is. For example, let’s say it takes 20 minutes to do a task and you stop for 2 minutes to do something else. On paper, that means it would take 22 minutes to complete the task. However, that's not actually the case if the task takes any type of concentration. The more concentration and thought required, the more damaging distraction will be. A task such as vacuuming or sweeping a floor will not be derailed significantly if the task is interrupted. It is simply a task that can be stopped and started again whenever. It will not take longer because one does not need to get back into focus for it. Whatever is on the floor will need to be cleaned, whether it’s 15 minutes, or 4, 8, and 3 minute segments.    

      However, it's different with tasks like reading a book, writing a blog post (like this one), setting goals and doing long-range planning. The distraction (i.e a phone call) may only be two minutes, but we must also take into account the time it takes to get back into focus again as well as lost momentum. That 20 minute task may become a 30 minute task just by the one two minute distraction.

      This can be worse depending on how easily distracted you are, your work styles, your environment, and a lot of other factors. So the numbers can be different. For example, a person learning a new task will definitely be more derailed by distraction than someone who is experienced in the task because there is a lot of uncertainty in doing a new task and not sure if it’s being done right or how to do it. Also, some people might be quicker on certain tasks because they enjoy them more than others so that will mean there is more natural focus and less tendency towards distraction. This is not an exact science! 

      The time it takes to get back into a task could be determined by timing certain tasks and seeing how much distraction can affect the length of time to complete the tasks. This is where the time budget and time tracking tools come into play. There are well known methods for focus such as the Pomodoro Timer where there is a set time to focus on a task, for example 50 minutes, then take 10 minute break for all distractions like emails, social media, responding to missed calls and text, etc. It is also important to determine when the best time to focus is. It may be in the morning, after a cup of coffee or tea, in the evening, etc. Whenever you focus best is the time you should work on these tasks that require focus. There may also be times of the day that work better for certain tasks, this will be determined by you as you realize how you function. Again,everyone is different.

      Another key to minimizing distraction is to get the big tasks done first and early in the day. This reference commonly referenced as “eat that frog” (book by Brian Tracy) will get the tasks that are concerning you out of the way so that you will be able to focus on the other tasks later in the day. I personally find this to be very helpful because undone tasks can bother me. I am way less productive if I am overwhelmed with tasks both big and small because I am constantly distracted by what has to be done. Unfortunately, in many work situations as an employee, you do not have control over what work to do. In the workplace there are so many distractions that you are frequently derailed from your plan for the day. For example, if I schedule what should be four hours of work for a eight hour work day, and I actually get through those tasks that I plan to focus on, then I am actually doing well, leaving the other half of day for tasks that come up the same day. This can certainly vary Nevertheless, the more practice that is done, the better this gets. 

The Time and Money Connection

Not only is it important to have enough time to do the things you want to, but also the money. How do you do that? Also, many times the reason we don’t have the time is because we don’t have the money. If we had enough money so that we wouldn’t have to go to work at least 8 hours a day at least five days a week, we would have plenty of time. The vast majority of us trade time for dollars. We do this to pay our bills, or let’s call them financial obligations. We then fill our remaining time with all types of commitments (our time obligations). We then find ourselves simply living someone else’s life. It often goes like this - we work for someone else’s company to earn what will soon be someone else’s money - money that goes to bills and to other needs. That is the way most of us live. There are other alternatives out there like becoming an entrepreneur and investing. However, neither of those things can happen overnight. This is something to work towards and in order to do so, you need to manage your time in a way to do so. Please let me know your thoughts on the relationship between time and money.

Employer vs Employee and how to Maximize Efficiency

    A problem that is all too prevalent is the employee against employer mindset that exists in most companies. A core example is that employers want employees to produce the most work and/or most amount of time for the least amount of money while employees want the least amount of work and time for the most amount of money. How do we bridge that large gap? This is a question that many business owners and employees ask alike. 

    For the employer and employee alike, it is essential to establish some excellent time management strategies. Of course, this will not be the case all of the time because productivity in the workplace has so many factors involved that they could not all be discussed in this post. For example, a more efficient boss will most likely know how to run a company efficiently and therefore foster efficiency in their employees. This boss knows how to communicate well with the employees and knows how to put the right employees in the right positions. Most likely, the employees are also encouraged to be as efficient as possible. Giving incentives for maximizing productivity will work the best in this case. 

    There are however many roadblocks to efficiency in the workplace. For example many bosses feel the need to control and intimidate employees while employees feel entitled, even in cases where they are not. Employees often believe they are doing their best they can and that they are right. One good way to go about this is to make an investment in each other and talk things out and figure out a way to work best with each other. Unfortunately, this practice is quite difficult because employers and employees are too busy. This is where putting good time management practices into place is essential. Of course this will be different for each employer and employee as well as work places. This is something that is learned with time as I did in my different jobs. I found that each job was different and that a certain strategy that may work for one didn’t work for another.  Whether you are want to have your own business or work for someone else, these strategies will have value.

The Fallacy of "I Don't Have Time"

    So many people complain about not having time. In fact, I am guilty of this. I do it nearly everyday. My time is very scarce. Because of this, the tactics of time budgeting that I discussed earlier come in to play. It is important to realize how much time you actually have. The next question is how do you go about this? Upon completion of accurate record of time usage and budgeting, it then becomes pretty clear how much time is actually left. What you will likely find is that you have more time than you think, especially after you go through the exercise of actually making a budget and a schedule. This was true for my experience.

    When you find out you have more time than you actually think, you then realize “I don’t have time” is not actually the case. So then you refer to your longer term goals and focus on what you really want to accomplish. These are the goals you want to make time for. Assuming you are able to find extra time after this process, the next step is to train yourself to stop saying the following words “I don’t have time.” This is extremely difficult to break. I am still trying to do that! This could take quite a while to master. I will let you know when I get there, I have not yet!

     Now if you can’t find any extra time at all, you need to reevaluate your schedule. You are then way too busy and need to cut things out. This would be a good time to reread the “Cut the Clutter” post. Even if you are not too busy, it is a good time to reevaluate the activities. It is important to re-evaluate your activities regularly as life is always changing and we are going through different stages.

Time Management Success Story #1 - Me

       As I grew up and went through school, I was younger and less experienced with life and I was not an expert in time management. I did whatever had to be done, whatever was urgent. Many people live their lives like this. They wake up and start putting out fires right away. They run around like chickens without their heads and really don't get much accomplished. That was me for many of my days in my life, especially when I was in school. Another type of person procrastinates and is calm and relaxed until it's the last minute. That was never me. If I had something to do and it was undone, I would be worried about it until it was done. It would have made much more sense for me to just do it rather than worry about it. All of that energy could have gone to getting it done. 

      A concept I wish I had growing up was a time budget. Just like a financial budget, one can make a time budget. Even though I just recently started doing this, following a time budget has already made a huge difference in my life. I am now keenly aware of activities of which I am overdoing or not doing enough. However, just like a financial budget, it takes time to prepare and upkeep. It is well worth the investment! With this practice in place, I am living life on purpose and taking control of my life. The largest variances are due to incorrect budgeting, which is done because this practice is still relatively new for me. Other than that, it is a very helpful exercise.                   

      Now my time budget is extremely detailed and I personally enjoy knowing where every minute is going. This can be done in many different ways. For example, start with just a few major activities and track them - i.e. work, family, chores, etc. This is also very helpful if you know of an activity that you want to cut such as social media, TV, Internet, etc. As I get better with time budgeting, I hope to help you get just as excited as I am. 

Cutting the Clutter

     There are many different types of clutter. The most familiar type of clutter is physical clutter. Some of us have clutter in one room while others may have clutter everywhere. I personally hate physical clutter and how it gets in the way of things. There is clutter for our time too! Just as our living and work spaces can get cluttered, so can our schedules. This can happen if we don't follow our schedules. 

     What would you consider to be time clutter? I define it as anything you don't really want in your schedule that is taking up your time, just as physical clutter is. For example, your life might be cluttered with social media. If you go on and off of Facebook 20 times a day, but only for 3 minutes each time, you are still spending an hour a day on Facebook. Also, not to mention the time it takes for your focus to come in and out. This doesn't just refer to leisure activities. It is anything that takes too much of your time that is not necessary. Here are steps you could take to cut time clutter:

         First, you need to determine what the clutter is in your schedule. A good way to do this is to do a proper time analysis. If you are making a time budget, you are already on the right track to doing this. Visually seeing where your time is going as compared to just thinking how you want to spend it creates a visual that is as clear as seeing a room full of junk.

        Next, you have to take action and actually work on cutting out the clutter! Some activities are easier to cut, such as watching too much TV, going on social media too often, staying in bed too long in the morning, etc. Not to say that changing habits like this is easy, but at least you don't need to discuss it with someone else in any way.  Changing your terms with a commitment will take a little more time and require more to do. You will have to discuss this with others that are involved. 

         Lastly, you need to monitor your time and time budget on a regular basis so you know you are staying on track and following through on your commitment to cut the clutter.

     Personally for me, I know there were a number of things that I needed to cut and there are still more to cut. I cut back on some church activities, some social media, and found a more efficent way to do records and to journal. I also cut back on dead time in which I don't really do anything or I think about what I need to do. Cutting the clutter has made a huge difference in my life and will do the same for you!

Make a Time Budget

     We have all heard of a budget for our money. This can also be done with our time. There are many ways to go about this, but first let me explain to you the benefits that a time budget can offer. One benefit of a time budget is that you can limit activities that you feel are taking too much of your time. For example, just like making sure you don't spend too much money on eating out, you can budget your time for social media, TV, or anything else you may want to limit.

     The main reason to do this is to make sure you have enough time for the things you really want to do. Just as we have a finite amount of money, our time should be treated the same way. This is even more true with time because there is no way to create more time, while we can find ways to make more money. To make the most of our time, we should watch how we are spending it so that we can make the best use of it.

     There are several ways to go about making at time budget. How detailed you want to be is up to you. I mentioned in my detailed schedule post about how it is up to you on how detailed you want to be. It will take some trial and error to find out which method works best. First of all, you will need to determine what time period you want to use for your budget - do you want to make it annually, monthly, quarterly, weekly or daily? You could also use certain time periods like a semester in college or school year. As far as time periods is concerned, use whatever works best for you, and you can change it whenever you need to. 

     Another aspect of determining your time budget is how detailed it will be.  Will you be tracking everything you do or are you interested in limiting certain activities? It's entirely up to you whether you track 1 activity or over 150 activities like I do. Just as I track practically everything I do, I also make a budget for all of these activities. I use aTimeLogger to track my time and Excel to make a budget. I then use the Excel Budget to view the aTimeLogger activity reports to compare budgets. I personally use Excel so I can do an annual budget and check actual activities such as church events, social events, family events, etc. There is a "goals" function in aTimeLogger so you can limit or set a goal toward an activity. This has been working well for me so far this year, but I know as time progresses I will continue to refine the process. This will be the same for you also, always do what is best for you at the time.

The Importance of Scheduling Everything

     You are probably making a schedule if you find this blog appealing. How detailed is the schedule that you make? Some people schedule only appointments and meetings. Others schedule every place they go. Still other people schedule much more than that. I've tried various methods over the past 15 years when it comes to scheduling and found that the more detailed I get, the more beneficial it is for me. 

    I am not going to ask anyone to do what I do. This is what works for me, which very well may work for others, but definitely not everyone. I schedule just about everything. I schedule the obvious - work, activities, commitments, etc. I schedule tasks and chores. I schedule journaling, record keeping, personal care, and even things like eating. It's not like I am going to forget to eat, but to me it makes it clear how much time I actually have. For example, if on average it takes me 2 minutes to brush my teeth, I will keep that in the schedule so I can stay on track. Again, an approach this detailed may not be for everyone. For me it works very well, although not perfect. My most productive days are when I follow the schedule as closely as possible. I have tried scheduling out a lot of individual activities such as brushing teeth, brushing hair, taking out the trash, etc. However, that can be very cumbersome to actually schedule out and change if I have to, so I have made a lump event to include these activities because I have found that it has become irrelevant of which time the tasks actually get done, just as long as they get done. Scheduling enough time for all of these tasks such as a morning routine is important to have the right amount of time scheduled.

    A question that may come up on scheduling everything is how do I know how long something will take? Now there are many approaches to this, but my favorite is actually tracking my time. I track my time in a very detailed manner as well. Again, the best approach to this is a preference, based on whatever your needs are going to be. It is up to you on what works best. I use aTimeLogger to track my time, and I find it extremely useful to see how my time is spent. I find this process critical to developing a schedule that is accurate and actually works. My schedule is still a work in progress, but is constantly improving.