Video by Knoxville Weekend
Guest blog by Samantha Lane of Origami Day
Oh, the life of a maker…
No two days are alike, there is always something to be done, and respect must be paid to the waves of creativity that come on their own agenda.
So how do we make the most of our days without stifling our work?
We shift from reactive to proactive, that’s how. We manage our tasks, instead of letting them manage us. We shape our time for real work-life balance. Like many changes and habit transformations, this can take time. However, there are a few things any maker can do right now for better time management.
1. Know what matters
For starters, know what is really matters. There are a lot of things we do each day that don’t have any positive impact on the most important parts of our lives and work. To avoid any waste of time, we need to know what is actually important. If we could only do one thing today for our businesses, what would that be? If today was our last day on earth, where would we spend your time? We must define our most important things, personally and professionally, and let those guide us each day.
2. Make a plan
Once we have clear goals, it’s time to make a plan; an actual written plan. Writing things down helps us remember more. Crossing things off helps us accomplish more. Write down a plan, in detail, on paper, for an entire week if you can. Even though plans often change, having a general structure will help us move through each day as efficiently as possible and provide space to create. It’s also a great way to start thinking farther ahead and shifting from a place of stress, to a place of peace.
3. protect your plan
Once our plan is in place, it’s important to protect it. It is ok to say no, or not now, to things that aren’t on our plan, especially if they have nothing to do with what is important to us. Time is really one of our only finite resources, so the reality is: saying yes to something is really saying no to something else. We must remember that when there is a demand for our time, and ask what we may be saying no to in order say yes. Again, it’s ok to say no.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in the busy life of a maker. Thankfully, small steps can add up to big rewards when it comes to managing our time. If nothing else, remember three simple steps to time management: know what’s important, make a plan, and say no.
Samantha Lane is a reformed workaholic and the creator of Origami Day. Her desire to live more through better time management made her a maker, and she now uses her passion for efficiency to help others shape their time for work-life balance.
Learn more, or try a weekly planning sheet for free at origamiday.com.
Want even more information from time management expert Samantha Lane? Join us at the next Make. Learn. Grow. | Goal Setting & Time Management on January 17.