Reclaiming Your Calendar and Getting Your Life Back

I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t feel like there are not enough hours to accomplish so many tasks and cross off what is on the daily to-do list. Have you ever felt that way?

I am especially chasing after more hours that I need to complete what I set out to do, but then I get disappointed that I did not get to check off what was scheduled in my do-to list. Why is that? Well, between distractions and unexpected things bound to derail the day, I finally realized I couldn’t get frustrated with myself.

Truth be told, I do put too much on my to-do list, which most days is unrealistic to accomplish; compiling and adding many things is inefficient and won’t make things get done quickly. It will cause overwhelm and disappointment should the day end with very few items where check off the list.

Stever Robbins, from his new guide to working less and accomplishing more; suggests the following tips to consider:

1. Live on purpose by figuring out what is really important and then setting your priorities through a life map with your goals plotted out to expose your blind spot so that you won’t have any surprises sneaking up on you.
2. Making technology your salve, not the other way around. Technology is meant to be used as tools to help us be more productive in our day rather than diverts us. Turning off devices so they can’t hijack your agenda and setting a designated interruption time is one way to do that.
3. Don’t confuse neat with organized. Some research shows that you can spend too much time sorting and filing, even if someone does it for you. Instead, having everything in its place may well mean one of several dozen plies around your office, as long as you know which pile you need. Don’t waste time filing and sorting.
4. Prioritize. The 80/20 should apply to your workload. The obsession with trying to do things perfectly should stop. Your focus instead should be on preparation and speedy decision-making process making most of your work count. When you add top priorities, take away low priorities. Making a to-do list helps you delegate and create a resource book for reference as you add new skills.

When it comes to needing more time in our lives, come to think about it, don’t we all can use more hours in the day to accomplish so many things at both front work and personal lives.

Robbins has developed a system that helps you maintain focus and do more in less time. He explains that we can divide our life into “focus,” “admin,” and “spirit” days. I must admit I like that concept, and I have tried it, the results were very satisfying, and it took away a lot of pressure and frustrations I use to feel if I did not get to all the tasks on my list and provided focus as I planned a whole focused day on one item that I neglected or put off for a while, e.g., banking.

Let us dive into how this works:

1. Focus days – require the attention of your core work. That includes your strategy sessions, review research, mind mapping, or projects. Employees will remain focused on focus days; even though you will have concentrated time for critical projects, you will still have to pay attention and dedicated time for each topic. This means ignore everything else, even if it means turning off your phone for two hours.
2. Admin days involve many different contents but similar routine tasks, such as signing cheques, contracts, writing reports, or returning phone calls. It also involves organizing and setting up your calendar or running errands. Admin days rarely require deep thought group tasks together to complete paperwork, errands, and appointments. Loop in your support staff so they can be ready for admin days.
3. Spirit days are days you schedule so you can spend time nurturing your soul; you can also use them for self-care. Set them aside for connecting with friends and family, reading, reflection, and spending time in nature. These days used to be called “the weekends.”
4. Slack days – we can’t forget those; do you need to schedule days where you need to do absolutely nothing. Generally, those days might soak up with minor crises or spillover projects, but the idea is to keep them free from work time. Don’t schedule your fitness routine or play games with your kids; those can be scheduled separately.

If you feel it’s unrealistic to schedule a whole day for one type of task, then start with half days, but it’s better to begin with whole admin days, and you find yourself getting done sooner. And adding half days to focus time for tasks such as research, mind mapping, or professional networking comes to mind.

— Adapted from Get-It-Done Guy’s 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More, Stever Robbins, St. Martin’s Griffin