New Goals; New Year: Habits and 7 Effective Time Management Skills that Lead to Success
“Successful people have the habit of doing the things failures don’t like to do. They don’t like doing them either, necessarily, but their disliking is subordinated to the strength of the purpose.”
-Albert E.N. Gray, “The Common Denominator of Success“
January is traditionally the time when we make the resolutions that will guide us throughout the year. Often, we do not keep our resolutions. Why? Because the resolutions tend to be ones we have made before and have not kept because they are challenging to keep. Why not make 2022 different? Following are tips that will help you form good habits and effectively manage the time you have to thrive in both your personal and professional life.
HABITS
Habits—both good and bad—make us. Habits are powerful! Habits are not easy to form and maintain and they take hard work and conscious effort over time to create. You may have read it takes 21 days to form a habit. New research shows it can actually take 66 days on average to form a habit. For some it can take as long as 254 days! The good news is that, as with a bad habit, once a good habit is formed, it is not easy to break. All one needs to do is spend the time it takes to replace a habit that is keeping you from achieving a goal with one that would be more beneficial to you.
According to Stephen R. Covey, author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People:“ “Habits are patterns of behavior comprised of three overlapping components: knowledge, desire, and skill. Because these habits are learned rather than inherited, our habits constitute our second nature, not our first. Habits of effectiveness can be learned; habits of ineffectiveness unlearned. Successful people build habits of effectiveness into their daily lives.”
I encourage you to read or listen to “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.” It will change your life if you commit yourself to following them. The seven habits are: 1) Be proactive. 2) Begin with the end in mind. 3) Put first things first. 4) Think win-win. 5) Seek first to understand, then to be understood. 6) Synergize. 7) Sharpen the saw.
TIME MANAGEMENT
As Warren Buffet says, “You’ve gotta keep control of your time, and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let other people set your agenda in life.” Furthermore, “Really successful people say no to almost everything.” When you are at the beginning of your career, your days are not totally under your control, and you certainly cannot say no to your boss when he asks you to do something. You do, however, have a modicum of control over how you allocate your time to these tasks.
Leaders have long to-do lists every day, and it’s easy to get diverted from the most important items on those lists. Without good time management skills, leaders can find themselves constantly reacting to issues that arise in the moment rather focusing on the tasks that matter most. To avoid this common problem, you as a leader need to be proactive about time management. Doing so will ensure these tasks don’t fall through the cracks, that you’re focused on the right priorities, that you’re modeling good habits, and that you’re meeting all commitments. While time management can be difficult, it is a constructive habit that can be developed.
“The question I ask myself every day is, ‘Am I doing the most
important thing I could be doing?’”
-Mark Zuckerberg
7 Strategies for boosting your time management skills:
1. Plan your next day the night before.
Spend a few minutes every evening prioritizing and scheduling the next day’s tasks. Once the day starts, things can quickly get chaotic, and it can be difficult to allocate time properly. You may get certain things accomplished, but you will not be organized and may find yourself wastefully focusing on tasks or details that do not make a difference for your big picture. Planning what you need to do the night before sets you up to start your day in an organized flow, allowing you to get more done in less time.
2. Get to work early.
One of the habits many good leaders possess is being the first, or among the first, in the office every day. Getting in early gives you time to organize your thoughts, handle a few routine tasks, and respond to emails before everyone comes in. Additionally, it sets the right tone for your team and lets them know that you’re present, committed, and working as hard or harder than they are. Even if you’re working remotely, getting to your desk early will give you extra time to get a head start on the day, address any last-minute changes, and continue to maintain the habit of being early wherever you’re working.
3. Don’t get distracted: Keep your goals in front of you.
Don’t let others keep you from achieving the goals or tasks for the day. Making it a habit to have your goals in front of you is the key to increasing your capacity to succeed. Consistently refresh goals in your mind as a way to ensure you’re on the right path to achieving them. If you don’t employ such a practice, it’s too easy to lose sight of what you’re aiming for. Instead of leading your life, you find that you’re merely reacting to whatever comes up next. When it’s your habit to meditate on your goals, you work towards them and achieve them more effortlessly. Accomplishing goals in this way feels incredible; it makes succeeding enjoyable and motivates you to continue to thrive.
4. Delegate whenever possible.
Effective time managers are able to determine which tasks require their attention and which ones can be delegated. Delegating is essential for time management because it ensures that leaders are focused on the right tasks and strategically allocating their time. It also shows your faith in your team when you delegate tasks to them.
5. Plan for focused periods of work time.
Leaders are usually good multitaskers as they have to juggle many different responsibilities. But while multitasking is important, it’s not always a good thing. Difficult and demanding tasks require periods of focused concentration, so it’s important to schedule your time so that each task gets the focused attention it deserves. For such tasks, getting out of the office and working where you will not be disturbed may be called for.
6. Schedule the hardest tasks or ones you least enjoy early in the day.
It can be tempting to put off difficult projects, but it’s best to schedule the most challenging things on your to-do list early in the day when you have the most energy and focus. Getting these tasks done early ensures they don’t serve as a distraction throughout the day. And it will feel good putting them behind you.
7. Learn to say “No.”
According to Warren Buffet, effective, productive people say no more often than they say yes.
By: Patricia Napier-Fitzpatrick
January 2022