You Can Master Time Management
Are you feeling overwhelmed and struggling to manage your time? Our video will provide you with nine easy-to-follow principles that can help you become a master of time management.
Learn valuable techniques to help you better manage your daily planning and scheduling to maximize efficiency and productivity. With our helpful guidelines, you’ll never feel swamped by your responsibilities again!
Discover how you can gain better control of your time and make the most of your day with our simple and effective tips. Make the most of your time and energy and watch as your productivity grows. Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform for more great info!
Episode 7 – 9 Principles of Effective Time Management
Transcript at the bottom of this page.
Time Management Timeline
00:00 Intro
00:24 Time Management
01:24 Mindset
02:14 Strategic Thinking
03:59 Goal Setting
07:34 Write it Down
09:43 Prioritize
10:45 Delegate
13:31 Organize
18:02 Schedule
20:46 Multi-tasking
27:44 Distractions
32:00 Wrap up
32:46 Next Episode – Homeschooling
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Time Management Transcript
Hey guys. Thanks again for coming back to farm life and freedom. I’m your host, Amy Bell. And today we are going to be talking about time management. Okay. But we got to hurry. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do. Okay. So we’re going to be talking about time management. Now I speak about time management. I guess from my point of view. Okay.
So in my life, it has more to do with, with running the homestead and the family, you know, the homeschooling and all the little intricacies of everything that I do in my life. But it’s, it’s about specific principles that you can use across anything that you’re doing and whatever career field. Whatever you’ve got going on in your life, these particular principles can help you to manage your time more wisely, or at least kind of slide in under the wire.
Time Management – Mindset
So that’s what we’re going to be doing now. One of the things about time management is you’ve really it’s. I think it’s a lot kind of a mindset.
You’ve got to get your mind, right? Okay. I I’m gonna, I’m gonna be honest with you. I am the least naturally organized person. I’ve ever known, ever. And I’ve known some really disorganized people, but man, I win that award. Okay. I am not an organized person. Naturally. So I’ve got to like work. Quadruply hard to be half as.
Um, organized as a normal person. So, and so I’ve, I’ve learned some tricks here, not to say that I’m, you know, on top of everything, but dad got my shirt. Try. Okay. So one of the things you want to think about, so you better get your mind, right?
Time Management – Strategic Thinking
So one of the things that you want to think about when kind of getting geared up for time management is strategic thinking. Okay. You want to get in the mindset of using a, a strategic thinking.
I guess. Uh, way of organization and way of organizing your life. Um, strategic thinking. Influences your longterm success. Okay. So if I know my husband, he likes to poke fun or sometimes he gets a little mad. Because I’m not just thinking about today. I don’t just think about what I’ve got going on today.
Um, I am thinking about that, but I’ve got multiple tracks going on in here and at least one of them is thinking about, you know, five years, 10 years, or maybe just next week or next month. However things kind of unfold, but thinking longterm, at least to a certain extent, That that helps you really? It helps you organize today.
I’m going to explain. Okay. So one of the first things that you want to do when you set out to get yourself completely, you know, get your time organized, get your, you. Your day is laid out to where you can achieve your goals. Now I’m not saying guys that you have to have minute by minute laid out in a planner or whatever. it’s a good idea. It’s a good practice to at least have a, a solid idea.
Time Management – Goal Setting
Of what you have to get done. And when you have to get it done and what that leads to now. One of the talks I used to do public speaking and classes and teaching and that kind of thing, extra. Actually, I guess I still do to a certain extent, but one of the things that I used to talk about is goal setting. Okay. And that is the first thing that you wanted to do when you’re laying out your time management strategy. Okay.
To set goals. Now, this is your best method across the board. Best method of setting goals. Is to work backwards. Okay. You want to talk about and think about what your, what your end outcome should be. What is the actual goal? That you want to get to.
So that’s like your that’s the main goal. Okay. And then you want to turn around once you’ve got that one written down and I guess you want to think about , what’s your timeline for that? When do you need to achieve that goal?
So if it’s say a year from now, okay. You, you wanna, you wanna have a piece of property. A year from now, then that is the main goal for that thing. Okay. So. Put yourself a timeline there’s U G. Year from now on that day, you’re going to mark it down. This is when I would like to have the property.
And you find the property that I need and have myself, you know, uh, an. The ability to move in, whatever, whatever your goal happens to be. Well, then you take that goal. And you ask yourself, what are the steps that I’m going to have to work through to make that goal happen. So then you take those steps and you figured them backwards.
Whatever it is. In a step-by-step format. Up to that goal. So what do I have to do today or this week that I can cross off the list, which this my favorite thing to do. What can I do to get me to that goal? There are a lot of people. My husband included that really, really liked to procrastinate. And I know that that is.
It’s kind of across the board. There’s a whole bunch of people out there. It’s just a personality type. I think. It’s not that they like to put it off. They don’t want to do it. It’s that? At least in my husband’s case. He doesn’t want to do it right now because he has something else that he wants to do or has to do or whatever.
And it’s a one-track deal. And I know that a lot of people, mostly men are on that one track. I can only do one thing at a time. So this is the one I’m going to do. Well, when you wait till the last minute. To do something typically there’s not enough time to complete the task. That’s where the goal setting really comes in handy.
Because your end goal is out there. And as long as you work backwards in and put new time goals for each of those steps backwards. Then you can take little bits. One at a time and work those out. Okay. I did a speech in fourth grade. I won first for it. It was how to, or how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time?
And I’ll never forget that probably because of that speech, but that’s one of those things you take an overall goal and you break it down into doable pieces. And you set yourself a timeline and you just manage those particular, um, parts of the puzzle that are. Right there in plain view. Okay. So that’s the first thing we want to set the goals. Now I’m going to tell you another one.
Time Management – Write it down
It’s part of this is write it down. Now. I am a pen and paper person. I really don’t like technology. I have to utilize it. At least in some cases, my kids like to laugh at me, poke fun. I have them fix my phone or find something on my phone. I don’t want to, I don’t want to take the extra brain power away from stuff that I love.
To learn whatever that is or to take the time to do it, figure it out. So I just let them handle it because that’s how their brains work. I say it’s a really good use of someone’s skills. So this is not my skill. I like pen and paper. I want to feel my pen writing on the paper and I want to open up my notebook or my journal or
my to-do list and I want to see it in ink. Okay. And, and so that’s what if you are like me, write it down, get yourself a journal or a notebook that you can do your to-do list and your planner and all that. And get that stuff on paper. Don’t don’t leave it in here. Okay. We do all forget things, but that that’s not really what it is. You may have the best memory in the world.
Once you commit it to paper, it’s a commitment to yourself. It truly is. And it feels that way too. It will help you now. Not just paper. I know the electronic thing. If you have an electronic planner, In your computer or on your phone for having forbid. I’ve got to pull these things out. Every time I open my phone.
But if you have an electronic planner, it’s the same thing, type it in and have it stay right there. I mean, in plain view, you know, I carry my notebooks or my journal or my planner with me. All around the farm, even. I mean, everywhere I go. Those are with me because I want to make sure that I can refer back to them. I want to check my notes. I want to add notes, make sure that I’m staying on track. So the tip there is be sure to.Put it down, whether it’s paper or electronics.
Time Management – Prioritize
Okay, so the next thing, the next thing you want to move to is prioritizing. All right. Uh, this is something that. I know a lot of people have problem with, I have a problem with this because there are things that I want to do. More than the things that I have to do.
So if I don’t prioritize. I’m might skip. The things that I have to do for the things that I want to do. So when I’m sitting down for, if I’m scheduling my day or I’m scheduling my week or whatever I look at, okay. This one takes priority. You know, The family thinks I need to eat every day. So I got to have some food for them.
And then there’s, the laundry. Okay. Everyone wants to wear clothes. So I’m going to make sure that laundry gets done. The animals need to be fed now. All of these things that I’m talking about are not necessarily all on my to-do list. . But they are on a list that I manage. Because next step.
Time Management – Delegate
I am delegating. Now, if you are in business, you know, you’re a manager or a team leader or whatever it is that you do. And you have underlings. Or people on your team who can take over some of your load. Then that’s when you, you delegate the things that you’re still in charge of you, you are still going to take the blame. If it goes wrong.
So you have to trust who you’re going to delegate it to, to be able to get it right. But when you can do that, when you have the ability to delegate something to someone else, and you know that they’re going to handle it, that takes a lot of your load off and allows you to more precisely schedule your time.
And also helps with those priorities in there as well. So I, in my schedule, I have family members that I have trained because I gave birth to them and raised them. I have trained them about. Knowing that when you live in a home, it doesn’t matter if you are a child in that home or a husband and father or a wife and mother or whatever.
When you live in a home, you have responsibilities there. And, so you may go to work all day. But then when you come home, You don’t just get to sit down and play video games all night. I mean, there’s time for that. I’m sure but responsibilities have to be handled first. So. Luckily. That being my method here.
Everyone has a responsibility or a couple. So I delegate. Animal chores to my kids. And they assist on certain other chores around the house so that I’m not having to. Micro manage my time. I can delegate to someone that I have. Trained in how to do it and that I trust will do it because they’re going to get in trouble. If they don’t.
Actually it will fall back on me. It, I am as the head of the overseeing of this place, then it does fall back on me. If things aren’t done properly or if they just aren’t done. So I have to still manage, but it’s a nice thing. And this is across the board guys. Wherever you are. It’s a nice thing to be able to have someone to trust.
To delegate some of your load. So that’s one of the, that. Um, principles of trying to get your time managed properly.
Time Management – Organize
Now here’s another one. Organize. Now, this is something that I, I seriously struggle with. I mentioned I’m the least organized person. Like I know. And so I really, I really, really have to struggle and I really do struggle and it doesn’t matter how many cute little boxes or bins or baskets or files or whatever that I get purchase. Find at a flea market, whatever.
I am still going to mess it up because. I think it’s a personality thing I truly do. I’ve talked to other people who are also disorganized and they do things in a very similar way to what I do them. So I do believe it’s a personality thing, but it can be overcome. I haven’t fully overcome it yet, but I’m on that route. Okay. So one of the things though,
When I’m talking about organization the main thing is having immediate access. To the things that are most important. To the tasks that you have to accomplish. So I guess come up with a system. That will work for you personally. That will hone in the things that you need to accomplish. The task that you have everyone’s organization is going to be different. Yeah. People who. Do just things at their desk. They may have terrific file cabinets and systems and all that. And they spend a lot of time doing that kind of thing.
And then they’ve learned the ins and outs of. How to file this so that I can easily access it. I can remember where that’s going to be when the next time I need to find it. So I envy those people. Uh, I’m not one of them. So I have to, I have to come up with other things I just found. I love to go yard selling guys.
And I just found these cool. Um, they’re like wall baskets at a yard sale this weekend. And we just got through putting them up on the wall yesterday and I was so excited on, oh my gosh, I am. So I’m going to get so organized here. I was just thrilled with myself and I put a few things in there and then.
A few minutes later, I was like, wait a second. What did I put in there? So I probably need to do some labeling. I’m working it out, guys. Everyone has to work out their own thing, you know, for themselves. That that is one of the principles. So I’m just going to keep working at it. All the time and until I get it right, I’ll let you know if that happens.
if it’s the day that I have to do the bills for the house and for the farm. Then I better know where those bills are.
I better know where my passwords are. All of that stuff. I’ve got to have quick and easy access to those things. Well, if I have just. You know, throwing them. If I’m getting. Some in this file and some in that file and they’re just scattered about, then I’m going to fail at that job and someone’s not getting paid and then someone’s getting a notice or whatever. So.Trying to.
Okay, so we’ve gone down. Through. Getting you getting into the right mindset. We’ve talked about setting your goals. And, you know, down the line, wherever they happen to be wherever they happen to fall. And set the smaller goals. You know, that will lead you up to that.
We’ve talked about prioritizing your schedule. So. Whatever happens to be the most important thing that needs to be on the top of your list. And then, coming down the page, you know, the things that are less and less important. Because if you, if something comes up and you are not able to accomplish that list, whether it be a daily list or a weekly list, then.
At least you have done the most important things. Okay. So we talked about organizing. You trying to get your life, the, the part that surrounds what you do. In order to where you can easily access the things that you need. We’ve talked about delegating to people that you trust so that, you know, some of your tasks can be taken off of your shoulders.
Time Management – Scheduling
And now we’re going to talk about actually scheduling. Now I, I love planners. I, I typically mess them up. Or I give up. Before the end of the year, I’m just like,
But I always have one by January 1st. Of the following year. I have a new planner. And I try a new style of planner. I’m like, okay. This particular kind of planner, it’s going to do the trick. I know that that’s what my last problem was. It’s not, but, but I, I always try. When I find that right. Perfect planner.
Then, um, I know that this is going to do the trick. So I schedule. What I can for myself now I’ve got lists out the wazoo. My daddy was a list-maker. And I got that gene from him. I mean, my kids have grown up with lists. I’m constantly tossing lists out, do this, do this, do this, you know, And I love a list. I like to write down what I’ve got to do. And then I love the feeling when you mark it out.
You, any of you guys ever. Have to do something additional. That’s not on your list. And then go ahead and write it down so that you can mark it out because I totally do that. Things come up all the time. So okay. On the scheduling. Couple things about this for one. When you schedule yourself.
I mean, if you’re doing it on a timeline, if you’re doing it, say from when you wake up or whatever, Schedule yourself. At your best times, schedule the times that you have to do certain things. Try to make them. At your best times. I am not a night owl at least not anymore. I’m an early bird.
Um, my daddy raised me getting up early and then the army finished the job. And I love getting up early. That’s just, when I’m at my best, I’ve got more energy then I’m like ready to rock. Okay. So, but some people are grouches in the morning and it might be noon before that. Even come around. And then they can stay up late and get things done.
You want to try and schedule. You know, the biggest portion of your workload in the times where you can get more done. I personally feel like this is an army thing that you get more done in the mornings, but that’s just, that’s my personal opinion. You guys can figure it out for yourselves. But you want to utilize your best times because you will get done. Get more done when you’ve got more energy.
Time Management – Multi-Tasking
Okay. Now this one right here is kind of controversial. A lot of, if you look at some of the people who talk about getting organized, getting , your time all you know, planned out for you. A lot of people will tell you don’t multitask. What. I can not, not multitask. I’m a woman, I’m a female and my brain is made that way. I believe God made us that way for a reason.
Because men can’t think of one thing at a time. I’m sorry. The men that I know can think of one thing at a time. They can do one thing at a time. I mentioned before my, my husband and I, we do, we work differently. We just, we do great work together. But we work differently and sometimes that’s like,
Out of a frustration point because. I’ve got an idea, a design. You know, here’s what we’re going to build, honey. He’s like, oh, But if it’s, if it’s one thing. Then. He’s game okay. That’s fine. One project. Let’s let’s do that. Well, a little ways into the project. My mind’s already like, okay, next we’re going to do this. And then we’re going to do this and then that’ll lead to this. So I’m like, Hey honey, I was thinking about, and he’s like, no, Amy, let me finish this one first.
But I have to think forward. I can’t just not, I just, it’s not how my mind works. At the same time. I can do multiple things at a time. Now you have to be smart about it. You have to make sure that doing. Uh, you’ve got a project and you’re trying to multitask another one. You want to make sure that doing that other one actually enhances what you’re doing and doesn’t, um, take away.
And let me give you an example. If one of my projects is I’ve got to bake a cake. But the other project is. I’ve got to dig a trench out at the back of the pasture. I cannot do those together. But if I am butchering. And I also need to, can. I can absolutely do those together because I’m in the same room. I’m in the same kitchen. And while I’m butchering, I can turn this way and watch the canner.
And I, I can get all of that done at one time. I can get a whole bunch done. In fact, at one time, if I schedule them that way, sometimes that’s called batching. Okay, so you schedule your day. Like, if I’m going to, if it’s going to be a cooking day, I tend to try and make those rainy days because I would prefer to be outside.
Any anytime than inside, especially cooking. But I tend to schedule my cooking days on rainy days so that I’m inside. I’ve got everything laid out and I will cook enough meals for a month, freeze them up, or then I’ll be canning or what have you. So that is a great way for me. To multitask because I can prepare lots of different meals or I can can up food for the future.
And mark a bunch of things off that list. Right. I will write them all down to. But that’s one of the things that you can do to help manage your time. If you are capable of that. So if you are not. The kind of person who is a natural multi-tasker, don’t try to add that to yourself because you’ll end up kind of biting yourself in the butt on that one. My husband.
Cannot multitask, but he’s a man. I do not expect him to, so, and I’m not down on men. Believe me. I really liked guys. But they have. Certain ways of doing things. The ones that I knew. Okay. So.
Here’s the other thing. On this on scheduling yourself. Sometimes you look at your list and you think, okay, all of this stuff has to get done. How am I going to fit this in. What am I going to have to give up?
My dad used to say, sometimes you got about the bullet and he, he used it in speaking about. I think a wide variety of things. But I use that. In this way because I homestead. So. My busiest time of the year. Currently. Is when we are getting the gardens going. Okay. We are. Prepping beds. Every year we build new beds, new structures. Um, this year we expanded the greenhouse.
EV all of that is going on at the same time. I’m starting seeds I’m transplanting seedlings. I’m fertilizing. I’m mulching. Of course, we’ve still got a mow and weedeat. The animals have to be handled and. Some times are just busier than others. Brings me to that. Sometimes you got about the bullet thing.
Well, that’s okay for me because I love to get up early. And I will start super early in the morning and I’ll just get going. And until I simply cannot stand the heat anymore. And I’ll come in and cool off for a little bit. But then these days I have to add in the podcast or the blog writing and that kind of thing. So I still have to be able to fit it in.
I like those busy times, because it reminds me that. The work that I’m doing. During this really busy, hectic time. Is going to pay off because just not too long down the road from now, I’m going to get to sit back and kind of relax. I’m getting my pool. I’m going to float. I’m going to get some tan.
Um, I’m gonna, you know, sit back and have a glass of wine and enjoy looking at all that I’ve done. And, and I liked that. I liked the fact that I can do that. But it comes after the hard work. of scheduling myself in, in those really busy times. So yeah, I know. That sometimes, or just, you feel like, man, how am I going to get all this in.
Sometimes it’s a mental thing. Sometimes it’s just telling yourself, you know, what. We can do this. We’re going to knock it out. Maybe you can look back at these lists of principles and, work out some of it that way. Um, some people tend to adjust goals. Some people tend to reprioritize.
Or take some things away. I’m just not that person. If I decided to do it, I’m just going to do it. And I mean, even if I have to work all night, I’ll get it done. And then I’ll enjoy it later.
Time Management – Distractions
Okay. The last thing I want to talk to you about. In, in this whole area. Is, Distractions. A lot of times when you do reading on time management, reading and studying on time management. They say. To get rid of distractions. Well, I don’t know how you do that. I mean, I may homeschooling mom.
With all kinds of animals and plants, and I’ve got a phone and I’ve got computers and all of this stuff. Then you got to cook all the there’s distractions. I got kids coming in here every few minutes. I am mom. I’m hungry. Well, you just ate. Well, I mean, there’s always a distraction. So you have to kind of work out.
Your mindset. Or you have to set in place some firm rules, not only for other people around you, but also for yourself. And the reason I say that, Um, no, my kids are old enough now I’ve taught them how to cook. If they want, if they’re hungry, they can go get themselves something to eat. And, um, the dogs.
Do not listen. They’re not going to do that. But if I work it out to where they’re in a cage, a kennel on the other side of the house, when I’m trying to, you know, Be without distraction on this side of the house, then that’s me. Changing a rule, making a rule that prevents me from being distracted by that.
Um, Setting rules for the family. Hey, you know what? Between this hour and this hour, you guys leave me alone. You’re on your own. Go do what you’re supposed to do. And then you chill out and let me do my work. That happens here all the time. Typically it’s not on the schedule. It’s when mom’s stressing out, trying to knock out the list, but, um, what, that’s one of the things, but you can also adjust your mindset.
If you don’t look at some things as a, as a distraction. Then sometimes they just become less of a distraction. Uh, I’ll explain. I get irritated. When I am in the middle of something and my phone is just blowing up. Okay. It is blowing up. I can’t. Throw the phone down when I can’t put it in the other room because I have business things coming in and all of that.
I have to remind myself, I have to change my mindset. Telling myself, that’s on a distraction. That’s work, even if it happens to be friends visiting. Um, it’s a part of it. It’s a part of what I do. So if I’m going to have that phone for the business calls and texts that are coming in, then I also have the other ones coming in. So I adjust my mindset.
Th this is an okay thing to have. This is not a big deal. This is not going to take that much time out of your schedule, Amy. So don’t stress over it. So that’s one of those things. It’s just, uh, it’s changing your mindset, changing the way that you look at something, because I know I’ll stress my own self out.
By getting so stressed out about something that shouldn’t be stressing me out. But that, that is, that is time management. Principles in a nutshell. Okay. You can take these principles and you know, there’s a whole lot more ways to look at it. There’s a lot more little details that you can hone in on, but who wants to spend that kind of time? Right?
You can look at these basic principles. And, and, and use those to schedule in whatever your existence happens to be whatever your life happens to be entailing. If you are a business manager, or if you are a homeschooling mom, You know, whatever it is that you’re doing, you can manage your time and it may not be perfect. It may not be down to the second, but it may help you to be able to flow on to the next things that you want to get to.
I really hope that you’ve enjoyed this. I hope that it’s helped you a little bit. And if you guys have questions, you can always contact me. You can comment, you can message me. Certainly get on our social medias, farm life and freedom we’re on. Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. And of course you can get on my website, farmlifeandfreedom.com.
You can, talk to me there and I would love to hear from you. And if you guys have any tips that you guys have come to, I would love to hear them, man. I could use all the help I can get. Right. Especially on that whole organization thing. And I know some of you out there just super organized, so send me some tips, help me out here.
My next episode I happen to already know is going to be on homeschooling. Okay. Now I know some of you probably don’t homeschool. But you may have friends who are homeschooling or who are considering it. So, uh, or you may have grandkids that are coming up that might potentially be in the need of that kind of thing. So it’ll be a good primer.
, kind of the whole idea. A process. , some resources and, that kind of thing. I think it’s a really good thing to, everyone’s going to have to start looking at because. Just this. Current situation that we find ourselves in. As a country today. It’s probably something that. Even if you’re, if you don’t have a plan to homeschool at this moment, you might want to have the information on hand.
Just in case because. It may become very important in the near future. You’ll have a wonderful week. I hope you guys all have a great week and we’ll see you guys next time.
