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Time Management

In this video Margaret shares the four D’s of time management.

 

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Transcript:

Hi I’m Margaret Briem. I’m probably best known for the coaching and training services I provide and two of my brands Live the Life You Love and Delicious Sexy Business Secrets. We are your best choice for support in navigating the course to intentional success. Dare to dream with Margaret Briem. We will get you there.

I often have people ask me about time management, or I often hear people complain about lack of time to do the things they want to do. There are all kinds of books out there, programs out there and tools, either on paper or on your computer, to help you with time management. Unfortunately, those tools are telling you how to do more, not how to do less. Basic time management skills come down to priorities and boundaries, not trying to please others and not trying to do too much.

While other people out there will try to sell you a planner, or try to sell you a tool that is technology based, try to tell you in some way to list all the hats you wear, which for me is extremely overwhelming, what I am going to tell you is that time management comes down to four things. That’s right, only four things. I call them the four D’s of time management. Now again, these four things are based on priorities and boundaries. The four D’s come down to four simple words, Delete, Date-out, Deliver and Delegate. What do the four D’s mean? You might think you pretty much know, and you do pretty much know. They are just the four d’s you are not willing to do most of the time.

The first D is Delete. What does that mean? It means taking that responsibility or expectation off of your plate. Delete it from your appointment book. Delete it from your technology tool for time management. You are just simply saying ‘no’. So that means that if there is somebody else involved and you need to make a phone call in order to do the right thing and let them know you are not going to follow through, then make that phone call. Delete that item, if it is not a priority to you, off your list.

There are many times that we are asked to volunteer for something and we think it is way out in the future so we will say yes even though we really don’t want to do it, because we all want to be pleasers. You need to call the person you did that with and say ‘you know, I have given this some thought and I am not going to be able to do a quality job with this so you need to give this to somebody else’. It is okay to do that. They might be a little upset, maybe even a little offended, but they will get over that and the somebody else they find will do a better job than you would have, so it is okay.

The next D is Date-out. Date out is about your longer term projects. What you need to do, in order to get them off of your plate is to set a deadline for yourself. You then work backwards and set little appointments with yourself to get little chunks of the project done. You need to be realistic and not set a deadline that you are not going to be able to meet and is just going to stress you out. It is just to remind you to work an hour here, a half hour there and ten minutes over there on a regular basis until the project is done. The deadline is the date-out date you are putting on it.

The next D is Deliver. That is for projects, situations or chores that you are putting off that you do once a year or are one and done kind of situations. You would go ahead and bite the bullet and schedule time in your time management system for you to get it done. Usually I would think of this as being something at home, or a file management issue or something where you were working really hard toward something. So you knew you were supposed to do this other thing to make things good, like you were supposed to document a process, or sometimes just putting things away where they go. You put it off because you were really focused and really busy on something else. Now it is time to gather your resources and spend the hour or two or spend the day or whatever it takes and get it done. Get it delivered, it is one and done, get it off your plate, off your appointment book, out of your time management tool or system.

The last D is Delegate. Too many of us think we have to do everything ourselves. This is about identifying either members of your family or members of your work team that are really capable. They might not do it the way you would like it done, but they can get it done well enough. Once it is done, even though it may not have been done exactly the way you wanted it done, it is done and handled, so delegate.

These things are not going to be easy to let go of. It’s not going to be easy for you to incorporate this into your life. Once you get in the habit of doing it, it will be easier for you to start making it a regular practice. It just takes getting started and reminding yourself. The reward you have earned for this is to hopefully have more time to go for a massage, to get your nails done, or do something for you. Get in the practice of Deleting, Dating-out, Delivering and Delegating so you have more time for you.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them below. As always, if you know someone who can benefit from this information, please share it with them. Thank you.

I am Margaret Briem telling you to choose to Live the Life You Love. Don’t you deserve it? Until next time, take care.