Six Steps to Sanity for the Time-Deprived

January 28th, 2010

These days sometimes just getting by is all we can do. Different people have different resources in short supply. For some people it’s money. For others, it’s space. For me, it’s time.

Even with my corporate job, my eternal multitude of side-pursuits and creative projects, and ”down time” with my husband and large circle of friends, I used to be able to get things done with some buffer between finishing and the actual deadline. Looking back, boy was I smug about it. Like the juggler throwing the pin behind his back just because he knows he can catch it.

But this was before Ben, the two-and-(almost)-a-half year-old who threw a monkey wrench into my efficient little world almost two years ago now. He’s great, but goll, is he ever unpredictable. Even without trying to throw one behind my back, pins kept dropping all over the place!

Soooo… I’ve had to make some adjustments. I know there are many out there, some with kids, some without, who could use some help with their busy lives, also. I won’t promise you “breathing room,” per se (who can make that kind of promise?), but I think I can give you, maybe just maybe, a little bit less stress about all you have to accomplish in your life.

Step One: Try Batching and Selectively Multitasking- Batching is something I first read about in “The Four Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferris, a somewhat (!) ridiculous book overall, but one with some good time management techniques contained therein.

Batching is doing a particular task less often and all at once, the idea being that because of the focus involved and other ”set up,” doing some little thing like checking email three times a day versus  fifteen times a day will save time even though presumably you are processing the same amount of email. Open your mailbox once, start at the top, bang, bang, bang. And before you know it, you’re done with email. 

Ditto doing laundry every other week instead of every week. Collecting it, sorting it, washing and drying it, then folding it and putting it away… Same amount of laundry, but it will take considerably less time.

I know right now you are thinking about how much more underwear and socks you have to buy to do laundry less often. Please wait until you are done reading this post. I have more tips for you!

Other examples of batching: Pay the bills twice a month instead of paying them as they arrive. Write multiple blog posts at a time. (This actually works, when I am able to set aside a chunk of time. The blog post-writing brain takes time to rev up, so the momentum builds as you write.) Grocery shopping less often? That’s a no-brainer.

Selective multitasking is something I came up with on my own. Mostly it involves stuff I can do with my baby around, but you don’t need a baby to make this work for you. In my case, I can fold clean laundry and put it away while Ben is playing in my bedroom, as long as he doesn’t get on the bed. So I usually wait until he is around to do this. If I didn’t have a kid, I would fold laundry while watching TV. (I mean, how much brainpower does TV take? You can spare a little for sorting socks.)

Note of caution: Do not multitask willy-nilly. It usually makes all of the things you are doing take infinitely longer. For instance, I usually shut off my email when I am writing blog posts.

Step Two: Cut Back- I realized at the end of last year that in order to start writing on this blog again (I’d neglected it for a while but I really wanted to get back into it), I had to cut back in other areas. I am limiting the number of resume and career consulting clients I am taking. I am writing one less Mogul Mindset eBlast per week for Your Industry Insider (<- click there and then look at the top of the sidebar on the YII site if you want to know what MM eBlasts are!).

Earlier this week, I met with someone who is totally overwhelmed by her job and trying to figure out how to get some balance back. (She’s often at the office 10 hours a day.) I told her (and I would tell you, if you are in a similar situation), don’t do anything except the things where, if you didn’t do them, your boss would notice. This can apply to everyone on the corporate ladder.

Applications for this advice can range from ditching the really elaborate to-do list and settling for something quick and dirty that simply prevents tasks from falling through the cracks to canceling the endless weekly staff meetings- or having a time limit, if you are in charge, and walking out at that point. The first time, they will be shocked and/or indignant, but if you stick to your guns, they will learn to use their time- and yours- better.

Step Three: Prioritize- Having your overall life prorities sorted first makes your day-to-day (and week-to-week, etc.) prioritizing a snap. If your life priorities go 1) making sure loved ones are okay, 2) earning money, 3) being creatively fulfilled, (9 other things), 13) keeping the house clean, you know that finishing that chapter of your novel is going to be higher on your to-do than vacuuming. Always.

Step Four: Allow for Trial and Error- You try to sort the laundry on the bed while your toddler plays on the floor, but every time you do, as soon as you turn your back, he manages to climb on the bed and toss all your neat piles into chaos. Okay, so maybe that’s not a solution for you…

Step Five: Make Peace- Sometimes, you will be just on the edge of missing that deadline. And sometimes, you will actually miss that deadline. And you’ll find that in most cases, especially in the big picture, it’s not that big a deal.

Step Six: Keep Trying- Don’t give up. If you keep at it, you might discover some tricks that do help. You might figure out something to cut back on that you had never thought of and have a moment where you can actually maybe just sit…

                           by yourself…

                                          in silence…

                                                                 and breathe.

Don’t hold out on me! I told you my time-saving secrets, now you tell me yours! Please share your accumulated wisdom in the comments section.

Photo by ToniVC.

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Filed under: personal stuff

Tags: efficiency, Four Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris, time saving