The Best (and only) Way to Improve Time Management
If you want to improve your time management, it's likely because you feel in over your head.
You may have lost your sense of control over the many moving parts of your life, juggling school, work, family, friends, health, and passion projects, among others.
You're not alone. Rest assured, in this day and age, many people experience feelings of stress and overwhelm.
I know how you feel because I've been there...
It feels like time is against you.
You’re always playing catch-up, and you feel like there’s never enough time to get everything done.
You're drowning in paperwork, have 8 different to-do lists, and countless apps to "manage" everything...
But nothing has worked.
There are a lot of broken promises about what actually improves productivity.
How do you know what works and what doesn't?
What's effective and what isn't worth the bother?
Surely you don't have time to try out all the different tips and tactics you come across.
After all, that's why you're here, right? To save time, not spend more of it aimlessly sorting through a bag of tricks that may or may not work.
Most of the advice on how to improve time management is BS: it's mostly short-term solutions, temporary fixes.
Through all the noise, you need to be able to interpret what really matters.
What are the few core things that will really make a meaningful impact on your life if you choose to improve them?
Know What Matters Most
Systemic problems require systemic solutions, otherwise you'll keep trying to beat the symptoms like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.
Ramit Sethi, CEO of GrowthLab, spent several years and millions of dollars trying to answer one single question: What's the best way to grow a business?
He and his team tried every play in the book: webinars, social media ads, SEO, promotional offers--the list goes on. What he learned was that there are only two things that matter:
- Generating leads, and
- Creating new products
That's it. Everything else was hogwash.
The conclusion at the end of all his experimentation and research proved that there were only two key levers that moved the needle for his business in meaningful ways.
Author and speaker Mike Michalowicz says that in order for entrepreneurs to achieve ultimate freedom in their life and work, they need to first start by identifying and declaring what he calls the "Queen Bee Role."
The QBR is the core function of the business that leads to success and makes everything else unimportant. Once the QBR is determined, the whole business is set up to revolve around it.
This is the first step: to decide what matters most.
In essence, it's the Pareto Principle at work, which says that about 80% of the results come from just 20% of the effort. This principle can and has been applied to many different areas of life: health and fitness, money, business, overall happiness and wellbeing, and more.
Productivity is no different.
When I compiled all the data, read the books, tried all the different techniques, submerging myself in everything related to productivity, a pattern began to emerge... a pattern that revealed what really mattered when it comes to dissolving stress, increasing happiness, and achieving more balance and freedom.
The Path to Balance and Freedom
To improve time management, there are really only two things that move the needle: mindset and skillset.
MINDSET
This includes educating yourself on various productivity concepts, strategies, techniques, etc. that litter the web. It also means having an open mind and being willing to change your perspective, to adopt new ideas, build better habits, and challenge what you think you know, or what you've been told in the past.
Mindset is important because it determines how you think.
SKILLSET
There are no shortcuts, no loopholes, no other way around it: you have to put in the work. You have to get your hands dirty, both literally and figuratively. You must put into practice what you’re learning and continuously developing your skills.
Skillset is important because it determines how you do.
Unsurprisingly, achieving anything is the result of thinking and doing, right?
So by investing in these two assets, you're setting yourself up to yield the highest results possible. Make a commitment to this investment and you’ve taken a first step on the proverbial “journey of a thousand miles.”
The next step is to understand exactly which mindset is most empowering (see: the Golden Rule) and which skillset is most useful (see: the Foundational Five). This is what MTG revolves around.
Imagine being entirely free of stress…
…free from the daily struggle, always trying to 'keep up'.
…free from all the clutter, both mental and physical.
…free from procrastination; from self-doubt and indecision.
You'll experience abundant freedom in direct proportion to how much you develop your mindset and skillset.
Keep this concept at the forefront of your mind and watch what unfolds.
Soon enough, your investments will pay off in ways you never imagined.
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