Is time your ally or enemy?

Oct 21, 2020

Let’s kick this off with an easy question. On a scale of 1-10, where 1 is poor and 10 is excellent, how effective are you at managing your time? If your answer is less than 10, I bet you find yourself saying, “There’s just are not enough hours in a day!”. Or you feel yourself being pulled in too many directions, never sure what you should be doing at any given moment. If any of that sounds familiar, then you need a Default Calendar.

Here is how a default calendar works: First, identify all of the critical activities to all your life roles: family, business, and personal [HINT: Your goals and plan should drive these].  Then identify how much time you need to commit to each activity. Once you have that information, create a calendar blocking out time with all those activities. See the calendar below as an example:

Is time your ally or enemy?

Now think of your default calendar like your class schedule back in high school or college. Every class had a set day and a specific start/end time. Once you were in class, there were no interruptions or distractions. You focused on that subject until the bell rang, and then you got up and went to your next class, right? You need to take the same approach with your default calendar. If it is time for you to work on a sales activity – then work on a sales activity until it’s time to start the next.

Here are 3-keys to successfully implementing your default calendar:

  1. Commit to it! You must make the decision to commit to using this tool and make it habitual. Sticking to this new process will take some time to get down fully, so be patient with yourself and don’t give up!
  2. Be Disciplined! You must be very rigid with your start/end times and not let yourself get pulled in other directions. Stay focused!
  3. Hold yourself accountable! What will be your reward for staying true to the calendar, and what will be the consequence if you don’t? Make your reward/consequence meaningful and follow through.

Once you have your default calendar in place and work through the initial adjustment process by creating a new habit, you will amaze yourself with how much more you achieve each week!