Getting to grips with time

by Lynette Allen

Welcome back this month to Views from the North Sea and what a month it's been! After running around like a headless chicken from most of it, I've had to take myself to task in a rather life-coachy type way this month and surrender to the fact that there are only so many hours in the day! I took that as a hint for my column this month and I thought I'd let you in on some secrets about time and us girls!

It doesn't matter who I speak to, where they come from or what line of work they're in, every woman has an issue with time. We never seem to have enough hours in the day, I remember my mum saying that when I was a child, I never really understood what on earth she meant but now as an adult, it's as clear as day! There are always a million things to be done and if we didn't rest until everything or everyone was 'all sorted' then we'd never sleep at all, let alone rest or have some 'us' time.

So how do they do it? Those women that calmly stroll around the planet doing everything they've promised for people, meeting deadlines with effortless ease and keeping as cool as a cucumber where others blow a fuse? Well I'm about to let you in on a few of their secrets. I have some excellent tips on getting to grips with time and keeping on top of commitments but before I divulge those, I'd like you to take minute to think about your life, because interesting as articles such as this one might be, the information you read could quite easily be lost by this time tomorrow if you can't attribute it to your own life and your own timetable. Have a read of the questions below and spend a couple of seconds pondering each one:

• How do you spend your time?
• Do you waste time?
• Do you think you could be more productive with your time?

Well, if the answer to the last two questions was yes, read on for my top tips on getting to grips with time.

If you haven't already - get yourself a diary. Now I'm not talking about a 'week to a page' diary or a wall calendar with 2 inches to write your whole itinerary down on, I'm talking about a beautiful 'day to a page' diary with room to write. If you find a diary, in a colour and design you love, that suits your personality, you'll adore using it - forget bulk standard black ones, be daring and buy a diary carefully. You're going to need space to write in it - appointments, new ideas, people to call, shopping to get, things to remember. You have to make sure it can accommodate your life, so make a worthwhile choice here.

Now if you've been using a diary for years, you might think this is a little obvious however, I work with busy women all the time and around half of them carry dates/times/appointments and notes around in their heads, never actually committing anything to pen and paper and never sticking to using a diary. I've even had clients who have had 3 diaries on the go at once and they wonder how they double book themselves! Using a diary will help you to reduce the amount of time wasted and increase your productivity. It's not there to regiment you, it's there to de-fuzz your brain and leave your mind to concentrate on the tasks you have to do in everyday life. Remember your conscious mind can only hold around seven pieces of information at any one time - give it a day off!

For the techy ladies out there, you may choose your palm tops but as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing better than pen and paper and one of my techy lady clients agreed with me this week, when she lost every bit of information she had on her palm pilot!

Tips to using a diary

1. There are no great secrets to using a diary, but there are a couple of rules, a) you have to write in it and b) it's helpful to look in it! That means that you have to keep it with you wherever you go. That means never saying yes to anything unless you've consulted your diary and worked out how long it will take you to do, where you need to be and if you've got time to get there. It's imperative that you keep your diary with you all the time and don't plan anything without checking it first. Regimented as this may sound, it's sensible advice and will mean that you can make arrangements with security, knowing that you won't forget to turn up or have to rush around like a woman possessed to reach your appointment.

2. Remember that time management is just a matter of planning and looking ahead a bit. Some people are better planners than others but if you can think about planning your time more effectively, you could find yourself approaching everything from a completely different angle. Before you promise to go anywhere or do anything, have a look at the previous day or the following day. What commitments do you have on then? For instance, if you've got a full-on packed 17 hour day on Monday and your aunt wants you to drive 300 miles to see her on the Tuesday, you're likely to feel exhausted if you commit to that, so agree another day, when the day before and the day after aren't so busy. The rule here is go easy on yourself, you're not superwoman!

3. In your diary - plan 'spare' time it's important!

   For most of us, when we start using a diary, we plan every hour of every day down to the last minute, it's a novelty to begin with but the novelty will soon wear off leaving you frustrated and bored. Remember that but even the best laid plans go wrong and that's when you'll need a back-up plan!

   Your 'spare' time is time you can bargain with. For instance, if you developed a major headache when you should have been doing something, then you can choose to take it easy and re-schedule the job in on your 'spare' time later in the week.

   Occasionally when the unexpected happens, the 'spare' time means that you'll have a back-up plan!

   If you get to the day when your spare time is allocated and you are completely up-to-date, then celebrate!! Put your feet up and enjoy!

4. Over-estimate how long things are going to take to get done. Finishing early will give you the glow of a 20 year old in love but finishing late will have you crying into your herbal tea! Always plan and rule out enough time in your diary for the job to take 25% more time than you think. For instance, if you think it will take an hour, add another 15 minutes or so on top for luck!

5. To be really organised about your time, budget with it in a similar way to the way you budget with money. You only have 24 hours in the day and you cannot be running around for all of them - oh yes, and you can't spend your time twice! So how are you going to spend your time? This is a really useful exercise…make a list of everything you have to do, everything from walking the dog to calling elderly relatives. Write an approximate timescale next to each item on your list.

   Make it as accurate as you can - at the end of the day, this is only an educated guess - again, try to over estimate if you're not sure. Then, take out your diary and start to schedule in your plans, step-by-step.

To sum up…

• Remember there are only 24 hours in a day and you need enough time to sleep.
• A diary is there as an aid to your productivity - it is not meant to rule your life.
• The unexpected DOES happen - frequently! When it does, you'll have your 'spare' time to fall back on and if social plans have to be put off in order to get the most important jobs done, then relax! It will all work out in the end. Don't make the mistake of feeling awful or guilty if you have to re-arrange your plans - it happens!
• Check that you've planned your time realistically - if you haven't then you need to think again, keep calm and de-stressed.
• Get used to working with a diary and make it part of your life. Now you've got your diary and have planned your time, keep it going. Every time you have a social event planned, put it in your diary and rule out enough time for it.
• Protect that 'spare time' by telling people who demand your time 'I'm busy!'

One last tip?
Play the Yes/No Game. When you say 'Yes' to something, you are saying 'No' to something else. It is ok to do favours for other people, very kind in fact, but not at the expense of your own productivity, otherwise you spend more time helping other people and you'll get stressed about the work that you haven't had time to do.

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