3 Ways I’ve Used Time Management Against Myself

If you've followed me for any amount of time, you'd know that I absolutely love time management. I've worked as a project manager, I've used stacks of time management systems and now I teach my method in the Plan Your Week workshop that I offer here. 

I have definitely had periods of time where I have flourished with time management and got loads done and got lots of rest. 

And I have had large periods of time where I have used time management against myself.

Here are three ways that I have done that. 

1. Thinking productivity would make me fulfilled

Number one is thinking that completing my to do list for the day would make me fulfilled.

For those who know the Self Coaching Model I use in my private practice, our thoughts create our feelings, not our circumstances. 

So ticking boxes off may feel good, but it's never actually the thing that's making you feel fulfilled. It's always the thought you have about ticking off your list.

Whether the thought is “I did a good job today” or “I'm getting lots done”, whatever that thought is for you - that’s what's making you feel fulfilled. 

For myself, I would often work through a to do list and then think, “Hmm, why don't I feel better than I thought I would feel at the end of this?” 

If that's the case for you, take a look at what your thoughts are about what you've done in that day and work on tweaking them.

2. Using it to exhaust myself and “get ahead”

I’ve also used time management against myself by trying to get ahead. 

So this is when I'm actually working in a really productive way. And then I think “Oh, I'll just do a few things that I was going to do tomorrow.” 

This actually ends up usually exhausting us or making us feel more stressed and we never stop to celebrate what we have achieved for that day. 

Now, when my brain tries to tell me to get ahead, I say “that's OK brain (yes I talk back to myself!), we fulfilled everything that we wanted to today. And now we can rest if we have extra time.”

3. Forgetting how to rest

This leads me into the periods of time where I have forgotten how to rest.

When I am busy doing things in my business, looking after my daughter, catching up with friends, I often won't have much time to rest and when it comes around I don't know how to deal with it. 

What do I like to do?

What are my hobbies? 

I know lots of mums have also gone through this during busy periods of life.

So when I forget how to rest, I either make a list of things that I want to do, or I just sit and think for 10 minutes. This can be really, really challenging if we've been going at a hundred miles an hour. 

But it's so worthwhile in thinking about and really tuning into what we actually want to be doing.

Now I have lots of ideas I draw on. I have TV shows that I love to watch (Hello Queer Eye!), I love playing The Sims on my iPad to switch off and I also love reading books on my Kindle.

—

Time management and planning your week are incredible tools for getting the kid of life we want, but as I teach you in the Plan Your Week workshop, you also need to remember how to rest and not use time management against yourself.