248 4 Most Important Fundamentals to Taking Back Control of Your Time
Feeling overwhelmed and stressed by your never-ending to-do list? Imagine gaining complete control over your time and calendar. This episode is packed with actionable strategies to transform your time management skills. I'll uncover four fundamental concepts vital for mastering time management and by grasping these essentials, you'll alleviate the constant mental and physical strain of being overbooked and overwhelmed.
In this episode, I cover:
- Why you need to learn and master time management skills
- Importance of prioritization and making choices about time usage
- Four fundamental concepts of time management
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FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Megan:
I am so excited for you to hear today's podcast. We all learn differently, right? And so I'm always looking for different ways to teach some core, basic time management and planning fundamentals, and today I've broken down into the four most important fundamentals you have got to learn in order to take back control of your time, your calendar, et cetera, and I've got a way of explaining it here today that should bring a ton of clarity for you. So let's go ahead and jump in. Welcome to the Work-Life Harmony podcast. Guess what? You don't have to feel constantly overwhelmed, exhausted and stressed out. There is another way. When you have the right systems and tools to plan and manage your time, you can live a life of harmony. If you're ready to stop feeling overwhelmed, this is the show for you. Welcome back to the Work-Life Harmony Podcast.
Megan:
Now, one of the things that breaks my heart is when I see women beating themselves up because they feel overwhelmed, you know, frazzled, feeling like they can't get on top of everything that they're juggling. And they beat themselves up because they think what's wrong with me? Why can't I just figure this out and guess what? Learning how to plan and manage our time isn't something that you just quote. Figure out. All right. This is a skill that is a learnable skill that you know when you find the right person who knows how to teach you the right way to do it. It's transformative. So let me ask you this If you are currently sitting there going, what's wrong with me? I can't get it together, or maybe you're thinking I wasn't born with that gene, right? Let me ask you this Were you ever expected to just magically learn how to read? Of course not, right? You don't say, oh, what's wrong with me? I guess I just wasn't born with that. No, you were taught that in school. But the fact is, we are not teaching time management and organizational skills in schools. It's not being taught in elementary school, high school, college, and so we're launching all these folks out into the world where this is a skill that is not fundamentally part of any core curriculum. All right, so I want to start with that. So I'll let you know. Quit beating yourselves up if this is something that you are struggling with. I was not born with this gene.
Megan:
I happened to get a ton of education and training back in my corporate life all around these skills. This is why I have learned them. I have also done a ton of independent research. I've read all the books, so this is something I am continually spending time and energy on with learning. Now here's another reason I want to bring this in is because I've got four things I'm going to be sharing with you today on really what the skills are that you need to master. So I want to connect this to money because it makes it easier for us to talk about.
Megan:
Now the truth is, we are not taught money management basics either. Right, that's not a fundamental core curriculum, unless you choose to study that. Now there are there is a ton of books, education, information, all sorts of stuff out there acknowledging, hey, you know, this is a skill that, as you go into adulting, it would be really, really good for you to learn how to manage your money. So we recognize that this is something we need to learn and we provide resources for it, but when it comes to time, we tend not to. So today, it really boils down to four fundamental concepts that we need to learn and start practicing to better take control of our time, our calendar, all the things that we have going on, and I'm going to walk you through all four of these, and I'm going to do it? Relating to what it looks like when we think about money, because it's oftentimes hard for people to conceptualize time, right, because you can't see it. It's not tangible, and this is why it just kind of swirls around in our head, but when we think about money, it's something very tangible. So my hope for you today is that, by me making these connections, it's going to really bring some light bulb moments off to you. Now, if you like these four key lessons that I'm going to be walking you, or these four key fundamentals I'm going to walk you through today, stick with me until the end, because I have a great opportunity for you to really deep dive with me on these.
Megan:
So the first key thing that we all need to understand is that we cannot spend more than we have. All right, when we think about money, if we spend more money than what we have, what happens? Well, we go into debt, right? Meaning, all of a sudden, we start having to pay more, we started creating interest, like bad physical things happen that we can see. Well, when we think about this from a time standpoint meaning we can't spend more than we have what does it look like when that happens? Well, it means we're constantly getting overbooked, we're committing to things that we need to spend our time on when we actually don't have that available time, and what this looks like, what this translates into again is that we tend to accrue then debt for ourselves, because if we are overbooked and we are overscheduled, what is the first thing that falls off? Right, what do we stop spending time on? We stop spending time on ourselves. Right Time for ourselves, rest, relaxation, practicing self-love all of that. And so if we are constantly allowing ourselves to get overbooked, our physical health takes a toll. It goes in debt, our mental health goes in debt, and caring for ourselves goes in debt. So this is one of the key things we have to learn when it comes to planning and managing our time is making sure that we're not spending and committing to more than we have. All right Now.
Megan:
The second fundamental principle that we need to learn here is knowing what our regular recurring expenses are. So when we think about this from a money standpoint, this is usually something that you know. If you're trying to get back on top of your finances, one of the first exercises people will ask you to do is to get an understanding of what are your recurring expenses like every month or every year, meaning how much money are you already committed to spending, spending before your paycheck or anything has come in, right? So maybe your rent or your mortgage and your water bill and your gas bill and your car payment and your food, right? So we need to get a handle of every single month how much money, before my income even comes in, is already spoken for. Well, guess what? We need to do the same thing with our time.
Megan:
We all have some form of recurring tasks or activities, either daily, weekly or monthly, that mean that our time is already spoken for. And here's a fact the vast majority are not capturing that anywhere where they can visibly see it as a reminder. So, for example, maybe you have a number of tasks that you do every single week at home, maybe you have a number of tasks that you do every week at work, or maybe even a set of daily things that need to be done every single day, and you kind of try and you know, muscle through those on autopilot without ever really thinking about how much time is this consuming? And have I visibly seen that in my plan for the week? Right? And so this is why this is one of the key fundamental concepts I teach on when we learn how to do weekly planning.
Megan:
It's actually step two in the weekly planning process. Is acknowledging it's part of step two. What time is already spoken for? Right? And if you can't visually see that when you're looking at your calendaring system or systems again, you're going to get overbooked. Same with your money. If you aren't aware of what money is spoken for at the beginning of the month, you might go start spending money and then you end up in debt, right? These things are all so closely connected. So we've talked about not spending more than we have. Then we talked about knowing what are your regular time expenses, right. What is already spoken for, so that we make sure we recognize that.
Megan:
Now the third thing here is knowing how to plan and prepare for uncertainty or the unexpected. So first let's talk about the money side of this. Right In the simplest form. A lot of people will say make sure you have some kind of an emergency fund right For the things that we don't know are coming our way. Not those known expenses I talked about. But you know, the hot water heater breaks or, oh my gosh, we got to get new tires on the car or you know, whatever unplanned thing. We had one where our dishwasher sprung a leak and it ended up, you know, causing all sorts of unplanned expenses, right? And so a lot of people in the financial space will say make sure that you have an emergency fund so that when those things happen, it doesn't create, you know, this complete spiral and doesn't cause you to now go in debt. Right, you have that money available to use. So now let's think about this with our time.
Megan:
This is what I refer to as planning for uncertainty. We all have some form of things that pop up. Some of us may have a chunk daily, depending upon your stage of life and or your work. Some of us may have kind of I know like. I'm in a stage of life right now where I notice I usually have about four hours of stuff each week that I don't know about at the beginning of the week but that pops up that I need to spend time on, right. So we all have some flavor of, on average, things that are going to pop up, that need our time. And if we don't know how to incorporate that into our plans, what happens? Well, when you wake up that morning and the you know, the kid is sick, or your boss hands you something, or there's this unplanned meeting that you have to go to. Well, if you haven't built that into your time management system, you just again, all this is connected. You go into debt on your time, right? So now you're staying up late, or you're waking up early, or you're sacrificing the things you were going to do for yourself. See how all of these are interconnected, right? So that's what we learn is how do we plan and prepare for the unexpected? How do we plan for uncertainty?
Megan:
And then the fourth and final one is knowing and dreaming and planning for our longer term desires. So let's think about this from a financial aspect. Right, we talked about we have to know what our recurring expenses are. We've got to have money set aside for those emergencies. Well, I'm sure we all have longer term desires, whether it's planning for retirement or for this dream vacation or whatever it looks like for you. And again, there's a lot of great teaching out there around. How do we do that? And when it comes to our finances, it might be that you make choices on what you're not going to spend money on. You may cut back money in one area to then save money for these longer term desires? Right, you're putting some boundaries in place, or you may choose to find an investment that's going to help your money grow to prepare for those things. Right, there are solutions to say, hey, with the money I have right now, I have all these known expenses, I've got my emergency fund, yet I still want to plan for some longer term dreams and desires.
Megan:
So the same is true with our time. Right, we are the culture we are in today. Right now, we are so busy, being busy, we are living in the moment. It's what I call just in time living. We are waking up, we are making the task list and we are trying to get those done, and we are not thinking about how we want to spend our time for those longer term desires time for you, time for the hobbies, time to get back to some things that you love, time for yourself.
Megan:
Well, we have to learn, when it comes to planning and managing our time, how to do this, meaning we may have to learn how to say no to certain things that are taking up our time, to free up that time for something else. And it also means we have to learn really good prioritization skills. Right, it's easy to do that when we're looking at money, maybe you go and look and go wow, I'm spending like $40 a week getting coffee out, yet I want to go on this vacation. I'm going to prioritize the vacation over getting coffee and snacks. Well, when it comes to our time, we often have to make those same prioritization decisions right. When you assess how you're spending your time today, it gives you the ability to say, wow, I'm actually, if I stop doing this one thing, it's actually going to free up, you know, 90 minutes of my time every single day or every week. That would free me up to go do something I love.
Megan:
There is so much interconnectedness with the core principles and thinking about how we control and manage our money that are so similar to how we control and manage our time. So, again, these four key things that you've got to learn how to do is you need to have a system in place that supports you in not overbooking, not spending more time than you have. You have to have a system in place that shows you what are your recurring expenses of your time, what time is already spoken for before the week even begins. The third one you've got to know how to plan for uncertainty. You need to know how to do weekly and monthly planning that allows you to absorb those emergencies without you going further in debt or sacrificing your mental health or your physical health. And then, finally, you've got to have the tools and skills, with your planning, to know how to free up the time to plan for those dreams and desires right, so that every day is just not about have to. We deserve to have want to.
Megan:
Now, I am not a financial expert by any stretch there are some plenty great ones out there that I can refer you to if you need one but I am a planning and time management expert, All right, and these are things I am passionate about, and you've probably heard about my signature program, the top program. These are the skills that we learn in there, along with so many others. Now here is what I am doing, and I have not done this in several years and I'm really excited about it. So, at the time this episode is dropping, I am going to be hosting a live top boot camp. Top stands for time management, organization, productivity and planning. All right. Now, I have not run this bootcamp in years and inside of this bootcamp, I actually teach some of what is in my huge top program.
Megan:
All right, because I want to give you some of the skills you need today around those four things how do we make sure we're not getting overbooked? How do we know what our regular expenses are? How do I plan for uncertainty? How do I build in time for me? All right, so I'm going to be teaching this in the top bootcamp and, because I'm teaching something that is in my course, this is not a free event, but it is a steal at only $17. So, if you want to join me, head over to thetopbootcampcom. I've got all the info there. It's going to run for five days, 30 minutes a day. Yes, you'll be able to watch the replays. You are investing in this. I am not going to make it where you can't watch it if you can't join me live. Again, I've got all the details over for you at thetopbootcampcom. Again, haven't done this in several years. Not sure when or if I will do it again in the future, so I would jump on this incredible opportunity now.
Megan:
If you are ready to take back control of your time and your calendar, have a great news for you. I have an app in both the App Store and Google Play called the Pink Feed and it is chock full of small but incredibly powerful trainings to help you get out of overwhelm. It includes my signature Ditch the Overwhelm training and introduction to my time management framework, built specifically for women. In addition, you get access to my epic one notebook challenge and some tips and tricks on how to get your phone organized to minimize distractions. All of that is available for you right inside the Pink Bee app. So open up either your app store or Google play, do a search on the word the Pink Bee one word and download the app to get started today.
