Why it’s important to focus on winning (especially for yourself)!

Winning feels great, it gives you such a boost in your life! However, so many of people set themselves up for failure. And when it comes to managing our time, well, while you might not be truly able to “manage” such a thing, you can absolutely use it wisely.

Do you remember the rabbit in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland?

Do you remember how he was running around saying how late he was for a very important date?

Do you find yourself acting like that and saying similar things?

You are not alone.

That’s the good news. The other good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way any more.

Women are famous (if that’s even the right word to use) at being able to do a lot of things at one time. And often some wear it as a badge. Can you relate? Now, for some things that may be an appropriate behavior. Though when it comes to creating and running a successful business, it more than likely is what is holding you back from reaching your goals.

Running around creating chaos?

What I find happens with my clients and other business owners that I talk to is that they are running around going here, doing this, that and other things and basically creating chaos for themselves. When this happens, what normally is happening is that they aren’t clear about what they are doing. They get an opportunity or an idea and they are off with it (kind of like the “off with his head” mentality the Queen of Hearts had). There is no plan, there are no action steps and no clear path to get to where they think they are going.

What usually happens next is they utter (often in despair) “I don’t have enough time”, “I didn’t have enough time to do what was important”, “I kept getting caught up in this or that”. Maybe this sounds familiar. Well, to give yourself not only a fighting chance, but a winning chance, you need to get clear of where it is you are going and what it is you will do to get there.

Getting there from here.

The fastest way to get results in less time is to be clear on where you are going and exactly what you will do (not can do, but will do) to get there and then go and do it. Meaning, plan it and then schedule it.

It may mean you need to figure out how long something takes to do, it may mean that you need to eliminate things (oh my) and it may mean you just get off your butt and do it (thank you Nike) and so be it. If you truly want to get to where you are going, you just have to do it! Trust me, you won’t be sorry in fact you’ll be doing the Snoopy dance.

Watch my Facebook Live video on just how you can get there from where you are.

Who doesn’t like to win?

I know I like to win. I especially like to win when it comes to time.

Time and me, we go way back and time usually won. To put it another way, I had no idea how to manage my time. At the same time, I knew that I had to figure that out.

Time was not on my hands.

The saying “time on your hands” definitely fit here. And if I wanted to have more time, sooner or later I had to figure this out. Ever since I started my coaching business I never (and I do mean never) finished my work on time. I was always racing to start making supper before my husband came home (he actually does our cooking. I’m the prep-chef) and I never ever got there.

That was until I finally figured out how to beat it. It was (and still is) such a great feeling. I remember the day exactly. I had finished my work and closed up shop only to find myself standing in the middle of my kitchen wondering what to do next. That is to say I actually had time to prep for dinner. All things considered, it was an awesome feeling.

Time was winning.

It’s important to realize that before that day, I couldn’t seem to get my stuff done. There was always so much more to do, something I never got to and wanted to get done. Something that I just had to do. It was frustrating to every day end up with more to do and not enough time.

Until one day when I finally said enough. And decided to learn how to win at this (as I called it) time thing. As a result things changed in an instant for me.

To explain, I was working nights and weekends and not having much fun in my life because I always was doing one more thing. I felt I was playing catch up and that I was behind the 8-ball almost constantly. It was time to stop.

Game changer.

With this in mind, I decided that I had to get a handle on this time thing. For this reason, I did some research. I read many books, blogs and worked with my coach on my schedule, priorities and tasks. As a result, I came up with specific steps that work for me. And that’s how I now find myself with time on my hands.

Want to be the one with time on your hands?

To put it another way, if you are looking to win at time, get very clear on what it is you are doing, whether or not you need to do it and if you need to be the one doing it. Ask yourself: does it fit into your big outcome of what you want for your business and your life? Click here and read how to clarify your own priorities and tasks so you can win at time.

And if you are like I was and thinking to yourself, I so need help with this then you are in luck! Click here to set up your free 30 Minute Get Clear with Time Management Session with me. You will walk away with specific-to-you steps so that you win at time and find yourself with time on your hands time and again!

Time is elusive.

Do you ever say to yourself “where did the time go?” or “I didn’t have time to do what I wanted to do” or “I didn’t think it would take that much time”?

If so, you are not alone. One of the biggest challenges I faced when I began my business was time. I uttered all of the above and then some. The biggest one though was that I didn’t think things would take as much time as they did.

Time threw me off path many, many times. Time felt so elusive to me. It was a challenge finding time to get the things I wanted to and needed to get done. That meant I wasn’t achieving a whole lot – oh wait, let me rephrase that, I was achieving a lot – a lot of nothing! And once I was able to solve time being elusive to me, I was then able to achieve the results that I wanted – which was to start my business and work with amazing people like you to help you reach your goals and dreams.

How to get time on your side.

You need to know what it is you are doing each and every day and yes, practically each and every moment.

My clients do not like to hear that. They like to work in a free-flowing way. And when I tell them that they can do exactly that and be productive when they get time on their side, they are excited to get started.

Also, it’s the time piece that often throws people off. That place of not knowing how long something will take or how to be efficient with your time so you are completing things, moving things forward and seeing the results you desire. This is why it is important for you to get time on your side.

First of all, before you do anything, the one thing you need to do to get time on your side is to list out everything that you are doing.

Create a list of everything you do.

If you are struggling with time, it may be that you don’t 1) really know what you are doing and 2) have no idea how long things take to do. Since figuring out what it is you are doing means you’ll easily be able to figure out how long it takes let’s first get clear on that.

• Get out a piece of paper or use your favorite electronic device and start listing everything you are doing in your business – don’t edit just write.
• Categorize your list – you can use headings such as working with clients, marketing, administration and so on.
• Drill down within those categories – marketing may mean networking, writing, creating copy, things of that nature – get clear on exactly what it is you are doing.

Establish a timetable for getting things done.

Then, once you have your list, estimate how long you think it is taking you to do each task, make sure you write it down. From there before you begin that particular task, note the time (I like to write it down) go to work and when you have completed it check the time again and note exactly how long it actually did take you. As a result, you now  know exactly how long it takes for you to do a particular task!

Finally, another thing you’ll do is to assess how you did. How close were you to your time estimate? If you were spot on, awesome – if not, you now know exactly how long it will take you to do your task – make sure you mark that down too so you never need to say again “I had no idea how long this would take” because you will know!