Revolutionize Your Time Management Skills
Do you sometimes feel like this? So many things to do and so little time…
This year I made several New Year’s resolutions and none of them were related to work. Rather, I set to spend more time with friends, bring more joy into my cooking (so that it doesn’t always feel like a chore), go on an actual holiday, etc., etc. Put simply, I want to bring more pleasure and joy into my life. But how do I do that while accomplishing all the things I want to accomplish?
Lines Getting Blurry
I recently had a conversation about this with a couple of friends and we all agreed that it’s very easy to let yourself get absorbed by your work and take on too much. Especially if your work is something that you are excited about and believe in. It’s precisely because of the excitement that the lines between work and leisure can sometimes get a bit blurry.
A Revolutionary Concept
For the past two years, with the help of my business coach, I have been putting some serious work into my time management skills. But it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I came across something truly revolutionary. Drumroll, please… It’s the concept of Essentialism.
Here’s the gist of it, in order to make time for the great things in your life, you have to say no to some good ones. Sounds simple, right? I’m going to be honest with you, saying no is not a skill that comes naturally to me. It can be trained though.
Say No To Burnout
If you, like myself, have trouble saying no, just remember this – time is your biggest resource. You can make more money and, to an extent, replenish energy but you only have a set amount of time in this world. And, take my word for it, saying yes to every person, every request, and every opportunity will only leave you exhausted and burnt out.
So perhaps the next time you’re making that decision, pause and consider for a moment, do I really want to say yes to this thing/event/person/opportunity? But don’t just take my word for it.
Here are some excellent resources on this topic:
Sarah Knight TED Talk – The Magic of Not Giving a F***
(You can get this as a book as well)
Greg McKeown – Essentialism (The Disciplined Pursuit of Less)
It’s Not Goodbye, It’s See You Later…
And talking about essentialism, I’ll be taking a little break from this blog in order to concentrate on recording a Musicians’ Yoga course for the Musicians’ Union (see what I did there? :) ). Just know that this is not goodbye, it’s see you later…
