20 Time Management Skills From the Book Manage Your Day to Day

time management skills

I recently read the book Manage Your Day to Day, Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, & Sharpen Your Creative Mind. It was a quick read ( I read it in a day) with some real gems in terms of tips for improving the spinning-wheel syndrome that a lot of us deal with. While I think it would be beneficial for you to read the book (we all identify with different things) here are…

20 Time Management Skills Learned From the Book Manage Your Day to Day

  1. Start each day with the creative work first, reactive work (like emails!) second.
  2. Create work triggers; whether it’s the same place, a cup of tea, wearing a certain things, whatever. Just something that tells your brain it’s time to focus.
  3. Make a daily to-do list of no more than 4 things and don’t add to it.
  4. Create a workday that clearly starts and finishes.
  5. Dedicate days to sectors of your business.
  6. Create a single meeting day or time rather than randomly scheduling meetings all over your calendar.
  7. Take a 10 minute mid-morning break.
  8. Take a 30 minute walk at lunch.
  9. Have a morning routine that gets you prepared for the day ahead.
  10. Add “focus time” to your calendar. No emails no social media, no phone calls. You just focus on one thing and get it done.
  11. Improve posture and learn to breath deeply.
  12. Have a few hours one day a week of “open time”. No scheduled meetings, leave the time open for discovery.
  13. Identify 3 complex goals every four months and tape them to you computer.
  14. Measure your endless flood of emails against these goals. If they don’t align, don’t make yourself crazy trying to handle them.
  15. Know why you are logging into those social media platforms when you do it. IF you have a reason in mind, you will lose less time on them.
  16. Have a device-free afternoon once per week.
  17. Curate who you follow on social media.
  18. Create a hobby list and block out time in your calendar for it.
  19. Take evening walks a few times per week; take the same path so that you don’t have to think about anything but instead your mind wanders.
  20. Make sure that the things that important to you get a place in your calendar, or else they will never happen.

 

Image via Slaff

Nicole Giordano

Nicole is the founder of StartUp FASHION, an online resource and community supporting for independent designers around the world with building their businesses. A deep love for the craft of fashion paired with an adamant belief that success is defined by the individual, led her to found StartUp FASHION, where she helps independent designers and makers screw the traditional fashion business rules, create their own paths, and build businesses they truly love. More than anything else, she’s in the business of encouragement and works every day to remind makers and designers that they have something special to offer the world and that they can, in fact, do this thing!