10 Amazing Secrets of People Who Manage Their Time Successfully

Christine Li  0:01  
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode 76. In my opinion, there are two critical components to overcoming procrastination. One is learning how to manage and regulate your emotions. The other is knowing how to manage your time and your time usage really well. Today's episode is a deep dive into how to manage your time and your time usage better. These are tips that on the surface sound very simple, but actually require you to be more mindful about your behavior and your feelings. On a day to day basis, I suggest you pick just one or two of this list of 10 strategies to start getting good at. And when you do, I think you're going to find that you feel like you have more time to use you feel like success is starting to roll towards you. And you start feeling better overall, enjoy this episode. There's a lot in it for you.

Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped 1000s of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they can begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn a powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important, and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy, and how you can create success on demand. 

Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. Hi, there. It's Dr. Christine Li. And today I'm going to share 10 amazing secrets of people who manage their time successfully. And just before I press record on this one, I thought to myself, hmm, are you being completely hypocritical Christine? And by that? I mean, do I really know what I'm offering you? Do I really know how to manage my own time successfully. And part of me wants to say totally Yes. And another part of me really has some questions about that. But I'm going to go ahead with this list. Anyway, these are tips that really have helped me to improve my time management game dramatically. I know that that is a fact. And I hope that this list really helps you to take a look at how you're using your time, how you're expecting your day to run, and how you're getting things done. All right, let's get going. The first tip that I have for you is number one, time is valued. And by that I mean time is valued as one of the highest, most treasured assets that you can have. That means that you are thoughtful about how you use your time. That means you don't let people steal your time. That means you don't squander your time. And this may seem like an obvious tip, but I think so often we get distracted, we lose sight of the fact that we're losing hours and hours in each day sometimes because of these distractions because of worries in our heads. And I think it is important for me to put this tip as number one value your time as if it is the most valuable thing that you have. And I think that starting point is going to help you to use your time much more carefully, wisely and successfully. Alright, tip number two time waste is something to be guarded against. This obviously is very connected to tip number one that time is valuable. When we put into play safeguards on our time, we end up feeling like we have so much more room, in our heart, in our chest, in our schedule, to be ourselves to get the extra work done to explore new hobbies and relationships and things we just want to do. Without being careful about how we're using our time time tends to dribble away. We tend to fritter it away because it's not spoken for because we haven't thought about how we really want our time to be used. So we really want to start practicing being good stewards of our time get that play Enter,

there are so many different varieties, these days you get a digital one get an analog one, I tend to prefer writing things down, because I feel like it's a commitment to my time use, and I take my planning very seriously these days. So if you're not used to planning your time, hour by hour, I suggest you try to do that, you'll find that you might have more time than you thought you did. And that might be a blessing. All right, tip number three, boundaries are known, respected and kept. What do I mean by this, I mean, boundaries between you and other people. And by boundaries, I mean, that invisible line that sometimes shifts that describes what you are willing to do and what you're not willing to do, and what other people are able and willing to do and not able or willing to do with you. Sometimes we waste a lot of time, by assuming we can change other people, we can use them for our own benefit, we can persuade them into doing things, but that ends up actually draining our energy and costing us a lot of time. So my recommendation is instead of looking to other people, to help you sort out things to cooperate with you to collaborate with you,

I want you to concentrate on your own skill set. What can you do to push your projects forward? What can you do, to learn more, to relax more to manage your time better, basically, focus on your own sphere of influence. Basically, concentrate on your own list of projects, and get those handled before you start to interact with other people and get involved in how other people are spending their time. That is for I think, when you've got your own stuff already handled, I hope this is clear. Because boundaries can get really murky, we can get really connected with other people's business, we can get swamped by the needs of other people, the requests of other people. And I think people who know how to use their time successfully, are very good at knowing when to get involved with other people, and when to steer clear of entanglements with other people's needs. All right. Fourth tip is that willpower is something that we need to pay attention to what is willpower, willpower is that store of energy that helps us to get things done over the course of a single day. Willpower is a limited resource. And it's a resource that we start off with in the morning, with a full tank of willpower. And then as the day moves on, our willpower gradually declines until it's relatively low. And people who know how to run their time successfully, are very mindful about how they're using their willpower. So when we are surfing on social media, that's using a bit of our willpower, because we're having to read and process, every meme, every dance routine, every comment that we see on Instagram, or Tiktok. It might feel entertaining, and it is, but it's also managing to gradually drain our willpower. So if you're wanting to manage your time more successfully, and preserve your time, you want to decide for yourself what are the best ways for me to deploy and use my willpower. Think about this before the day even starts. You might even want to plan your willpower usage the night before the day you're going to use the willpower or at least the morning of so that your willpower is not drained randomly by other people. Taking your attention or social media taking your attention or emergencies taking your attention before you've handled your very basic needs for yourself. So make sure you use your filled tank of willpower at the beginning of the day for the things that you most need to take care of. That's a great tip for managing your time successfully. Alright, tip number five, plan around your energy peaks and your energy valleys. What are our energy peaks and our energy valleys? If you're like me, after lunch, you have an energy Valley and that is where somehow someway, your energy kind of dips and that for me is my I traditional Valley time, it's around two o'clock,

I just feel like I need to stop and take a nap, or stop and chill and just stop what I'm doing because I can't focus very well. And I can't get that much done during that hour, it's just always been that way. For me, I think it's something with having to do with my food at lunch, and energy peaks. For me, for me, oftentimes, that's like 10 o'clock at night, it can be around 930 in the morning. And those are the moments where I feel like I'm focused, it's really easy for me to get my thoughts put together. And it's easy for me to create new things and new projects and new connections between things. I feel like things are really in flow for me, both brain and body wise. So you want to start to learn what your energy peaks and energy valleys are, you want to schedule things purposefully, so that you're avoiding booking heavy duty items during an energy Valley. And you're wanting to pack it in, during those blocks of time when you know that you're feeling energetically at a high point. So plan around those peaks and valleys. That is tip number five recently I want to mention as a side note, there is a trend for some influencers on social media to promote menstrual cycle planning. So that you know that you won't plan major events or major obligations during the week during the month when you're feeling the least yourself when you're feeling the least vibrant and well. And that is another example of learning how to work with your energy peaks and energy valleys. Alright, tip number six, know when to push and know when to pull. Now what do I mean by that? I think people who know how to use their time successfully know when it's worth it to really invest all their energy, their time and their effort. And that's what I'm calling pushing right now when it's time to go all in and just say alright, this is my moment, this is my shot. This is going well let me add fuel to the fire. But they also know that not every moment is an optimal moment for investing all your energy. So sometimes, there are moments that we need to rest when we need to pull back when we need to take a break when we need to reassess when we need to pause and let things come to us. So I think people who know how to manage their time well, except that not every moment is a moment for action. So think for yourself, are you someone who believes that you constantly need to force yourself hard, or force yourself until you're burned out physically, until you get your aim or your goal met. Because you may want to practice pulling back sometimes letting other people chip in sometimes, letting your end goal be a little bit smaller sometimes so that you can reach it. These are all different techniques that people who know how to use their time well use because they don't want to drain themselves in search of a goal. Because that kind of defeats the whole purpose of getting things done. We don't want to completely deplete ourselves, just to get things done. That very much segues into Tip number seven, do not burn your body out. Without our bodies working really well.

What are the chances of seeing ourselves through to success, it's almost like playing a losing game from the beginning when we're starting our processes or our efforts feeling drained, of food, drained, of rest drained of a positive mindset or attitude that's running a marathon without the proper shoes on. Don't do that to yourself. Insist from the start that you take care of yourself physically, mentally and spiritually so that you have enough energy and good stores of energy to see you through the beginning, middle and end of any project. Make sure your body is taken care of. At a very high level. There's no other way to say it your body is your vehicle. So make sure your body is taking good care of. Up next is tip number eight, you're doing really well. Thanks for hanging in here with me. Tip number eight is decision making is seen as an important and powerful tool. Instead of spending our time waffling and hemming and hawing and freaking out about our decisions, let's learn to make our decisions and take the chances that we have to take when we make a decision. By definition, when we make a decision, we are cutting things into two separate options. One is the way that we're going to choose and the other is the way that we're going to abandon. So there's that feeling of risk involved when we're making decisions, even easy ones. But let's not waste our time preparing for those decisions when we already know in our heart of hearts, or in our minds, which way we want to try. So if you tend to be someone who obsesses about your decisions, and you're afraid to make decisions, I want to encourage you to shorten that amount of time that you typically take, or you were typically allowed to move past you, before you make a decision. Make that decision boldly and courageously knowing that you're going to have to face the outcome of your decision, no matter how long you take to make that decision. So you might as well save your precious time at the beginning. Make your decisions quickly as quickly as you can trust your gut trust your process of making your decisions, and then handle the outcomes of those decisions. It's a smooth process much like beginning middle end, when you get used to trusting yourself and your decisions, I think you'll end up finding that you'll be able to make those decisions more quickly. And you'll end up having a lot of leftover time to use in your own way. Once you've managed that new habit. don't frustrate yourself by staying stuck ahead of decisions, allow yourself to move away from that feeling of being stuck very quickly. Tip number nine is know how to use the tiniest bit of time with purpose. I'm going to start off this way, I do not mean that every bit of time in your life needs to be used purposefully because I'm a big fan of rest. I'm a big fan of white time. I don't know what the phrase is, what am I looking for? blank space in your calendar, let's just put it that way. So I don't mean that you have to get really nitpicky about how you use every minute, what I do mean is that I would love for you to learn how to grab a minute or two, from any piece of your day so that you can use it if you need it. So that's in a book called procrastination, I learned that it was called the Swiss cheese method, you're able to carve out time whenever you need it. It's those holes in the Swiss cheese, that you think oh, maybe that's not enough time for me to do anything. But people who know how to use their time successfully know how to grab a minute or two and get that email written or get that decision made, or get that extra meal prepped, it only takes a few minutes. So start to look for those opportunities of time in your day. They're sitting there just waiting for you to take advantage of them. And sometimes we just let them go. So treat your time as if it's valuable and get those Swiss cheese moments to work for you. Instead of that just being blank time

drifting away. Finally, we have tip number 10. It may be the most important tip about learning how to use your time more successfully. And that is understand that everything is going to be okay. I really do think that the main reason we procrastinate and we let time move away from us is because we don't think that things are going to go well for us. We don't believe that things are going to be okay. So let's decide once and for all that really things will be okay when we show up for ourselves when we protect our time when we protect our boundaries when we conserve our energy and we use it well. And when we make decisions boldly in our best interests, despite not knowing exactly how our outcome hims will fall. When you make it a habit to use your time well, the results are going to support you and your wishes extraordinarily well. Your time use is correlated to your successful outcomes. I really do believe that. I've found that in my own life, it's been one of the biggest, most important and wonderful lessons of my entire life. And I hope you find this lesson for yourself soon if you haven't already. I hope this episode and the tips that I shared in it will inspire you to take a bit more care to manage your time. And to be kind to yourself more as the days move on. Let me know through a DM in Instagram. I'm at procrastination coach on Instagram. What tip inspired you the most in this episode and if you love this episode, please leave a five star rating and review for the podcast. It will help the podcast to reach more listeners and it will warm my heart. I love reading the beautiful reviews that listeners have sent in in the past. I want to wish you well go for the success you are meant for success and make sure you make time for it too. I'll see you next week when the next episode drops on Thursday. Take care. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. We'll talk to you soon

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