Marika Messager, CEO and founder of ConsciousLeadership.org
The financial business is so fast-moving that there never seems to be enough time to do everything that is on your list. In order to cope with the rapid changes, many businesses try to do twice as much with the limited time that they have.
Double booking your calendar and using tools that will help you do more in a small chunk of time is what time management is all about. At the end of the day, you are left feeling more pressured and stressed because you haven’t ticked off all the to-do items on your list.
Time management is not effective and will not benefit you. One of the core teachings I promote is Time Mastery and taking this conscious approach to time is the solution that we all need to adopt now more than ever.
Time management is an old paradigm where we think that if we manage our time better, we will be able to do all the things that are on our list. However, as you go through your day, you always end up running out of time; feeling stressed, unsatisfied and unfulfilled.
Time mastery, on the other hand, is adopting the thinking that this is the time that I have on my hand, how am I going to use it? You will never run out of time, because you bring in more intention and attention to what time you have available. This means that you have more clarity and presence in creating your time.
In time mastery, you are guided by your core values and your belief in the intention and attention that you devote to your time. So how do you become a MASTER of your time?
Here are some suggestions to have a more conscious approach to time, avoid the pitfalls of time management and move towards time mastery:
- Determine what truly matters and WHY
Taking the time to sit down and ponder on what is important to you is essential in determining the choices you make on what would be good use of your time. What you do with the time that you have should align with your core values and should all build towards honoring your potential and creating a fulfilling life for yourself.
- Stay focused on your intention
Time mastery is all about bringing in more intention to what you do. In mastering your time, always go back to what your intention is. Your determination to achieve a certain goal will be a guideline that will help you prioritize tasks that support your intention.
- Bring your full attention to the NOW moment
Your presence and attention to what is happening at this moment is key to ensuring that you are at your optimal at all times. Being half-hearted and not bringing your all to the table will not serve you, and this goes back to making sure that your actions are guided by your beliefs and core values. Being mindful of what you do trains your attention muscle and guarantees that YOU are present in the moments that you choose to get involved with.
Train yourself to tone down any distractions that may be pulling your attention away from the task at hand.
Now, that you have a clearer understanding of what time mastery is, here are a few tools to make sure that you have more intention and attention in managing your time within your financial business:
- Declutter your head
Imagine the cognitive load that you have every day when you have to deal with the mountain of tasks you have to complete and decisions you have to make. This can be very overwhelming.
Remove the clutter in your head and reduce the mental load by determining the specific decisions and actions that need to happen NOW in order to move your project forward and focus on these.
- Keep a manageable amount of task on your list each day
Create a to-do list and add depending on what you need to prioritize rather than how much time you have left during the day. When listing things to do, include tasks that you have to complete on your own, those that you have to do with other people as well as the time that you know you need to think, strategize, plan and organise.
This will give you a better picture of what your day will look like and will help you avoid cramming in more things to do on your list because you think you have more room to do more.
- Set aside buffer time during the day
Life, as we know it, can be very unpredictable. Maxing out your time and not giving allowances to what life may throw at you can cause stress. Allot a chunk of time in your schedule for any eventuality, or better yet, use this time for some reflection and self-care. Reflect, meditate, or just simply breathe. Knowing that you have this extra time on your hands, helps you better deal with situations that come up that are not part of your plan.
- Have a mindfulness practice
Taking some “Me time” to take care of your mental and emotional wellbeing is a necessity in the times we live in. Having a consistent meditation practice will provide a moment of much needed stillness and calmness to gain some clarity and presence; supporting you to align yourself, feel centered and more connected. And as a result, you will feel more confident, joyful and less uncertain.
Thomas Davenport of the Harvard Business School Press said, “Understanding and managing attention is now the single most important determinant of business success.” It is not through cramming that we become more productive and successful. It is through Time Mastery by having more intention and attention to the time that we have, so that we can become productive and have a better opportunity to create a positive impact in the workplace.
