Last week I was invited to facilitate a round-table discussion on time management for the Hong Kong Women Business Owners Club. What a treat it was to be part of an interactive conversation on one of my favourite topics!

We kicked off the meeting by having everybody write down a bullet-pointed list of what’s working well for them and what is not working so well. Then I asked everyone to share a highlight from their first list, being very specific about the tools and strategies they apply in order to achieve time management success. Here are some of the key points made:

People are finding balance by:

• Creating a schedule of ‘office hours,’ even if they work from home
• Closing the door to the office when they are not meant to be working
• Shutting down the computer (rather than simply letting it fall asleep) during ‘off hours’
• Not replying to email during non-office hours, to avoid conditioning clients to think we are always on/always available (Hint – you can queue messages to be sent at a later date or time.)
• Not carrying a Blackberry (Yes, some people are still holding out on this one!)
• Having one mobile phone for work and another for personal life
• Keeping separate personal and professional email addresses
• Hiring help at home and at work
• Developing strong family relationships and friendships, making sure to enjoy time with loved ones
• Maintaining a solid system of task and project lists
• Making a ‘To Do Today’ list with just a few key items on it
• Going easy on themselves when they’ve worked all day to stay focused on a task/project but needed to give time to other priorities instead
• Using travel time for quiet reflection, catching up on reading, making phone calls or organising lists + schedules
• Blocking time on a calendar to work on projects rather than using lists alone

I found it fascinating how we repeatedly commented on the importance of setting boundaries in our lives in order to feel good about where our time goes. This is, of course, much easier said than done.

It’s hard to set boundaries if we don’t have a clear sense of how we want to be spending our time. This means we do need to be organising our ideas and goals in order to balance them with the day-to-day work that never stops cropping up.

It’s also hard to set boundaries if we are not aware of the true limits of our time. This means we need to be making appointments with ourselves – not just with other people – so that our priorities are actually getting some air time. Putting a work block (e.g. on Tuesday from 10-1 to work on Project X) on the calendar helps you take control of your time. When someone calls to see if you can have lunch on Tuesday, you can either explain that you already have an appointment or you can look for another 3-hour block and reassign Project X so you can say yes to the lunch.

A few months ago I had a similar scenario happen in my life. My week was truly chock-a-block, and a potential client called to see if we could meet to discuss training options. As much as I wanted to meet at the time he proposed, I couldn’t rearrange anything on my schedule that week without shirking responsibilities to existing clients, disappointing family members or overdoing it physically by staying awake too late to catch up on work.

I could see all this at a glance because my week was already planned and time was blocked on my Outlook calendar (this advance planning takes less time than you may think!). So I took a deep breath and said, “I’m afraid my week is already at the ‘Legal Limit’, appointment-wise. Can we do it next week on Wednesday at 10:00?” Not only was this just fine with him, we ended up getting the contract, I didn’t lose any unnecessary sleep, and when I was standing in front of his team teaching about the importance of having – and sticking to – a weekly plan, I was able do it with integrity. Sitting there in the middle of the group, he knew it was real…and entirely possible.

I know from personal experience and observation of clients that it can be extremely difficult to establish boundaries in life. I think a lot of the trouble stems from fear of disappointing others or not having strategies for saying no effectively. More on that next time.

Until then – give it a shot. Try using the ‘Legal Limit’ explanation to say no sometime this week…and see what happens.

Filed under: Time, Work/Life Balance