Table of contents:
- What is time mastery?
- Why is time mastery important?
- What are the qualities of highly successful people?
- How does productivity help with goal achievement?
- Top ways to get rid of procrastination
- Time management skills to live by
- How can you empower your children's time mastery skills?
- Final thoughts
What is time mastery
Time mastery is more than just time management. It is mastering your time to create a high level of success around your goals. Ever wonder how successful people are able to accomplish as much as they do? Sure they have help but they practice and promote several tips and techniques that help them to create effective time management and time mastery. In this blog, I will explore the following: why is time mastery important? What are the habits of highly successful people? How does productivity help you to achieve your goals? How to get rid of procrastination fast? Time management tips that you must live by and incorporate why your network and association matter? Even how you can empower your children to also become master time management and pass on the knowledge.
Why is time mastery important?
Time mastery is important because it can make the difference between achieving your goals or being frustrated by your goals. Here's why:
Control
Mastering your time allows you to have control over your destiny. If you can control your time and how you spend it, then you will feel as if you are accomplishing more.
Plan
Time mastery allows you to plan better. It allows you to create a plan that will help you to create the control that you crave.
Prioritize
A big part of time mastery is prioritizing. Having the ability to create lists around what is most important to what is least important.
What are qualities of highly successful people?
If a big part of time mastery is control, planning, and prioritization, then how do highly successful people do it. Most of the time highly successful people are not gifted or possess some natural talent not given to you and I. They do things that highly unsuccessful people don't do. Here's what they do:
Empowering Belief System
Highly successful people have a belief system that is mirrored around positivity. Simply put, they believe in their abilities. They avoid negative self-talk and focus more on positive affirmations. They believe that what they tell themselves is what they will become. Ask yourself: what should I stop telling myself right now to become more successful? What you believe about yourself can be highly empowering or it can create a cycle of self-defeating and even self deprecating actions. Here is a worksheet you can use to uncover more about your belief system. Why you believe the things you believe about yourself and what you can do to change your belief system. Click here to access your belief system worksheet.
Avid goal setters
Highly successful and even highly productive people are avid goal setters. They understand that life without goals is often void or meaningless. They focus their attention on setting goals as a way to create a measuring stick for their successes. Furthermore, they don't just stop at setting ordinary goals, they thrive to achieve goals that are not only achievable but also challenging. When they accomplish their goals at each challenge level, it allows them to see their growth. Goal setting and adjusting them along the way allows highly successful people to attain increased personal development at every step. Highly successful people understand the SMART Goal model( Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). This allows them to see less frustration while pursuing their goals.
Recommended: SMART Goals Worksheet- Instant Download
Rituals are just another word for habits. Highly successful people have habits and rituals that they follow each day. Whether it is waking up early to go for a jog at the same time or daily reading at a particular time. To be highly successful, you must create your own rituals or habits that you should practice and live by. Click here to read the Morning Rituals Of Eleven Highly Successful Individuals such as Mark Zuckerberg, Padmasree Warrior and Tim Cook. Find out what they do on a daily basis to create success for themselves.
Recommended content: Success Traits: How successful people create greatness
Highly successful people seek wisdom and strategic knowledge every chance they get. They understand that the pursuit of knowledge empowers them to make better and smarter decisions. Ignorance in your life is actually hurting you. In my post: Top reasons why ignorance is the #1 cause of death. I explore why ignorance limits your decisions and sets off a ripple effect. I also outline 10 ways to know if you are ignorant. Click here to read more.
Words without action are just words. Highly successful people do what they say they are going to do. They back everything up with action. lack of action is never their friend. To become successful as well, you have to create actionable steps to everything you do and every promise that you put out there.
The more productive you become, the more confidence you will gain. You will feel a surge of confidence around what you think and know that you can do. For example, if one of your goals for the day was to finish your marketing report and department budget. When you finish both of them on time, you will feel this rush of confidence. It will let you know that you don't have to worry in the future, because you have done it before and you can do it again. I like to call it "crush it and move on."
Sum of parts is also related to being a focused task master. Productivity and goal achievement can be accomplished by using the "sum of parts" method. This means that you chip away at your overall goal by breaking it down into smaller parts. By the time you add up all the parts, you will have accomplished your goal or goals. It allows you to remove anxiety from what you are doing and focus more on making baby steps toward the bigger picture. For example, if it takes you one hour to accomplish a particular task or goal. You could overwhelm yourself and try to go at it for the entire hour or you can break down the hour into four 15 minute cycles. You will still spend one hour on your goal but doing it in a 15 minute cycle allows you to feel less overwhelmed. Furthermore, you might enjoy what you are doing more by using "sum of parts."
This wouldn't be a complete blog post if I didn't dive into the time master's kryptonite- which is procrastination. We all do it and I have been guilty of it from time to time. You know you have something to do but you do everything else to avoid it. In a nutshell, you procrastinate. Here are the top ways to get rid of procrastination and get back to doing what you are suppose to be doing:
- Are you procrastinating because you don't like what you are doing? Get real with yourself! Ask yourself these important questions:
- Is this goal consistent with my values?
- Was I unrealistic with the timeline or the achievability of my goals?
- Is this task something that I am even interested in?
- Am I doing what I truly like to do?
The answers to the above questions will allow you to have an honest conversation with yourself around your goals and why you are avoiding doing what you need to do. I know personally that I avoid things sometimes if I don't like it. Or, I am doing something out of obligation and not out of cheerfulness. If you find that you didn't define your goals properly and not managing your time is because you absolutely hate what you have to do- then consider getting rid of it. Obviously, not every goal can be easily disposed of like this but maybe if you can get rid of it, maybe it needs a little tweaking by eliminating barriers to procrastination.. Such as turning off your phone so you don't agree to a socializing event over doing what you need to do.
I always tell my children that one of the bravest things you can do is ask for help. There is nothing cowardly about reaching out to someone and saying: "I am having a problem, can you help me?" Sometimes procrastination is a product of not knowing what to do or feeling stuck. So instead of asking for reinforcement, you avoid your goals all together.
There is nothing wrong with rewarding yourself after you accomplish a task. If you find ways to pat yourself on the back with little nuggets of self-appreciation, then you will tend to procrastinate less. Why? Because you know that if you check that task off that list, then you can bask in a sweet treat.
If you adopt a growth mindset- meaning everything you do is to help you evolve and grow as a person, then you will tend to procrastinate less. You will see procrastination as an anti-growth element or something that does not advance your growth agenda. Growth in itself encompasses what I said in #1- being real. If you are growing, you are always asking yourself hard questions and allowing others to help you get over your struggles.
Plan and prioritize
The people in your life can also be preventing you from accomplishing more each day. Is it the coworker who likes to talk too much about nothing?This could be the reason why you don't get the most out of your day. You will have to politely set boundaries around how much time you can spend with this person or persons. Maybe schedule time for lunch or dinner outside of work to allow for unproductive conversations. Also, take the time to think about your overall professional network and analyze if they are causing you to miss deadlines or encouraging you to do things that are unproductive. Upgrade your network if this is an issue and start hanging with the right crowd. You know, the people who are also time masters. "He who walks with the wise will become wise. but the companion of fools will suffer"- Proverbs 13: 20
I have 4 kids so I know that getting them to master their time is like pulling teeth sometimes. Whether it is "hurry up- you are going to be late for school." Or "how come you haven't finished your homework yet?" Most of my children's time management issues are around distractions and I can bet that most of yours are too. The best way to help your kids manage their time is similar to how you manage time, but here are three quick tips. You can also read: How to help your child become a master time manager? Effective time management strategies that work!
Encourage them to practice self-discipline and self regulation. Both of which will help them to manage their time better as kids and will hopefully translate into great adult time managers. Ask them to create their own time management strategies that will promote self-discipline and self-regulation. This will allow them to take ownership of managing their time and also allow them to know the importance of time management.
Time mastery is more than just good time management. It is an intentional endeavor of habits and behaviors that work together to promote true productivity. In order to master your time, you have to create actionable tasks through checklists and to-do lists. Highly productive people also advance their goals faster through the cultivation of their good time management skills. You must eliminate distractions, whether they come in the form of your electronic devices or through the people you associate with. And don't forget to reward yourself from time to time and take note of how much more confident you are becoming from good time mastery. Mastering time should also be generational, so pass on your skills to your children as well. Time management skills are essential and your kids should also develop this skill.