Managing Your Time Well Is Critical

Happy Sunday, ladies,

I just emailed everyone asking for help finding a new venue and wanted to repeat that request here. If we can't find a good venue to host us, we'll have to meet at a quiet cafe and although that's great—and I won't have to bring food—it's not conducive to guest speakers or panels.

Since I'm juggling two part-time jobs, a few smaller jobs, and two meetups, I've been spending a lot of time organizing, prioritizing, and just thinking of the best way to manage my time. And regardless of the cliche you prefer (whether time is money, your most valuable resource, etc.), we can all agree that how we spend our time is critical not only to our success, but also to our energy and overall mood.

Instead of scrambling from task/job to the next, hoping you don't forget anything critical, it's best to list everything coming up. Whether you prefer to do it in a to-do list app, on paper, in a bullet list, or your calendar, make sure you're not keeping it in your head, since that's a huge drain on our limited mental bandwidth.

I personally am using a combination of tools. I've blocked off chunks of time on my calendar so I'm sure I have enough time for each of my clients, and then tasks associated with each go into a productivity/task management app. Currently my favorite is NirvanaHQ, which is based on David Allen's GTD (Getting Things Done) system. I've used many others both personally and professionally, but this is what's working for me now.

Another thing important to keep in mind when organizing and prioritizing is your personal energy rhythms. When are you at your sharpest? If you're a morning/evening person, that's when you should be doing the more challenging tasks and save the easier ones for when you're not so mentally alert. A great book that lists these and other productivity tips is The Daily Edge by David Horsager. (My blog post highlights some of my favorite takeaways from his book.)

For all of you job searching, working on your side hustles, or figuring out what your next career transition will be, your time is probably spread thin between whatever pays your bills currently (or finding something to pay those bills) and the other responsibilities you have. As we heard from our panelists, it's critical to give yourself time to recharge and to think and plan, so let's talk about this topic and how we can better manage our time and energy at our 4/5 meetup.

I'd love to hear what's working or not working for you, so feel free to share either here or on our Facebook group.

Until next time!