The Ultimate Guide to Managing your Time
Of all the barriers to women’s progression, I believe time is the most invidious. There is no avoiding it. Time is, well, there all-the-time. There is just not enough of it to do what you really want or need to do to flourish and progress.
I am not going to rehearse here all the reasons why this is the case. Whether that’s because of the multiple demands on our time that each of us face. Or because there is constant change at work. Or opportunities come your way you can’t refuse even though you are already overloaded.
I am not going to rehearse here the health impacts of always feeling overwhelmed by too much to do - such as sleeplessness, anxiety and depression. Nor am I going to talk about the emotional effects of being time poor such as guilt for not spending enough time with your family or too often feeling you are not doing your job well enough.
I am though going to point you in the direction of resources that might help you put the demon of time in its place.
Take the test!
How good are you at managing your time? Click the button below and try this test devised by Mind Tools.
My score was 34 and fell in the 31-45 range. The feedback for this range is:
You're good at some things, but there's room for improvement elsewhere. Focus on the serious issues below, and you'll most likely find that work becomes much less stressful.
Room for improvement? How true ….
Resources to follow-up
Women are doing too much and it’s hurting their mental health. This article by Jennifer Ervin and Dr Tania King at the University of Melbourne reviews how unpaid labour is associated with mental health amongst employed adults. Full of evidence, one of the most salutary phrases in it for me is “time is a resource for health”.
Improving women’s progression in the workplace is a report from King’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, University of London. A key finding is that a culture of overwork disadvantages women employees who have caring commitments and women face stigma for being associated with part-time or flexible working. Those of you who work flexibly and part-time already know this though don’t you.
There is a great website at the University of California, Berkeley called “The Greater Good”. Its purpose is to bring the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being to foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society. The site has a host of resources, quizzes and all sorts.
Mind Tools have 104 resources devoted to time management in the following categories: productivity; managing your energy; time management essentials; managing your workload; concentration and focus; prioritisation; effectiveness and efficiency; scheduling your time. Hazard warning though - you can access only two free resources and then there is a paywall.
An Effective Time Management Strategy for Ambitious and Busy Women. This Forbes article starts by saying that many time management techniques don’t work. It is far more effective to manage your energy. Which takes me to ….
Focus, Balance, Energy Indicator (FEBI): Maria Kukhareva, who is an accredited coach for this test instrument, introduced me to FEBI. FEBI is an embodied approach that measures four energy patterns in your nervous system and maps these to personality, ways of moving and essential modes of leadership. You can take a taster here. Follow up with Maria if you are interested in exploring this further.
One of my favourites: In Beating the Odds: A practical guide to navigating sexism in Australian universities, Marcia Devlin sets out a timetable of things she wanted to achieve or areas of professional development that includes the needs of her children at different stages of their lives. It is so rare to see an approach to ‘time management’ that takes account of family commitments. I applaud it.
Women-Space blogs. There are three Women-Space blogs that have resources and suggestions related to time:
How to find the time to be promotion ready
Two easy rules that can help eliminate work overload and they don’t include saying no
With thanks again to Maria Kukhareva for the suggestion: Greg McKeown Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. YouTube here. The core premise is that the pursuit of less allows us to regain control of our own choices so we can channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest possible contribution toward the goals and activities that matter.
If you are finding that far too much of your time is being spent on tasks that really de-energise you, you could take a StrengthsProfile test. This will give you greater insight into those areas of work that really give you energy and those that leave you flat. A short introductory test can be found here.
Time Blocking and Time Boxing: This blog explains both concepts though mostly focuses on Time Blocking.
The No Club: Putting a stop to women’s dead-end work is a well-received book from Linda Babcock, Brenda Peyser, Lise Vesterlund and Laurie Weingart. The focus is on how to avoid non-promotable tasks that eat into your time and don’t help you progress your career.
What actually makes us productive
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think this one is. This image is from the Schafer Group from an article “what we think makes us productive versus what actually does”.
Of course, gender plays its part. This report on research into applicant letters to economics departments entitled “Women are hardworking. Men are Brilliant: Stereotyping in the economics job” market is a case in point.
Definitely one to reflect on!
Founder and CEO Women-Space Leadership