Time Management at Happy Hour Pt. 2

I hope that you enjoyed the first part of  our Happy Hour round table discussion on everybody's favorite topic, time management. If you haven’t had a chance, be sure to read Part 1. In part 1, we talk about how helpful it is to budget our time like we budget our paper aka our money. For part 2, here’s another tip that has worked for me: As you schedule your blocks of time, put your tasks into categories. Side note: In parts 1, 2, &3, you will see me use business examples, but keep in mind these tips can be applied to that big thing called Life in general.

If you are a not a robot, there are some weeks, you will look at your to do list and either think “Wtf?!”, “How do I tackle this”, “What do I do first?!”, “Why do I even have this list?” or all the above! I have found that breaking up my to do list into categories nullifies those questions. Before doing this, my tasks were plastered on a calendar. A typical day would look like this: on the 1^st (of whatever month it was)- *order swatches *schedule photo shoot *call boutique to set up meeting *finish blog post *customer analysis *look for contract sewer *get supplier for labels, *etc…. The tasks were all over the place. Yes, each one completed went toward a main goal, but it was an overwhelming laundry list!  

Putting those tasks into categories has worked wonders for me. I have 6 categories that my tasks fall under. Now you don’t have to have that many categories. You may find that 2 categories work for you. Remember the purpose of this is to make life easier for you. For example, ordering swatches, getting a label supplier, looking for a contract sewer, customer analysis are tasks that would go under my research category. So rather than having a long laundry list, let your categories hold your tasks for you. You can schedule your categories in your blocks of time you have created from part 1.

I hope these tips have been helpful to you. I love sharing tips that have worked for me. I would love to hear how you manage your time. Leave your comments below.

Stay tuned for Part 3!

~Tamu