Yesterday I threw myself into my to-do list and had a really productive day. As tomorrow marks my first day back at work, I wanted to focus today on my strategies for time management.

I’ve never met anyone who said, “Oh! You’re a teacher with a toddler, and you write books? You must have so much extra time!” None of us have extra time, but some of us seem to be able to fit more in the same twenty-four hours than others. Often, many people seem mystified from the outside looking in and chalk it up to the fact that that person either is A: a superhero or B: has more resources at their disposal. In my experience, neither is true. I am fascinated by how productive people can be, and make it a point to reach out to study what others do.

Disclaimer: I’m an analytical person, and a recovering high school overachiever, which if you’re not familiar with this book is an excellent resource on the hyper-competitive world of high school honors students. 

Anyway here are some things that help me get stuff done fast. 

1. Set goals

Yeah, I know everyone says this, but there is more than just setting a goal. The goal needs to be realistic. Announcing to the universe that you want to get published or make a million dollars is great, but there’s a large margin for error with that claim, which only sets you up for disappointment and if we’re all being honest, we don’t have time for that. Instead, I chunk my goals into small segments. Instead of wanting to finish a book, which will take days, weeks, months, or years, just make your intent to write a scene. That goal is achievable in a timely manner. 

In education and other fields, people mention the term SMART goals. I find this works well because as each goal is met, momentum builds and fuels the long journey towards the ultimate destination. Consider how a goal to “write a book” differs from “write 300 words a day.” I use this example because if you write 300 words a day, in one year you will have a 90,000 word book. Something to think about when January 1st rolls around. 

Personally, I also enjoy writing goals down on a list and giving myself a reward system. If I meet all my writing goals for the day, then I reward myself with watching homes I’ll never buy on HGTV. What? Just me? Oh, okay. Cool.

At any rate, this strategy and reward system also works well in other fields and comes in handy when I have 185 projects to grade. 

2. Focus your time on what matters

First thing I did that seemed to add hours to my day was to delete social media apps from my phone. I know a lot of people who will keep scrolling until hours go by and they have no idea what happened. I also use the TV as a reward and only watch it when I’ve checked off some daily goals. Now that we have some of the big distractions out of the way let’s talk about time. 

Minutes are funny little things, and they seem to stretch or shrink. If you think you don’t have time to write, let me remind you how much work you could finish as a student when you had forgotten to do your homework and realized you had ten minutes before the bell rang. Plenty of time, right?

If you only have ten minutes in the morning, or if the baby only sleeps in twenty-minute chunks, use that time! We have to take what we’re given. People with less time often seem more productive because they are used to maximizing every minute since that’s all they have. Time is like any resource. If we have too much, we tend to waste it, but if we only have a little bit, we protect it and use it wisely. 

On a related note, practice saying no. I'm still learning how to do this myself, but I've gotten better about making sure I have time to think through a commitment before I agree to it. I'm not interested in inviting more stress into my life. I can't afford to, and while I'd love to do everything for everyone, I have to choose how to spend my time. 

3. Organize yourself

Many posts like this focus on theories like my first two points and can fail to offer concrete, real-world advice, so I’m going to rattle off some real talk. 

• Have a dedicated space for important things like your to-do list, bills, and other critical items. I like next to the coffee pot. My best friend has a whiteboard and at the end of each week writes what the plan is for the next week. She also is a big fan of color coding events.
• Utilize iCal or Google Calendar and link these across family members or need to know people. It took time to train ourselves, but now that my husband and I have, things run so much smoother. We’ve also decided to print out the calendar and put a copy by the coffee pot. As we both say to each other, “If it’s not on the calendar, it’s not happening.” 
• Budget family and personal time like work time. If you want to take the kids to a library event or go to a workout class, put it on the calendar and mark that time just like you would a business meeting or conference call. Doing this will give a clear picture of how much free time actually remains, and you’ll be able to better plan for activities like writing. By the way, put that on the calendar too.
• Download Wunderlist. I love this app which allows you to create lists and link them across multiple accounts and devices. We have a list for groceries, home improvement stores, the big box stores, and more. Because of this app, we know precisely what we need at the store without each going and buying double. It just saves times. 

4. Helping the muse

So you’ve done all of the above, and you sit down to write and… nothing happens.  Here’s some real talk about helping that pesky muse cooperate because again, we don’t have time for games. 

• Have a routine. For years I listened to the same white noise with noise-canceling headphones whenever I sat down to write, and over time ended up training myself, so when I heard that sound my brain just clicked into gear. We’re all mammals at the end of the day, and we can be trained, as weird as it is to think about. 
• Write in full screen or composition mode. This will block out distractions. 
• Use word sprints like the ones listed here. This will help keep you accountable and also push you to challenge yourself against the clock. 
• Participate in a community like NaNoWriMo. I’ve talked extensively about the benefits of that here. 
• Brag on Twitter using the #amwriting or #ontheporch community to get feedback and support. 
• When your eyes start to cross, go do something with your hands during a break. Don’t get on social media, but instead go get the mail, sweep the kitchen, do some dishes, walk around the yard. Something with your hands that is screen free and doesn’t require a lot of mental thought will let the muse breath for a few minutes.
• My favorite suggestion is when you reach the end of a scene, start the next one and leave a sentence stem, such as “Austin turned to her and said . . .” It’ll be much easier to pick up where you left off if you already have that springboard in place. 

5. Go easy on yourself 

Bad days happen. Surprises pop up. It’s okay. If you don’t check off your goals today, pop them on tomorrow’s to-do list, but make sure you keep writing them down and keep trying to protect your limited time to make it happen. 

I would suggest that you know your annual rhythm and work with it. I am a teacher and a mom, therefore once the school year starts everything is all over the place, and suddenly I’m buying a turkey and pumpkin pie. I also struggle from January to March when there is less daylight, and it’s cold. I know these things, and I accept them. I still keep working towards my goals, but I adjust them for the season, and more importantly, I plan ahead for them. Because I struggle from September to March, April to August is go time. I treat the beginning of the school year as a deadline for the big stuff and create new SMART goals for the times when I’ll be busier or less productive. 

We all have busy lives, and the real secret is knowing what works for us and using that as our foundation on which to build a schedule for productivity. Let me know I missed a great strategy down below. I’m always interested in what works for other people. 

Full speed ahead!
Kathryn