Do you manage time or does it manage you?

It’s stressful, trying to manage time. It’s like trying to hold water in your hands. It seeps through the cracks, even when you’re trying hard to keep it in place. And if you’re like me, you feel, so often, like you’re failing not just others but yourself.

What if the answer was to stop trying to manage time? To give up the idea altogether?

I call this Time Design, rather than Time Management.

Rather than looking at each detail, and the to-do list (which prods and pokes at us with its urgency), we look at what is important. We reframe the urgency of tasks with what is truly important. We start there, and then fill in the details.

By starting from a different place, we integrate more self care, more long-term goals, more intentionality, and less trying to keep up with time. 

Time Design takes cues from Human Design, neuroscience, and educational psychology. 

What does Time Design mean? 

Take a moment and write a few of the things you value most. This is where Time Design begins. It means starting with your values and what is most important to you. It means carving out time for those values and priorities, finding and maintaining time regularly for those aspects of your life that you hold most dear. Are you clear on those things? Do you make time regularly for those aspects of your life? Are you moving with intentionality in that direction? 

Time Design means knowing how you work best.

Are you more focused in the morning? Or in the evening? Do you work well with people around you, or alone with headphones on? Knowing yourself and your own rhythm and flow is vital to finding focus and concentration. Pay attention to your own patterns.

Time Design also means respecting your breaks.

When you respect your break, you respect your work time as well. Relaxing and making sure you take breaks means you are more likely to dive in when harder tasks require energy. Create a ritual for when you take a break, like stretching, getting hydrated, getting fresh air, or connecting with someone you care about. You’ll feel more nourished when it’s time to get back to work.

Time Design means keeping an eye out for patterns of efficiency.

Do you work with others on similar tasks? Can you coordinate schedules with others so you can easily get information or feedback in a timely manner? 

It’s your time. Savor it.

Time Design means stop letting time hover over you. It puts you back in the drivers’ seat where you decide what matters, and how you want to spend your time.

Sign up for my newsletter for more details!