You don’t find time, you make time

If you really want to go places with your marketing and self-promotion, a crucial skill you need to master is time management. I will say I almost have a type of impostor syndrome as I write this. I have periods where I feel like my time management game is totally on point. And then I have days where I am surprised my business has been able to weather my ineptitude. That said, I have more good days than bad days.

I know everyone has their own tricks and hacks for using their time successfully. What I think sometimes gets lost is the need to set up a system for success. Recognizing your shortcomings and potential personality pitfalls is imperative to instituting any kind of time management. Think of it as keeping ice cream out of the freezer if you don’t want to be wrist deep in a half gallon of Mint Ting A Ling at 11:30pm. Not that I would know anything about that….

Here are some practical approaches I take to helping me accomplish my marketing and branding tasks:

•I know that it's a daily struggle for me to try to get to the most high-value tasks or even try to squeeze in these tasks around all of the other myriad bullshit that I have to do, period. You need to schedule in the time for these type of tasks because the time will never just appear. You need to treat your own marketing and branding work just like you treat a client’s time. That means scheduling blocks of time to work on these tasks.

•I do know that there are certain times of the day that I am much better at certain types of work. For instance, I personally find it easier to get in a creative flow state during the morning, while I tend to be a lot better at responding to emails later in the day. Something about having a limited amount of time makes my responses much quicker and more to the point. Take this week to track when you are most efficient at certain aspects of your job, and try to proactively scheduled that work at those times.

•Speaking of scheduling time, have you thought about using a timer or alarm to segment out certain portions of the day for work? There's something about having a timer running that tends to drive away the procrastination and pumps up your motivation so that you can meet your (self-imposed) deadline. 

“I personally find it easier to get in a creative flow state during the morning, while I tend to be a lot better at responding to emails later in the day. Something about having a limited amount of time makes my responses much quicker and more to the point.”

•Always pause before committing to anything. I know the temptation is there to just respond yes because you want to be a people pleaser and make everyone happy. What we tend to forget is the resentment and anxiety that ride along in the passenger seat of that muscle car of overcommitment. Try saying yes to less, and watch your success and satisfaction rate grow. This is particularly true when it comes to marketing initiatives-you can’t do all the things and have them all be unmitigated successes.

•Emails are literally the Bermuda Triangle of productivity. We all fly over that inbox with the best of intentions, but when you crash in those murky depths of responding, your marketing and branding might as well be listed as lost souls. One way to set yourself up for success is to delete any emails over a month old- the action items have long since gone cold. If you must, move the relevant messages to a back burner folder that you can address at a later time, but otherwise aren’t staring you in the face.

•Another technique is take a look at your calendar for the next two days and place your tasks at specific times. There's something about knowing in advance what you have coming up that helps set your brain up for success, and the visual reminder certainly helps. If you start each day with a blank slate, it's becomes difficult to accomplish anything because everything seems to be of equal priority. Not to mention, some reactive task or email will slide in front of you and hijack your day. I’ve found that free days tend to be anything but free.

•Speaking of checking ahead, why don’t you check the weather while you’re at it? Seriously-if there’s one heck of a gorgeous warm spring day in the forecast, don’t set yourself up for failure by scheduling that day to cull your asset library or write copy for your email marketing. Instead, put that on your agenda for a day where you won’t be distracted or tempted to break away. Also, the simple act of scheduling your work to be done before you can embark on your nice day adventure is an excellent form of motivation.