Welcome to July! The second half of 2021 is here. Most of us have spent the past 16 months in “survival mode.” This level of uncertainty has prevented us from planning for what we really want from our lives. Now that we feel safer and more certain about our future, it is a good time to identify what we want for the rest of 2021 and to take control of our lives.
I want to offer you some tools to identify and focus on what’s most important to you, and to implement time management strategies to ensure you accomplish your most important goals.
Start with a self-audit of how you currently spend your time. We all start each week with the same amount of time, 168 hours. Are you spending your time on the things that matter most to you? Once we are intentional about what we need in our lives, we can invest our limited time on what’s most important. In many cases we actually have more control over how we invest our time than we realize. This goal-setting packet has an exercise to help you see where you currently spend your time and to identify where you would like to spend your valuable time for the rest of 2021.
Create focus time for the important projects and goals in your life. Aim to block out two 30-minute chunks on your schedule each day so you can be proactive and invest in these important projects, not just react to the urgent ones. I have taught time management skills to over 7,000 attorneys and business professionals over the past 25 years. Here are two take-aways from the training attendees love:
- Do the worst things first!
- Use a Parking Lot to note tasks that need to get done later, but don’t stop to do them when focusing on the important things.
Make time for your well-being. As we emerge from the pandemic and begin to return to our offices, it is crucial that we continue to make self-care a top priority. This week, I presented a newly-created program to more than 50 attorneys at Kramer Levin entitled How to Make Time for Your Well-being. This actionable program offered both time management tools and well-being practices to help busy professionals find time for self-care so they can have the energy to contribute to their clients at the highest level. How can we show up for others—both professionally and personally—if we are depleted?
I am deeply hopeful that 2021 will turn out to be a great year for all of us! I hope you can take a few minutes to identify what’s most important to you. You will feel more in control of your life the clearer you are about what you need and can then choose to invest your limited time on creating the life you so deserve!