How do you make time so you can achieve your goals?
You’re a high-achiever. When you’re given a work deadline, you get things done. You work hard, but you’re exhausted at the end of the day.
Work for you doesn’t end at 5pm. You’ve got client meetings or impending deadlines requiring overtime. You’ve got family depending on you to make dinner, deal with kids’ school work, or do laundry.
It’s exhausting and it leaves little time for YOU. And sometimes the thought of setting personal career goals – and getting yourself out of the work rut you’re in – is just too tiring to even contemplate.
I have been there. I decided to write She Engineers when I was working more than 40 hours a week in a project manager position, while I had three children at home, one of which wasn’t sleeping through the night all the time.
I know what it is to feel exhausted. I also know what is to feel the rush of energy you get – even when running on fumes - when you’re focused on working on YOUR goals, not just the ones that your employer assigns to you.
I thought I had no time to write a book on top of everything else. But it still got done.
The question is HOW? And the answer are 5 things that you can apply immediately to get more time in your day so that you can achieve your ambitious goals too.
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5 strategies to make the time you’ve got work for you
I learned so many things in the process, but one of the biggest things I learned was about productivity and how to make time to work on your biggest goals, even when you’ve got pressures at work and at home bearing down on you. Here are my five biggest takeaways you can implement immediately.
1. Think priority management, not time management.
I have always been really good at getting a whole host of to-do list items done. I am the oldest of eight children, and because of that , you could say that I’ve been working in a small team environment since I was young.
However, there are still only 24 hours in a day, and that didn’t change because I was writing a book, or one of my kids got sick at night. I’m also not the type of person that is fully functional on less than eight hours of sleep per night.
In you are an ambitious person, you will ALWAYS have more to do than you can reasonably get done in a workday. The sooner you accept this curse of the high-achiever, the better.
Once you’ve accepted that there will always be more work to be done, the next step is to make a game plan based on your priorities.
What are you going to say yes to? More importantly, what are you going to say no to so that you can be the person you want to be in the world?
Most technical women I’ve met are badass when it comes to getting things done. We have to be to be successful in our male dominated industries.
We’re really good at saying yes to everything. That’s a priority management problem, because when we say yes to everything, we are saying no to our own goals, because we’ll never get them done.
Saying yes to everyone else’s demands (especially without thinking about it) means we’re saying no to our own priorities.
Again, it is a FACT that there is always more work to be done. Ask yourself:
Am I focused on my most important work?
How can I either prioritize the rest or let it go?
How does this work practically? Schedule times to do that priority work at the time of day when you are most sharp and focused. For me, that tends to be first thing in the morning. I spend the first couple of minutes of each day thinking about my top priority and spend the next hour – without checking email or dealing with any other possible interruptions – working on it. If I have to get up early, so be it. I do it because I am clear on my priorities.
2. Delegate and say no more than you feel comfortable.
I’ve talked about my own challenges in delegating and saying no often, but it bears repeating because so many women struggle with this.
Women are more likely to be asked to do non-promotable tasks at work by both men and other women. In one study, women received 44% more tasks than men in mixed-gender groups to volunteer.
Women are also more likely to be doing a double shift at home also. According to LeanIn.Org and McKinsey’s 2020 survey, since the pandemic started, mothers in dual-career households are twice as likely as fathers to spend more than 5 hours a day on chores, childcare, and housework.
Women are being asked to do more, which is why it’s extremely important to get good at saying no, delegating, and setting firm boundaries.
Questions you can use to help know when to say no:
Is saying “yes” to this request and completing this task myself the highest and best use of my time?
Will I regret saying “yes” or “no” to this request a month from now?
Does this task need to be done at all, and if that is a “YES”, am I really the person best suited to complete it?
Who has made this request and what is their relationship to me in the hierarchy at work? Even if it’s a boss, if you’re overwhelmed, ask them if the new task that’s been dropped on your desk should take priority over the others you were working on.
Am I wasting time on non-promotable or low priority busy work that could be eliminated or delegated? (examples: At work, taking and sending out meeting minutes to my team; At home, physically going to the grocery store when I could just order those groceries online.)
I’ve written an entire previous blog on how to say no with grace and use the Eisenhower decision matrix to decide what to delegate or prioritize, which you can see HERE if you want more specific examples and guidance.
3. Get buy-in from those whose support you will need.
Your work and personal life aren’t occurring in a bubble. Talk to the people that care about you at home and/or those that support your work goals and make sure they are on board with your priorities.
When I started writing She Engineers, I had no “Free time” that wasn’t filled. That mean I had to be ruthless in applying the tips I shared in #1 and #2, but it also meant even with that, I still needed to find more time.
So, I talked to my family about it, explaining my decision to write the book, asking for support, and explaining what the benefits TO THEM would be when the project was done.
If your goal can be accomplished with your manager’s support at work, talk to them! Again, approach your request from the standpoint on what benefit your manager would see if they agreed. For example, if you want to attend a conference, explain the technical or professional training you’ll receive that would be beneficial, and offer to write up what you learned or give a presentation to your coworkers about it.
4. Schedule everything on your calendar.
Before I had children, I thought that if I couldn’t block out large chunks of time (4 hours at least) to get things done, there was no point in trying to make progress on a major task until that time was available
I’ve since learned that small blocks of time scheduled consistently make a big difference, for pretty much ANY goal in my life.
15 minutes a day of weightlifting makes a big difference in both my strength and my appearance.
15 minutes of time spent daily reconnecting with my network keeps me top of mind if a new opportunity comes up.
I wrote most of She Engineers in 30 minute to 2-hour time blocks.
I watched my youngest learn how to swim in swimming lessons (with no other practice) of just 30 minutes, once per week.
The value of consistency and focused time without interruptions is crucial here (which is why it always goes on my calendar). Once it’s blocked off to work on our high-priority tasks, consider that time as important as a career-critical meeting with your boss.
If you want to do a deeper dive into productivity and time-blocking, you can also see my interview and blog with productivity expert Matthey Gaddy HERE for more info.
5. Practice self-compassion
The biggest issue I have seen with myself and other high achievers is a tendency to beat yourself off when things go array and you don’t meet your goals as quickly as you were expecting. This is a really bad habit that can completely derail you and drain your self-esteem and confidence.
Instead, when something goes wrong – and notice I said when not if – practice self-compassion. It’s not a setback, it’s a learning experience, and there is always something you can do to move forward in a productive way.
Your career is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t deplete your confidence and limited energy by beating yourself up. Instead, refocus and pivot like the leader you are.
Start with just one of these strategies
To recap, here are the five things to do immediately if you’re struggling to make time for your goals:
I want to know from you, which of these tips are you going to implement today? What are you going to say no to? Who do you need to get buy-in from? Let me know in the comments!
