February 6, 2024 • 14 mins
Ever feel like you're spinning your wheels, working hard but not getting anywhere? Let me, Tonya D. Harrison, guide you to reclaim your time and elevate your productivity to new heights in the latest episode of Operational Toolbox. We're diving deep into the art of self-management, shedding light on and identifying your time wasters.
Lean in as we explore three key ingredients to mastering self-management and how to get more of the right tasks done and push towards your goals.
Implementing systems within your business will put you on the path to achieving operational excellence. Click below to learn more about the 7 foundational systems by downloading the Systems UNLocked Guide for Solopreneurs.
https://cignalpartners.com/systems-unlocked-guide/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tonya D. Harrison (00:00):
During our last episode, I shared five key
principles of operationalexcellence.
One of the key principlesmentioned was performance
management.
Now, under performancemanagement, there are three
sections that make up this keyprinciple.
One of them is self-management,the other is team management
(00:23):
and the last is businessmanagement.
Today, we're going to dive deepinto self-management, because
that's where it starts.
Once we get better at managingourselves, then it's easier for
us to manage others and tomanage our business.
Welcome everyone to anotherepisode of the operational
(00:47):
toolbox.
I'm your Tonya, D.
Harrison, and it is time togive you more tools to make your
business more productive andprofitable.
Now, when it comes toperformance management, you may
be wondering where do I begin?
Well, like I said earlier, thejourney starts with
self-management.
(01:08):
After all, how can you lead ateam or guide a business without
mastering the art of managingself?
Our first step in theself-management journey is
awareness.
We need to be more aware ofwhat it is that we're doing on a
regular basis, and what betterway to gain insight into your
(01:32):
daily routine than to do a timeaudit?
Now, this is one of the firstthings I have my clients do when
we start working together,because it's simple but yet is
so powerful.
It involves you tracking yourday every minute.
(01:54):
What are you doing throughoutthe day?
And you wanna do it for a week,if at all possible.
What you're going to identifyis is that there are probably
going to be pockets of time thatyou are spending on tasks that
are not driving you towards yourgoals, or you're gonna find
(02:17):
that there are times of the daythat you are more productive,
and this is where you want topack some of those high impact
tasks.
This time, audit is going tounveil the answer to so many
different things, and I know itmay sound a bit tedious, but,
trust me, the results are goingto be eye opening.
(02:40):
You are going to find someshockers.
That's just it In our minds.
We may think, oh, I only spend10 minutes on social media.
When you start tracking yourtime, you may find that you
spend an hour and a half onsocial media.
Now, just the mere fact of youtelling yourself that you're
(03:00):
going to do the audit orpreparing to do the audit when
you actually start performingthe audit, you are going to
perform better than you werealready performing, because now
you already have an awarenesslike I'm tracking myself.
This is why you want to do itfor a week, because then we fall
back into those habits prettyeasily.
(03:22):
So we want to be able to trackwhat those things are and if
there is room to makeadjustments when you get ready
to perform this time audit.
I don't want you to make it thisconvoluted process right.
If you are the person thatgravitates towards pen and paper
(03:43):
, then that's what we want youto use to perform the audit.
If you are like me and you usea project management app, then
you can go in and you can trackyour tasks in the app.
The main thing is to havedocumented what it is that
you're working on and how longit is taking you to perform all
(04:04):
of these things that you dothroughout the day.
I use ClickUp, so ClickUp hasin there where, when I go into
the task, I can click start andit automatically starts tracking
my time.
When I complete that task, Ican hit stop and now I know how
long it took me to perform thattask.
If you're not a pen and paper,you don't have a project
(04:27):
management software.
They have other platforms orsoftware that you could use.
I used to use something calledrescue time, where you could use
that to track your time as well.
So I want you to do whatever iscomfortable for you.
The goal is to perform the taskas best as possible and to bring
about an awareness that isgoing to help you get more of
(04:52):
the right things done.
So that's the first thing.
The first thing is awareness.
We want to know where our timeis going, and that is the
beginning, point blank, that'sit.
The next step now we have anawareness, I know where I'm
spending my time.
I know where those time eatingmonsters lie, so I can start to
(05:17):
do something about it.
I'm going to create a to-dolist, and when I create my to-do
list, I want you to think of itnot just as this long list of
things that you have to do,because some of us have to-do
lists that are longer than ourarms.
So I want you to really focuson thinking about it more as a
(05:39):
strategic roadmap.
When you are putting tasks onyour list, I want you to really
think about each task.
Are these tasks aligned withyour goals?
Think about that.
Are they going to have thegreatest impact?
(05:59):
You want to make sure that weare working smarter and not just
harder, because now that wehave like, okay, I'm more
productive in the morning.
I'm doing some things like thatare time-wasting, so I'm taking
those off the list.
But even the things that youput on there, I want you to
(06:20):
question every single task andnot just put it on there,
because this is something thatyou've always done.
So I want you to consider thiswhen you are putting a task on
there.
If you have a team, is thissomething that someone on your
team can handle?
Because if that is the case,you want to delegate it after
you determine that it actuallyneeds to be done and it aligns
(06:43):
with where it is that you aregoing.
So if you have a team, you wantto get really great at
delegating.
This is powerful.
This is a powerful tool for aleader, and we'll dive into
delegation on another episode.
But I want you to think aboutdoes this task require my
(07:04):
skillset or me personally to doit?
And if the answer is no and Ihave a team, then I want to
delegate it.
So now, this is going tolighten your load and is going
to empower your team members sothat they start to develop and
excel within their roles.
If you don't have a team, I wantyou to consider this Is this a
(07:28):
project that I could delegate tosomeone else, or are there
portions of it that I coulddelegate?
Before I had my executiveassistant, I would hire a
project on a project-based level, so I would pile up a couple of
tasks and then hire somebodyyou know, you know by five hours
(07:51):
of time and hire somebody toperform these tasks.
So is it something that I cando in that manner?
So you have to think about allof these different ways that you
can free up your time so thatyou're focusing on the things
that you need to be focusing on.
Maybe it's not a project, maybeit is.
(08:14):
You don't have a team.
Think about this Is itsomething that can be automated?
In today's fast paced world, wehave tools and technology at
our fingertips to help usstreamline or automate processes
.
So think about is it somethingthat I can automate where it's
(08:35):
not going to take me as long?
So yes, I have to do it.
So maybe the answer is yes, Ihave to do it.
I do not have a team to do it.
It's not a project, or I don'thave money for a project.
Can it be automated?
And if the answer is yes, thenyou want to go ahead and do that
Once I have all of the tasksthat I need to get done right.
(08:57):
So this is this is truly my todo list.
Can't be delegated, can beautomated.
Whatever the case may be, thisis my to do list.
One of the things that I find tobe extremely effective is when
I batch like tasks together.
This helps me not only savetime, but it helps me to save
energy If I am safe.
(09:18):
For instance, I am working onsocial media content and I have
to go into Canva to do somegraphics or update some graphics
.
I try to do all of my stuff atone time, in one sitting.
So go in and update all of mygraphics and set up everything
for social media in my scheduler, so it just goes out when it
(09:41):
needs to go out.
I batch all of those taskstogether.
Or maybe I want to do marketingemails.
I'll sit down and then I'lljust write as many marketing
emails as I can, you know.
So batching those taskstogether are really helpful and,
like I said, it's going to saveyou energy.
So you're not flipping back andforth doing things, and be sure
(10:02):
to schedule these blocks of timeon your calendar.
I may do content maybe for twohours, so from nine to 11, maybe
I have a content block.
That that's all I'm doing forthose two hours.
Make sure to put it on yourcalendar as an appointment.
(10:22):
This is something that has toget done and for me, I like to
work in 90 minutes to 120 minuteblocks.
So an hour and a half or two totwo hours.
That is the max, and then afterthat I give myself a break and
then I'll go back into anotherrotation.
Find what works for youPomodora does 20 minutes and
(10:43):
then take a break.
I like to work in more focusblocks because it takes me about
20 minutes to really get up andgoing.
So do what works for you again.
But those are just someadditional tips to help you.
Now that you have your to-dolist, your real to-do list, the
one that you truly need to beworking on how do you get
(11:03):
through it as efficiently aspossible?
The last thing you want to dois, once you do your time audit,
you bring this awareness andyou find out what's really going
on, and then you create thatreal to-do list.
The next thing you want to dois measure your results.
You want to know am I doingbetter?
(11:24):
A lot of times we find that Ifound that I was able to save
time.
How many hours a week am I ableto save time?
Maybe I'm able to not just getmore done, but cut back on the
number of hours that I'm working.
This is the ultimate goal for alot of solopreneurs.
They end up working 50, 60hours a week, not spending as
(11:48):
much time with their family asthey would like to.
Well, implementing some ofthese measures is going to help
you get more done and also beable to step away where you're
not working as many hours.
So you want to make sure thatyou are seeing tangible results.
Am I getting more done?
(12:08):
Am I saving time in specificareas?
What exactly is going on?
It's a crucial checkpoint in theself-management process,
because you want to make surethat you are progressing.
So perhaps you have identifiedareas for improvement, and
that's perfectly okay.
(12:29):
That's what you want to do.
So self-management is anongoing journey.
It's not a destination.
You are going to consistentlymake iterations and adapt new
processes or techniques, measureagain.
This is a part of operationalexcellence, because that's
exactly what operationalexcellence is.
(12:51):
It's continuously improving.
Those are the three things thatfall under self-management.
The first one is awareness, andthat's where you're going to do
your time audit.
The second one is your to-dolist, where you're going to
master and manage your to-dolist, and then the third one is
(13:11):
measuring results making surethat you are seeing some
tangible results from this, andthen that is it.
So that's a wrap for today'sepisode on the power of time
management.
I want you to remember thatoperational excellence begins
with mastering yourself, andonce we go and we master
(13:32):
ourselves, then we are able tomaster all of the other things
in our business that we need tomaster.
So stay tuned for our nextepisode.
This is Tonya D.
Harrison signing off from theoperational toolbox.
Thanks for joining me andremember that if you like this,
to go ahead and give us afive-star and leave us a review,
(13:54):
and if you have ideas on thetype of content that you want to
hear about, be sure to shoot ussome information and let us
know.
All right, I'll talk to yousoon and in the interim, you
keep optimizing and stayoperational.
Talk to you soon.
During our last episode, I shared five key
principles of operationalexcellence.
One of the key principlesmentioned was performance
management.
Now, under performancemanagement, there are three
sections that make up this keyprinciple.
One of them is self-management,the other is team management
(00:23):
and the last is businessmanagement.
Today, we're going to dive deepinto self-management, because
that's where it starts.
Once we get better at managingourselves, then it's easier for
us to manage others and tomanage our business.
Welcome everyone to anotherepisode of the operational
(00:47):
toolbox.
I'm your Tonya, D.
Harrison, and it is time togive you more tools to make your
business more productive andprofitable.
Now, when it comes toperformance management, you may
be wondering where do I begin?
Well, like I said earlier, thejourney starts with
self-management.
(01:08):
After all, how can you lead ateam or guide a business without
mastering the art of managingself?
Our first step in theself-management journey is
awareness.
We need to be more aware ofwhat it is that we're doing on a
regular basis, and what betterway to gain insight into your
(01:32):
daily routine than to do a timeaudit?
Now, this is one of the firstthings I have my clients do when
we start working together,because it's simple but yet is
so powerful.
It involves you tracking yourday every minute.
(01:54):
What are you doing throughoutthe day?
And you wanna do it for a week,if at all possible.
What you're going to identifyis is that there are probably
going to be pockets of time thatyou are spending on tasks that
are not driving you towards yourgoals, or you're gonna find
(02:17):
that there are times of the daythat you are more productive,
and this is where you want topack some of those high impact
tasks.
This time, audit is going tounveil the answer to so many
different things, and I know itmay sound a bit tedious, but,
trust me, the results are goingto be eye opening.
(02:40):
You are going to find someshockers.
That's just it In our minds.
We may think, oh, I only spend10 minutes on social media.
When you start tracking yourtime, you may find that you
spend an hour and a half onsocial media.
Now, just the mere fact of youtelling yourself that you're
(03:00):
going to do the audit orpreparing to do the audit when
you actually start performingthe audit, you are going to
perform better than you werealready performing, because now
you already have an awarenesslike I'm tracking myself.
This is why you want to do itfor a week, because then we fall
back into those habits prettyeasily.
(03:22):
So we want to be able to trackwhat those things are and if
there is room to makeadjustments when you get ready
to perform this time audit.
I don't want you to make it thisconvoluted process right.
If you are the person thatgravitates towards pen and paper
(03:43):
, then that's what we want youto use to perform the audit.
If you are like me and you usea project management app, then
you can go in and you can trackyour tasks in the app.
The main thing is to havedocumented what it is that
you're working on and how longit is taking you to perform all
(04:04):
of these things that you dothroughout the day.
I use ClickUp, so ClickUp hasin there where, when I go into
the task, I can click start andit automatically starts tracking
my time.
When I complete that task, Ican hit stop and now I know how
long it took me to perform thattask.
If you're not a pen and paper,you don't have a project
(04:27):
management software.
They have other platforms orsoftware that you could use.
I used to use something calledrescue time, where you could use
that to track your time as well.
So I want you to do whatever iscomfortable for you.
The goal is to perform the taskas best as possible and to bring
about an awareness that isgoing to help you get more of
(04:52):
the right things done.
So that's the first thing.
The first thing is awareness.
We want to know where our timeis going, and that is the
beginning, point blank, that'sit.
The next step now we have anawareness, I know where I'm
spending my time.
I know where those time eatingmonsters lie, so I can start to
(05:17):
do something about it.
I'm going to create a to-dolist, and when I create my to-do
list, I want you to think of itnot just as this long list of
things that you have to do,because some of us have to-do
lists that are longer than ourarms.
So I want you to really focuson thinking about it more as a
(05:39):
strategic roadmap.
When you are putting tasks onyour list, I want you to really
think about each task.
Are these tasks aligned withyour goals?
Think about that.
Are they going to have thegreatest impact?
(05:59):
You want to make sure that weare working smarter and not just
harder, because now that wehave like, okay, I'm more
productive in the morning.
I'm doing some things like thatare time-wasting, so I'm taking
those off the list.
But even the things that youput on there, I want you to
(06:20):
question every single task andnot just put it on there,
because this is something thatyou've always done.
So I want you to consider thiswhen you are putting a task on
there.
If you have a team, is thissomething that someone on your
team can handle?
Because if that is the case,you want to delegate it after
you determine that it actuallyneeds to be done and it aligns
(06:43):
with where it is that you aregoing.
So if you have a team, you wantto get really great at
delegating.
This is powerful.
This is a powerful tool for aleader, and we'll dive into
delegation on another episode.
But I want you to think aboutdoes this task require my
(07:04):
skillset or me personally to doit?
And if the answer is no and Ihave a team, then I want to
delegate it.
So now, this is going tolighten your load and is going
to empower your team members sothat they start to develop and
excel within their roles.
If you don't have a team, I wantyou to consider this Is this a
(07:28):
project that I could delegate tosomeone else, or are there
portions of it that I coulddelegate?
Before I had my executiveassistant, I would hire a
project on a project-based level, so I would pile up a couple of
tasks and then hire somebodyyou know, you know by five hours
(07:51):
of time and hire somebody toperform these tasks.
So is it something that I cando in that manner?
So you have to think about allof these different ways that you
can free up your time so thatyou're focusing on the things
that you need to be focusing on.
Maybe it's not a project, maybeit is.
(08:14):
You don't have a team.
Think about this Is itsomething that can be automated?
In today's fast paced world, wehave tools and technology at
our fingertips to help usstreamline or automate processes
.
So think about is it somethingthat I can automate where it's
(08:35):
not going to take me as long?
So yes, I have to do it.
So maybe the answer is yes, Ihave to do it.
I do not have a team to do it.
It's not a project, or I don'thave money for a project.
Can it be automated?
And if the answer is yes, thenyou want to go ahead and do that
Once I have all of the tasksthat I need to get done right.
(08:57):
So this is this is truly my todo list.
Can't be delegated, can beautomated.
Whatever the case may be, thisis my to do list.
One of the things that I find tobe extremely effective is when
I batch like tasks together.
This helps me not only savetime, but it helps me to save
energy If I am safe.
(09:18):
For instance, I am working onsocial media content and I have
to go into Canva to do somegraphics or update some graphics
.
I try to do all of my stuff atone time, in one sitting.
So go in and update all of mygraphics and set up everything
for social media in my scheduler, so it just goes out when it
(09:41):
needs to go out.
I batch all of those taskstogether.
Or maybe I want to do marketingemails.
I'll sit down and then I'lljust write as many marketing
emails as I can, you know.
So batching those taskstogether are really helpful and,
like I said, it's going to saveyou energy.
So you're not flipping back andforth doing things, and be sure
(10:02):
to schedule these blocks of timeon your calendar.
I may do content maybe for twohours, so from nine to 11, maybe
I have a content block.
That that's all I'm doing forthose two hours.
Make sure to put it on yourcalendar as an appointment.
(10:22):
This is something that has toget done and for me, I like to
work in 90 minutes to 120 minuteblocks.
So an hour and a half or two totwo hours.
That is the max, and then afterthat I give myself a break and
then I'll go back into anotherrotation.
Find what works for youPomodora does 20 minutes and
(10:43):
then take a break.
I like to work in more focusblocks because it takes me about
20 minutes to really get up andgoing.
So do what works for you again.
But those are just someadditional tips to help you.
Now that you have your to-dolist, your real to-do list, the
one that you truly need to beworking on how do you get
(11:03):
through it as efficiently aspossible?
The last thing you want to dois, once you do your time audit,
you bring this awareness andyou find out what's really going
on, and then you create thatreal to-do list.
The next thing you want to dois measure your results.
You want to know am I doingbetter?
(11:24):
A lot of times we find that Ifound that I was able to save
time.
How many hours a week am I ableto save time?
Maybe I'm able to not just getmore done, but cut back on the
number of hours that I'm working.
This is the ultimate goal for alot of solopreneurs.
They end up working 50, 60hours a week, not spending as
(11:48):
much time with their family asthey would like to.
Well, implementing some ofthese measures is going to help
you get more done and also beable to step away where you're
not working as many hours.
So you want to make sure thatyou are seeing tangible results.
Am I getting more done?
(12:08):
Am I saving time in specificareas?
What exactly is going on?
It's a crucial checkpoint in theself-management process,
because you want to make surethat you are progressing.
So perhaps you have identifiedareas for improvement, and
that's perfectly okay.
(12:29):
That's what you want to do.
So self-management is anongoing journey.
It's not a destination.
You are going to consistentlymake iterations and adapt new
processes or techniques, measureagain.
This is a part of operationalexcellence, because that's
exactly what operationalexcellence is.
(12:51):
It's continuously improving.
Those are the three things thatfall under self-management.
The first one is awareness, andthat's where you're going to do
your time audit.
The second one is your to-dolist, where you're going to
master and manage your to-dolist, and then the third one is
(13:11):
measuring results making surethat you are seeing some
tangible results from this, andthen that is it.
So that's a wrap for today'sepisode on the power of time
management.
I want you to remember thatoperational excellence begins
with mastering yourself, andonce we go and we master
(13:32):
ourselves, then we are able tomaster all of the other things
in our business that we need tomaster.
So stay tuned for our nextepisode.
This is Tonya D.
Harrison signing off from theoperational toolbox.
Thanks for joining me andremember that if you like this,
to go ahead and give us afive-star and leave us a review,
(13:54):
and if you have ideas on thetype of content that you want to
hear about, be sure to shoot ussome information and let us
know.
All right, I'll talk to yousoon and in the interim, you
keep optimizing and stayoperational.
Talk to you soon.
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