Feeling Time-Poor? Make Every Minute Count by Budgeting Your Time Like Your Money.

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Episode Transcript

Stuart (00:00):
And welcome to Winning Without College.

(00:01):
The podcast that helps you develop themindset, habits, and skills you need
to get ahead in business and in life.
And if you enjoy these episodes andyou get value from them, if you could
just give me a huge favor and give usa review and hit that subscribe button,
that way you'll never miss an episode,and it'll really tell the algorithm
that you've enjoyed our content.
My name is Stuart Takehara, yourtransformational career coach dedicated

(00:23):
to helping you unstuck your life.
And today we're going to dive into atopic that affects every single one
of us and that's time management.
You see, we all have1,440 minutes per day.
Everyone from Bill Gatesto Mark Zuckerberg and the
President of the United States.
And us, me and you.

(00:45):
So why does it seem like some peoplecan get more done in a day than others?
Well today, we're going to exploreexactly how to budget your time, like you
budget your money because let's face it.
Time is our most valuable resource.
And once it's gone, wecan never make it back.
We can make more money.
We can never make more time.
So we need to find out howto make every minute count.

(01:08):
So first up, let's talk aboutunderstanding time as a resource,
just like money, our, time is finite.
We often hear about financial poverty, buthave you ever thought about time poverty?
That feeling when you'reconstantly rushing from one fire
to another and you never seemto have enough hours in the day?
It's a real thing and it issomething that we can manage.

(01:32):
Let me tell you a story.
I almost always had a side hustlewhen I worked a full-time job.
Whether it was a full-time sidehustle part-time I always had a side
hustle when I worked a full-time job.
And
there were times when I was sooverwhelmed, I had just juggled so many
multiple projects and I just didn'tfeel like there was enough time in the
day it's sometimes it just seemed likeeverything went wrong, all at once and

(01:54):
everything needed my immediate attention.
And I realized that time was just slippingthrough the cracks because just like
money, if you're not careful, it will.
It just like, kind of goes away andyou look up one day and you go like,
oh my gosh, where'd my time go?
Or you go back and you go, ohmy gosh, where'd my money go?
See.
I experienced that many, manytimes until I said, wait a minute.

(02:16):
I have to do something about this.
I have to take control of my time.
See, we all have habitsthat waste their time.
And sometimes a lot of timeswe're not even aware of it.
Maybe it's scrolling throughsocial media or binge watching
TV shows or just poor planning.
We've all been there.
But the key to identifyingthese time wasting habits,

(02:36):
these money wasting habits.
And start making changes.
We need to think about our daily routine.
How much time do you spend on activitiesthat don't add value to your life,
or don't add value to your work?
Things you do every daythat are just placeholders.
Let me give you an example.
Maybe it's like 1:40 in the afternoonand you know, you have a call at 2:00 PM.

(02:59):
You have 20 minutes?
What do you do for these 20 minutes?
You maybe make a snack, grab somethingto eat, scroll through social
media, turn on the TV for a bit.
If you were to track your time, likeyou track your expenses, you might
be surprised at how much of it isspent on non-productive activities.
And you know how I know.
Because I did it.

(03:19):
I tracked every minuteof my day for a week.
And I found I was spending an averageof two hours per day on social media.
And that's not social media for working.
That's not posting, that's notresearching, that's not participating
in industry discussions or networking ordoing any of the stuff that's productive.
It was, just, you know,scrolling for scrolling sakes.
It was 15 minutes here and 10 minutesthere and 20 minutes before my next

(03:42):
call, small bits and pieces of time thatadd up big to add up a lot, two hours!
120 minutes that could have beenused for something more productive
that time could have been gone totackling my mile long to-do list.
But I, I didn't.
I just got caught in atrap, but just scrolling.
I didn't realize how muchof my time I had wasted.

(04:06):
I remember one day therewas this I was, I was tired.
I was like, I just need to take a coupleof minutes to kind of clear my head.
I remember opening up an app.
I don't remember which one it was.
I just started scrolling.
And then I looked up and I realizedthat it was dark outside and I had
no idea how long I had been scrollingand for what, I don't remember any of
the things that I remember watching.

(04:26):
I don't have to rememberany of that kind of stuff.
I just remember, like I was scrollingand then my battery light came on
and then I looked up and it was dark.
And I was like, oh my gosh,I think I have a problem.
So I had to cut back on my social media.
And when I did, I was able to freeup 10 hours a week, immediately
found, found time, found money.

(04:46):
It's kind of like when you gointo the wash and you find a $20
bill pumped up all up in yourJean pocket that you forgot about.
That's what it's like.
It's like finding free money.
It's finding free time.
It was great because I found myselfrecovering what I thought I had lost.
Now, let's put this into theframework of time budgeting.

(05:07):
See it all starts withsetting your priorities.
Think of budgeting your time,like you budget your money.
You would, you prioritize essentialexpenses like rent and groceries
and bills over non essential itemslike entertainment and shopping
and stuff like that, right?
So you should do the same with your time.
Identify your time between your urgentand important tasks versus filling

(05:30):
your time with just stuff to do.
It's a game changer.
And as I was looking and researching this,this episode and trying to figure out
ways that I can be able to demonstratethis, I came across this thing.
It's called the Eisenhower matrix.
The Eisenhower matrix is a powerful toolfor setting priorities and it divides
tasks into four different categories.
Number one.

(05:51):
Is urgent and important.
Number two is important, but not urgent.
Number three is urgent, but not important.
And number four.
Is neither urgent nor important.
Let me go through those one more time,because there's this two key words.
Urgent
important

(06:12):
okay.
Urgent and important.
You got both urgent and important.
Number two.
Important, but not urgent,not time sensitive.
Number three.
Urgent, but not important.
And number four, neitherurgent nor important.
You see, by focusing on the importanttasks, you can assure that you're spending

(06:35):
your time on what truly matters, becauseit doesn't matter if something's urgent.
If it's not important, it's justnot taking up, it's not worthy.
It's not worthy of your time . It'snot spending your time the way that
you should be doing it, you needto focus on your important tasks
because that's what truly matters.
Creating a daily schedule iscritical and sticking to it.

(06:55):
And this is where time-blocking comes in.
And I've been doing this for a long time,and I think it's the most effective way
that I've been able to manage my time.
And if you're not familiar withtime-blocking it's oh, excuse me.
It's when you assign a specifictime, for specific tasks.
Just like you allocate your moneyfor different expenses to bring
structure and clarity to your day.

(07:16):
So, for example, I block out my morningsfor creative work when my energy is at
its highest and afternoon for meetingsand administrative tasks, which means
I don't take meetings in the mornings.
I don't do , you know, just mundane.
Urgent, but not important tasks in themorning, cause my important tasks are
creating content, creating development,working with you guys on creating lesson

(07:37):
plans and all that that's what's importantis helping you can to better understand
your life so that you can get ahead.
That's what's important to me.
That's what's important in my life.
So that's what I'm going to focus on.
First thing ran out in the morning and Idon't let any other distractions happen.
This.
This is what I'm waking up.
I just, this is my routine when I wake up,
I put on coffee and I getstraight into my creative work

(07:57):
and I'll start writing, editing.
I'll start researching just me alone.
It's my time.
No calls, no emails, no social media,just pure production and concentration.
All the important tasks right now,I'm recording this it's morning.
Then after lunch.
I'll become social.
That's where I'll do my coaching calls.
I'll do my meetings.
I'll do my emails, anythingoutside of that creative space.

(08:20):
That's when I'll look at trying toresearch things, when I have more of
an opportunity to kind of get onlineand let those kinds of distractions.
Uh, get in, but when I'm focusing onpure content, it's in the mornings.
Now I even go a step further and I'vebeen doing this for the last couple
of months and it's worked out okay.
Still needs some tweaking.
But on average, one week amonth, all block off the entire

(08:42):
week, just for creative tasks.
Now, as you know, I travel full time,so I'll go somewhere off grid and
I'm going to get away from the bigcities I'm going to get away from.
I'm going to go somewhere,basically boring.
I'm going to go somewhere thatthere's not a lot of stuff
going on to distract me from.
From visiting and sight, seeing andvacationing and stuff like that.
So, I'll go away and get off grid.

(09:05):
And I'll just focus that week onproduction, recording, recording
the videos, recording thepodcast, working on the shorts.
We're good on getting new content.
That's what I'm doing right now, because Iknow for this week, I won't allow for any
distractions other than my coaching calls.
That's what important.
But I'm not sightseeing and not lettingall these other, uh, tasks get in the
way of what I need to do this week.

(09:27):
And by structuring your time thisway, and structuring my time this
way, I get maximum productivity.
So that way I know when I'mdoing my other stuff, I can be
fully present in my other stuff.
See how that works.
So I'm, I'm my I'm usingmy time very intentionally.
I'm not just runningaround, putting out fires.
So you putting out fires isurgent, but it's not important.
Because if you were organizing yourtime better at the beginning, you

(09:52):
wouldn't have fires to put out.
So thinking of your schedule, likea financial budget, just as you
would not spend all your moneyon the non-essentials, right?
You should spend, you shouldn'tspend all your time on tasks that
don't move you toward your goalsand by budgeting your time, you can
assure that you're using it wisely.
So let's dive into some practicaltips again and strategies for
effective time management.

(10:13):
First of all.
Do what I did.
Do a time audit.
That's what you tracked your time.
That's where you track whereyour time goes each day.
See, there are plenty of apps out therefor this, or you can do it just simply
with the journal site, tracking yourexpenses, to see where your money goes.
When you track your time, you canidentify the patterns and areas you're
wasting your time in, and again, youwon't really know where you're spending

(10:35):
your time until you do this time audit.
Just like you never really knowwhere you're spending your money
until don't look at your budget untilyou look at your bank statement.
So get your credit cardstatement and write it all down.
And you're going to realize, oh my gosh.
I had no idea.
I was spending so much time going out.
I had no idea how much I spent so muchtime eating or partying or doing whatever.

(10:55):
You know, you need to look atit from, from that perspective.
You have to do a time audit.
You can't make assumptions.
You have to look at your real days.
Every week and, and kindof an analyzed from there.
You're going to find that you're spendingtoo much time on low priority tasks.
You're going to be getting distractedby non-work-related activities.
By understanding where your timeis going, you can make changes

(11:18):
to use it more effectively.
Eliminating distractions is key.
Identify what pulls you away fromproductive work, and find ways
to minimize those distractions.
Another technique you can use iswhat's called the Pomodoro technique
and this can help you stay focusedand productive, it's like cutting
unnecessary expenses to save money.

(11:38):
For instance, I noticed thatconstant email notifications
were disrupting my workflow.
You know, I'm on my computer.
I'm doing researching andthings are popping up here and
things are popping up there.
My phone's vibrating, all of thesekinds of things that are going on that's
taken me out of my production mode.
So I turned them off.
Just boom.
When I'm in production mode in themornings, I was telling you about,
I turn on my do not disturb on.

(12:00):
So I use the iPhone.
Everything's connected to the cloud.
You know, if you can go in there andyou click do not disturb on your phone.
And you can sync it toall of your devices.
So it'll silence notificationson your Mac book.
And it'll silencenotifications on your iPad.
Everything is new.
So one device will silence all yourdevices and that's what it did.
It removes all my notifications, allmy icons, all my badges, popups phone

(12:21):
calls, text messages, everything.
It allows me to stay focused with thattask at hand, without any distractions.
And now the other thing thatwas a big thing was emails.
Emails were just coming in left and right.
And things were alwayspopping up and notifications.
And so I turned those off as well.
I only look at my emailsmaybe a few times a day now.

(12:42):
You know, one of them is right aftermy, my high stress, creative thing,
one time at the end of the day,maybe sporadically, if I know I'm
expecting something, I'll, I'll tryand get it to it a little bit sooner.
But those distractions are crazy.
The other thing I did is I went on thismassive crusade to unsubscribe from every
unnecessary email I've ever received.

(13:02):
I went from getting probablyabout 200 emails in the morning
when I woke up to now about four.
I unsubscribed from a wholeton of crap that I never read.
And that also was another way.
I was able to free up a lot of my time.
So by minimizing distractions, youcan stay focused on your tasks and
you can get more done, in less time.

(13:24):
And by maximizing your productivityby setting clear goals to do less and
taking regular breaks and avoidingburnout, this is, these are the
things that you can do right now.
That's investing in yourself,investing in your time and getting
those returns that you need.
And the other thing I do, and Itouched on this a bit ago, to-do list.
It helps me stay organized and it ensuresthat you're making progress on the task.

(13:46):
So when I do my to-do list, I putmy to-do list in my time blocking.
So when I know I've got four hoursset aside for creative work, I'll put
here's everything I'm going to do inthose four hours, and I do take breaks.
You need to just kind of step away, butwhen I'm taking my break and this is
part of the Pomodoro technique, whenI take my breaks, they're short just
enough to clear my head and just maybe goaround, walk, take a walk around the you

(14:09):
know, bike path or something like that.
Just three, five minutes, somethingshort stretch, kind of just refocus.
I'm not picking up my phone.
I'm not checking emails.
I'm not turning on the TV.
I'm not doing any of that.
It's a break, just to kind of clearyour head stretch, get up, move around
a little bit and then sit back down.
And, and get back into theproductivity that I need to get done.

(14:29):
And I'm not the only onethat uses these techniques.
So Elon Musk uses time blockingto manage his schedule.
He allocated specific times for each taskand it helps us stay focused and ensure
he's working on the right priorities.
Cause he's got a lot on his plate.
Another great example is Oprah.
You know, she's known for her disciplinedapproach to time management and she
starts her day with meditation andexercise followed by focus, work on her

(14:52):
priorities by setting up structured,scheduled, and sticking to it.
She's able to accomplish a lot in her day.
And by following examples like these.
Thought leaders, these entrepreneurs,these visionaries, you too can achieve
the same amount of productivity thatthey do in their day it's not hard.
It just has to be intentional.

(15:14):
Now I want to hear from you.
Share your stories of timemanagement, successes and challenges.
Successes.
Is that a word?
Sure.
I want to hear what you do.
What are some tips thatyou've learned to pick up?
Uh, A couple of minutes here,a couple of minutes there.
How do you manage your time?
Because share it on here on social mediaor send me an email and let's learn
and grow together, whether it's a tipthat's worked for you or a challenge

(15:36):
that you're facing or experiences or,or whatever it is that you want to
share, please contact me because I'mgoing to be putting this up and I'd love
to be able to let other people know.
There's a lot of different waysthat we can all work together
to really use our time wisely.
So to wrap up here, The key points.
Value your time.
Set priorities, create aschedule and track your time.

(15:59):
Eliminate distractionsand maximize productivity.
Start budgeting your time today andsee all the difference that it makes.
And remember, time isyour most valuable asset.
By budgeting it wisely, youcan achieve your goals and
live a more fulfilling life.
It's not about working harder.
It's about working smarter.

(16:19):
So use your time intentionally,and to make every minute count.
Well, that's what I gotfor you for this episode.
If you got something, out of it,please remember to hit that subscribe
and like button and give us a reviewuntil next time, remember your
success doesn't come with a syllabus,forge your own path, break the mold
and keep winning without college.
We'll see you in the next episode.