Laura Vanderkam, author of the book I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time revealed to the Business Insider portal, how to manage time like successful women. A very important skill for them to develop on a personal and professional level.
In her book, she describes how in a diary of 1,001 days, women earning at least $100,000 a year; They distribute their time between their work, family and friends. How do these women get it? Here we reveal how to manage time like successful women:
See also: 5 Latin women among the 100 most powerful in the world according to Forbes
How to manage time like successful women.
1. Do the most complicated tasks in the morning.
The quiet morning hours are ideal for staying focused and focused without distractions.
Vanderkan cites a study by Johnson & Johnson, which found that human energy levels peak around 8 in the morning.
Generally, this time of day is when you feel freshest and ready to face the most difficult tasks. On the contrary, in the afternoon hours, around 3pm, the energy levels of most people decrease.
Keep in mind the next time you want to solve a problem; it will be easier for you to solve it in the morning hours.
Related: Hard Work vs Smart Work
2. Work “discontinuous hours.”
Working 9 to 5 no longer works for everyone (see also: The 8 to 5 shift is a thing of the past). Vanderkam says that many successful women work odd hours. This means that they can work for a few hours during the day and then complete their duties or perform other tasks at night.
In this way they work the same number of hours, only that they do it in non-traditional hours.
Instead of working continuous hours, a woman can leave her workplace at a flexible time during the week, the time varies each day, it could be 4:30pm, or 6:30pm. The point is that she can leave the office at a reasonable hour to spend enough time with her family and/or friends, and then after the kids are in bed; continue her work.
3. Work remotely.
To understand how to manage time like successful women; This is very important.
It’s not just about working in the office or just at home. Within Vanderkam’s study, it was shown how some women work from home one or two days a week.
This not only gives them more time with their loved ones, personal time and even saves you commuting time to their places of work. It can also be very productive to get out of the office, which can sometimes be even more distracting (related: How to be productive working from home).
For the author of the study, Wednesdays are her favorite days to work from home, since it is the day the week is divided in two; which is why she doesn’t have to endure more than two straight days on the morning commute to work.
Related: How to travel the world is a productive way to create a company
4. Think of a 168-hour week, not a 24-hour day
“Avoid the 24-hour trap at all costs,” advises Vanderkam.
When we think about optimizing time, we constantly think about organizing our tasks in the 24 hours of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as if these were the only days that count.
On the contrary, if we look at the panorama from the 168 hours that there are in the whole week, we will realize that we have time to work 40 hours a week, sleep an average of 8 hours and a surplus of 72 hours to do other things.
Vanderkam found that this group of women choose to work late at the office a couple of nights; until 22:00 or even 23:30 at night. But they come home at 5pm on other days; which allows them to have family time and time for themselves.
If you want to learn how to manage time like successful women, you must watch 168 hours a week; and not 24 hours in 1 day.
5. Take “real” breaks
When you don’t schedule yourself to take “real” breaks, you’ll spend your time browsing Facebook; or even answering your emails.
“We may lose valuable downtime doing other tasks, and that’s a shame,” Vanderkam reveals.
Breaks are a great opportunity to recharge, as well as being important in creating a work culture.
A busy schedule prevents new opportunities.
Perhaps trying not to be “so busy” can be a difficult task. But sometimes it’s good to put your feet on the ground and evaluate the options.
This writer reveals that her method to maintain a daily balance is to keep a weekly calendar; which gives you a visual cue that a day is turning into a “busy day”.
When you realize that you are trying to write on the margins of it because you no longer have space, it is a signal that indicates that you should find a different day for said activity.
6. Plan your day in advance.
“Time management is like playing chess, experts think their moves in advance,” Vanderkam writes.
The most successful people spend 10-15 minutes thinking about the next day. Planning your routine allows you to prioritize and organize your tasks for the next day.
“Usually people don’t spend Monday the way they should, and this is partly because we don’t think about Monday until we’re actually in it. The best time to do this is Friday afternoon or Sunday night. A Friday afternoon may not be the most productive of the week, so try to make it more productive and take time to plan your upcoming week. Try Sunday night, when you already feel like you’re in work week mode”.
We hope that these tips to learn how to manage time like successful women will be of great help to you. successes!
And remember, if you are really interested in creating your own business, you can read our book “How to create a company while working: Discover how to manage your time, manage your money and motivate yourself while creating a company and working for another” , where you will find all the information you need to found your own company, without having to leave your job.
