Make 2023 the year of valuing your time
Looking for some inspiration for your bold year ahead?
Scopey has you covered – we think 2023 should be the year you take your time back!
To give you a kick-start we’ve shared a few strategies you could try adding to your routine. Whether you’ve got goals to crush, or you want to spend more time with the people you care about, here’s how you could make more of your valuable time.
1. Set some personal & professional goals.
We know, it’s an obvious one. But gaining clarity over your priorities is an important part of taking back your time. What is truly important to you?
If you’re feeling bold, increase your chances of success by sharing your goals with a friend.
2. Identify key areas for improvement.
Change is hard, so invest your time in what will have the biggest impact.
The vortex of all the little things you need to do will never be satiated, so ruthlessly re-evaluate your priorities so you have time to tackle the Big Thing.
3. Organise your desk(top), organise your mind.
It’s impossible to spend your time wisely if you don’t know where you’re spending it. Can you think of any small habits where you spend more time than you intend – try establishing some more productive routines. A common example is open browser tabs… the ever-growing to-do list with no clear purpose. Save tabs you access frequently as bookmarks, or add the links to a task manager to gain greater visibility over what you’re working on.
It also saves time finding what you’re looking for… I swear it was the 4th tab from the right where I had that reference material 🤔
4. Clear direction ✅ Clear head ✅ Time to plan.
Work backward from project milestones or professional targets to break your months, weeks, and days down as much as needed. Give yourself a visible path to success.
Are you a planner or a pantser? If you’re a planner you probably do this anyway, if you’re a pantser give it a go! Ironically, you could give yourself more time to live your best spontaneous life.
5. Give yourself time to sit with tricky problems.
If you’re wrestling with a particularly challenging problem or decision, take some time away from it. Go for a walk or spend time with friends, clear your mind of the stress from fixating on the problem, and give yourself room to ideate without pressure.
Where do you have your best ideas? In nature? In the shower?
6. Get ‘stuff’ done 💪
Tackle your to-do list and turn off those distractions. Set times for checking email and silence notifications for Slack or other collaboration channels.
Be strong, even if you have the perfect Gif to respond to the latest all-staff message.
7. Stop doing work for free… or at least do it intentionally.
There’s give and take in every relationship, but try to ensure that all parties understand the value of what you’re giving. If a ‘small change’ is likely to take six hours – communicate it, and more importantly invoice it. If it’s important, your client should understand the additional investment. If it’s not important, why would you do it for free?
We understand the desire to just get something done, but if you keep doing it at your own expense you could end up burnt out. Fear not, Scopey can help you with this challenge – register on scopey.co for early access.
8. You know, we know, it’s easier said than done to ‘say no’.
If you struggle with the dreaded ‘no’, be more intentional with your goal instead of giving yourself a vague challenge like “I will say no more”. Think about what you find yourself getting sucked into the most, and start by saying no to that.
There’s always a trade-off and it shouldn’t always be your time! Try putting the trade-off back in the hands of the person who made the request.
9. Take control of meeting mayhem.
Block time in your calendar to focus on your priorities and prevent yourself from being roped into last-minute meetings. If you must meet, keep the team on task with an agenda and action items.
The problem yet to be solved: How do you motivate the team through long remote meetings without team snacks 🤔
Let us know – what’s important to you in 2023?
☀️ Have an awesome romp around the sun!
Scopey
