New Year Time Management Strategies

By James A. Baker 
Founder and Chairman
Baker Communications
January 2012

 

It’s a brand new year, and for many of us that means we are trying to figure out how to follow through on our resolutions. How do we work in the activities and goals we have set for this year among all the other stuff we already have going on? We are still trying to get all the wrapping paper and empty bottles out of the house from the holidays, and fretting about our new exercise plan. How are we going to squeeze that in? Who has the time?

 

The fact is that most people never follow through on their New Year’s resolutions. If it means trying to do something new on a regular basis, most people don’t last a month. One of the primary reasons for this is that it takes so long to acquire a new habit – it’s much easier just to slip back into our old behavior patterns. Another reason is, of course, time management – people just can’t seem to work things into their schedule.

 

However, don’t let that discourage you. If there is something you want to accomplish this year, here are some steps you can take to help make sure it happens.

 

Set goals. You’ll never reach your destination if you don’t have one! Make them SMART goals – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-specific. Don’t just vaguely say, “I want to lose weight.” Make it something like, “I will lose 20 pounds by June, so I can go to my high school reunion in the same dress I wore to Prom.”

 

Write them down. Studies demonstrate that people who write their goals down are more likely to actually achieve them. You might want to put it somewhere you’ll see every day; stick a post-it on your monitor, or a note to your bathroom mirror. Scheduling new activities in a day planner might be appropriate. Just make sure to get it in writing.

 

Start doing it. Don’t just think about it, don’t just talk about it, don’t just plan to do it. Start doing it now. Don’t start tomorrow. Tomorrow is always tomorrow. Start today.

 

Stick with it. Do whatever you have to do to work toward your goal, every day. Establish accountability. If that means telling everyone you know that you’re quitting smoking so that they can call you on it if they catch you sneaking a puff, do it. Pay the price.

 

Fall down, get up again. Nobody does everything right all the time. You will overspend your budget one week; you will miss a day of exercise. Don’t throw in the towel. Just pick up where you left off and keep trying.

 

Time Management Tips for the New Year

1. Prioritize your goals and activities. Don’t try to do too much at once. Making too many changes at the same time is likely to end in failure on all fronts. Select one or two specific goals that you want to achieve most, and focus on those.
2. In working towards your new goals, recognize that if you are trying to do more of something, you will have to do less of something else. There are still only 24 hours in the day, so something has to give. This may mean that you trade half an hour of TV-watching each day so you can jog, or that you need to move your poker night to a different evening so you can go to your son’s Little League games.
3. Determine when it makes the most sense to schedule any new activities. If you end up working late almost every Friday because of a weekly meeting that consistently runs long, then you probably should not schedule your pottery classes for 5:30 on Fridays. If you are starting a new exercise plan, don’t try to work out at a time of day when you know your energy is at its lowest ebb.
4. If you use calendar software, schedule reminders and alerts so you don’t miss your new activities. If you use a paper planner make sure to write in everything you need to remember. Until your new activities become habits, they will be easy to forget!
5. Consider including time management, organization, and productivity goals as part of your New Year’s planning. If you can establish a new, more productive habit at the start of the year, it will make the rest of your goals that much easier to accomplish!

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