Quick Wins for Busy Days: 3 Time Management Strategies to Get More Done With Less Stress

#296 - Unlock the secrets to a more productive and less stressful life on this episode of Organized Chaos. Have you ever thought of how some people manage to keep their cool amidst the chaos of daily life? Today, I practical time management techniques that promise to transform your busiest days into seamless and fulfilling experiences. You'll learn about the two-minute rule to tackle procrastination head-on, the art of task batching to enhance focus, and the clever use of time blocking with buffer zones for a flexible yet structured schedule. Each method is designed to help you regain control and end your day feeling accomplished.

Join me as we explore how these strategies can be your secret weapon, especially if you're balancing the demands of motherhood or just looking to optimize your routine. By implementing the two-minute rule, task batching, and time blocking, you'll find yourself embracing productivity with ease. This episode isn't just about tips and tricks; it's an invitation to a community of shared learning and improvement. Try out these strategies on your own or combine them for maximum impact, and don't forget to share your successes and additional tips with us on social media. Together, let's navigate the chaos and find a sense of balance in our everyday lives.

Connect with Teresa on: Instagram or Podcast Website

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:09

Hey, my name is Teresa Hildebrand and this is Organized Chaos. We take a deep dive into living with intentionality, focusing on what's important in our lives so we can truly feel our best. It may feel chaotic at times, but with a little organization, the right mindset and a ton of self-love, we can still thrive. Join me as we talk to other busy moms and experts who will share tips and strategies to help you reach your goals. Hope you enjoy this episode of Organized Chaos. Now on to the show. Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of Organized Chaos and if you're new here, welcome. I'm so glad you're here and I hope you enjoyed this episode. So today we're going to be talking about quick wins for busy days. Now I have these three time management strategies that are simple and they're just ways that you can use alone, or you can actually combine them with other strategies, but really it's about getting more done with less stress. So let me ask you a question Do you ever feel like your to-do list is endless and there's never enough time in the day? Well, you're not alone. Today, I'm sharing three super powerful practical strategies that don't require fancy apps or complex systems, but can help you regain control over your day. So I just want to kind of go over these strategies super quick and then I'll dive deeper into them. So one of them is the two minute rule, number two is task batching and number three is time blocking with buffer zones. Now I just want to emphasize that each one of these can make a big difference on your productivity and reduce stress, but I don't want to overwhelm you with like a bunch of different strategies to do. At the end of this I want to challenge you to just pick one. But I'm going to go over each one and kind of give you an idea of how it can help you throughout the day and just give you those quick wins, because sometimes that's all we need. We just need to end the day feeling like, okay, I feel good about this day. It didn't go perfect, because it never does, but at least I can get this win. And as you build that and as you start to maybe readjust your routine, readjust your time management strategies, then you'll start to feel a little bit better. But I just want to give you these wins so that you can start working on developing those habits and developing those routines that are going to be best for you and your life, okay.

Speaker 1 2:40

So, like I said, number one is the two minute rule. Now, the two minute rule basically takes tasks that are less than two minutes to do. So if you have a task that you're like, okay, I can get this done in two minutes or less, you want to do it right away instead of putting it off off. Now, there's lots of different things that we can do in less than two minutes right, but as they build up, that actually takes a lot more time. So you want to choose these tasks as best as you can and in the right mindset, because you don't want to just do a bunch of two minute tasks and as they build up, you're going to take an hour, and they're just things that don't really matter.

Speaker 1 3:24

But there are those things that you maybe do around the house or in your office that take less than two minutes, but we always put them off because it feels like they do take more, and these are usually things that don't take up a lot of brain space. Like, for example, if I'm at home and I see that the dishwasher needs to be emptied out, sometimes it can take less than two minutes, but sometimes it doesn't and I feel like something like that will actually give me more time later on. For example, if I decide, okay, this dishwasher, I am just going to empty it out, it's going to take me like two minutes and I'm just going to do that. That is going to save me so much time and headaches later on in the day, because now I have a clean dishwasher, I don't have to have all these dishes pile up on the sink or on the counter. Then I can just put them away and it'll just save me more time later.

Speaker 1 4:19

Now there's a lot of different things that this can help you with, but just think of some of those tasks that are super quick, like picking something up in the house or sending a quick email, like those kind of things you want to be able to just point out so that way you can feel a little bit more productive. Now the science behind this is really the action itself helps you prevent these small tasks from piling up and becoming overwhelming. Like I said earlier, if you think about it, if you think about the dishwasher and you know that if you take care of it now, you're not going to have to worry about the headache of emptying it out later when you don't have a lot of time or the dishes start piling up on the counter in the sink Like there is science behind that, because now you don't have that in your brain and it's not something that is going to pile up later. So it does reduce overwhelm. Now this is for my busy moms out there. This rule can be especially helpful for us because with lots of little tasks that tend to accumulate throughout the day, you know, like putting toys away or, you know, checking out homework or just doing, you know, quick follow-up calls like this can be super helpful because you kind of take care of it when you know that you should take care of it, so it's not something that you just put off and procrastinate. It could actually help you reduce the habit of procrastinating.

Speaker 1 5:46

Okay, number two is task batching. So task batching is grouping similar tasks together and completing them in one dedicated block of time. So this is super helpful when, let's say, you're a one man show and you're doing all of your graphics and marketing and all of that stuff. Batching this, like content creation, is super helpful and it's just a way to really take away the need for multitasking. So, because you want to batch similar group tasks, that helps as far as like your brain not having to switch from different types of tasks, because we always thought that multitasking was like the way to go. So embarrassed about this now, but I used to put that my superpower or a skill that I had was multitasking on my resumes, and that is not a superpower, that is just a recipe for disaster. So task batching is different because you do want to you know, group together similar tasks, not necessarily grouping a lot of different tasks that basically make your brain go from one task to another, and the switch between one specific task to a completely different task really reduces your productivity and reduces your brain power. So you want to make sure that they're similar tasks so you know whether these are like emails or calls or just household chores. This can help you actually focus on particular similar tasks and it'll avoid draining your focus and like reducing your productivity. So this can help reduce basically draining your focus and reducing your productivity. Now I suggest that you use the task batching at home, like setting aside time for family scheduling or organizing the kids' activities or even self-care routines, all right.

Speaker 1 7:52

Number three is time blocking, but with buffer zones. So, like I have mentioned before, I love time blocking it just it helps my brain so much and it's been such an effective way for me to prioritize and get the things that I need done done. But this is with a little bit of a twist and this is actually something that I have experienced before that I've added on because it just helps me so much. So these buffer zones that we implement in between our calls or just like different activities, it can really help. So really time blocking, but with an emphasis of adding the added benefit of these quote unquote buffer zones. So these are small breaks or kind of like empty blocks between time, blocks to allow for spillover or unexpected tasks. So we know that things don't always fall within the timeframe that we set them to. We know that meetings go longer or a particular task that you had set takes a little bit longer than we anticipated. So having these buffer zones allows you to reduce the amount of stress that comes on when we go over time. So buffer zones really provide, like this, flexibility and prevent burnout by accounting for, like these, interruptions and the natural ebb and flow of daily life.

Speaker 1 9:17

So for me, I set aside five to 10 minutes, sometimes 15 minutes between major tasks or like calls. Sometimes, if I can, I'll put in 30 minutes between a session and another session or another call. When I do coaching sessions, that actually like takes up a lot of my brain power and I need some time to kind of debrief and kind of like relax and recharge before the next thing that I have to do. Because I've gone through it, I know how much energy that takes. So I allow myself to be able to break or even, you know, go for a walk. I have to do that sometimes, so I want to give myself that time and I want to set it up in advance. Now you know we can use this in other ways, you know, in our lives. So we can use it to help the flow go smoother in our day and reduce the feeling of like rushing from one task to the next.

Speaker 1 10:17

Okay, so let's recap these three simple strategies.

Speaker 1 10:21

Number one is the two minute rule for handling small tasks immediately.

Speaker 1 10:25

Number two is task batching to maximize focus and efficiency. And number three is time blocking with buffer zones to add flexibility to your schedule. Now remember that each of these strategies can be used independently or together to make managing your day easier, reduce stress and increase your productivity. So I want to ask you which one of these strategies are you going to try out today and notice the difference it makes, and I would love to hear how it goes. You can send me a text. If you go to the episode, you can click on send text and just let me know how it goes. And if you have any other strategies that really work for you, I'd love for you to share. You can also send a text, or you can reach out to me on social media. All right, so this was hopefully a really good episode for you that will get your wheels turning to see how you can implement this in your day. All right, thanks for listening and I hope you have an amazing day and I will see you next week.