With all the time management tools available to us, losing track of time means we must be a mean, disorganized person, right? Mistaken. It’s a square peg/round hole situation, when you come down to it. You may just be a right-brained person in a left-brained world.
All of the traditional approaches to time management are geared toward creating lists, blocking time, and discussing details. They have a set them up and tear them down attitude about all the tasks we need to fit into our day, but that kind of linear thinking will leave us right-brained people spinning. Written plans and to-do lists may be well-intentioned starting points for us, but they’ll often be ignored once we get sidetracked by a juicy distraction.
Right-brained people need some offbeat tips to stay on task and on time, so if time management is a challenge for you, consider this:
1. Recognizing yourself as a right-brained person is the first step in finding a time management technique that suits your style.
Right-brained people tend to have an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude, so proper planning is very important to make sure productivity doesn’t suffer. Our creative bent responds strongly to visual cues, and our attention may not be easily coaxed to stay trained on a busy schedule. If you’re right-brained, even the thought of strict time constraints may cause you stress and stifle your creative flow.
2. We are hypersusceptible to time wasters, so don’t exhaust yourself fighting them!
The nature of a right-brained person makes us dig deep into whatever project we are focused on. That means we can easily fall down the rabbit hole and lose track of time. Using an online tool like Freshbooks or just a pen and paper—any method you can commit to using consistently—track all your activities for at least a week. Reviewing exactly how you spend each day will shed light on any patterns, such as what time of day you’re most likely to get off task, and then allow you to devise a plan to avoid it. For example, if your activity log reveals that you tend to spend twice as much time completing online tasks than you should (probably because of all the easily clickable distractions), try scheduling your online tasks for more late in the day, so you won’t be late before your day starts.
3. Schedule the time it actually takes, not the time you think it should take.
If you know you’re going to need more time, take advantage of it! Traditional time blocking techniques will always make you feel frustrated, unproductive and stressed, so try to loosely Block your day off on priority activities. Note when your concentration is most focused, and dedicate those periods to the most mentally demanding jobs of the day. Be sure to include breaks every 60-90 minutes to give your brain a break from its intense exertion.
4. Sometimes the best way to manage time is to ignore it.
Hide your watches and keep track of the time using the stopwatch app on your smartphone or use TimeTimer. This way, you can stick to the schedule without stressing out because you’re hyper-aware of time. Focusing on shorter bursts and allowing mental recovery time in between will increase your productivity and help avoid the insanity that can come from trying to accomplish too much in one session.
5. If you need to go offline to do your job, do it!
Don’t feel guilty about letting people know you won’t be available 24/7. You are allowed to block technology free time and turn off all your myriad devices. Set a time to check email in the morning and again in the afternoon, and when you’re done, disconnect from the network. You’ll get used to working without the constant interference of incoming pings, and people will get used to hearing from you at certain times of the day.
As with any other system, organizing your time well only requires commitment and perseverance. If you feel stuck, contact us about our time management package. If you’re already excelling, what tricks have you found to help a creative mind stay on track?