Do you mismanage – or maybe Miss Manage your time?

Don’t worry, it will all make sense.

Of course, we are all familiar with the common tips and tricks that boost productivity but what if prioritizing wisely or creating the daily schedule is not actually the right way?  

What if learning to say “no” is not the way at all, and “being a yes for things” might bring more happiness?  Well the bottom line is that however you manage your time, if you can feel glad while doing it, you might be a lot more productive and successful than you think.

Yes, it is wonderful to set goals and prioritize to manage tasks, but let’s face it, project management is not life.  From PMBOK to Lean Six Sigma and Agile – the methodologies we love for work, is not necessarily the playbook for life.  Just-In-Time might be the best resource allocation and management approach at work, but it might drive your partner insane when you pack as much stuff in as possible before getting ready to leave the house for something fun.

When you arrive at the airport 10 minutes before your boarding time it might make your friends and family nervous, but the real deal is that whatever makes the most sense for you does not necessarily work for everyone else. 

John Lennon’s “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” rings so loud to us on a daily basis.  We think about this at Advize every week, day and hour, and it starts with our leadership.  We work to get to the time for play, the time for fun, the life stuff.  Does that mean we are mismanaging our time?  

We would like to say “no,” rather we are “Miss Managing” our time.  There are a number of studies that support that women are better at multitasking than men, however, there are more recent studies that show this is not necessarily true.  

At Advize, we try our hardest to practice mindfulness and rather than multitasking.  So yes, this blog was written at 9:00 pm on a Friday after yoga and a nap, but the whole week was spent doing nonprofit fundraising and awareness meetings with only one hour of actual work getting done.  Does that mean work will have to be done on the weekend?  Yes.  Was that the wrong approach?  NO!  We think it shows us that we could get everything done and we feel happier for it.

By Jeanmarie Loria