Not very good at managing your time? That's okay

November 15, 2018

You are ambitious and you want to work on your personal projects. But getting to those projects requires that you manage your time well. You're already busy, after all.

It's tough to find the time and energy for your projects—even if you really care about them—when you work full time. In the evenings and weekends, you want to relax a bit too.

When you do find yourself with time, it can be difficult to get started. What should you work on first? Are you even ready for this? What good will it do to start a project that you can't finish, because you don't have enough time anyway? Procrastination can be killer.

The thing is, managing your own time is a skill. It requires practice.

In school, in college, and in your corporate job, there is pre-existing structure for your time. You attend classes; you attend meetings; your professor or boss sets deadlines.

When you're working on your own thing, that structure isn't there. Learning to deal with the lack of structure is a challenge. But you'll get better as you practice.

So, it's okay if you're not very good at managing your own time.

How can you improve? First, allow yourself to work inefficiently right now. Doing so, at first, is no problem at all. Second, organize your projects, even just a little. That helps you identify where to start.

Third, ask for help. Find someone with experience managing their own time and learn from what they do. Ask for advice and experiment.

Finally, if you want consistent, one-on-one help, you can hire me to help you, too.

Yours,

— Peter

Discover life-changing productivity hacks

Join the 11,000 people who subscribe to my productivity newsletter.

Thank you! Please check your inbox to confirm your email address.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

When you subscribe, you’ll receive my weekly newsletter on productivity. I will also send you a few emails about how I can help you. You can unsubscribe anytime.