How better time management gave me my time back

Well, the new year is well upon us now. Writing 2020 takes some getting used to but it’s exciting to be entering into this new decade. It’s time to take stock of how you manage your time and how better time management can make ALL the difference. In fact if you change just ONE thing this year, it should be that.

The new year always gets us thinking, doesn’t it?

I’ve been thinking about what I’ve done in the past and how I can turn these experiences into lessons I can pass on. And I realise that one of the biggest challenges I overcame in the last decade was time management.

You know, that dream of being able to get so much more done in your business and as a result potentially 10 ex your income or more and blast through those deadlines. That’s especially so if you have to write content as part of your role for your business or someone else’s.

It’s time to gain control with better time management

I can vouch that being able to manage your time in whatever you are doing, not just writing (for me it’s writing as I’m a copywriter and I need to make deadlines) will completely change the way you work.

With better time management, you’ll enjoy your work more, you’ll feel less stressed and more relaxed, You’ll demand others respect your time, you’ll have the capacity to do so much more AND you’ll have that work life balance you’ve been chasing for so long.

I know this is possible because that’s exactly what happened to me

If I may, I’d like to share my story. You may relate. I remember back in the day, when I first started my business I was so disorganised. I was running around like a Kan Chong Spider as they say in Singapore, where I live. A kan chong spider is someone who is tense, easily flustered and does everything super fast and doesn’t relax or enjoy the moment. I needed better time management skills.

I think I used to be that way because I was constantly panicking about the work that would come in next. If I didn’t finish what I had on now, I wouldn’t be able to take on the next job opportunity and I’d be turning down opportunities to earn more money. So I was always on the go. I had no plan, and I was living in constant panic. Thinking back to it now, I don’t know how I made it through and kept the business!

The trouble was, I didn’t know how to manage my time and I didn’t know how to have others respect my time. I was practically working every hour I was awake. I worked from home in the beginning and I just couldn’t find that dividing line between home and work.

On top of that I had two young toddlers at the time and I was running myself into the ground. The pressure was real because as the main breadwinner, I had to make this business work. I needed better time management.

I was too busy to see the signs

I was constantly busy, surviving on an average of 4 hours sleep a night and while I was making a reasonable income, it certainly didn’t reflect the amount of time and energy I was spending on my work. I was sacrificing time with my family – the reason I wanted to work from home in the first place – and my health, and for what?

My body turned against me. (Well I wouldn’t listen to all the warning signs). I finally ended up in hospital and it was only then that I realised what I was doing to myself. It was an incredibly humbling experience. I remember discussing the operation I had to have with my doctor saying that nothing could happen to me as my kids were still young and needed their mum. On top of that, financially how would the family manage without me?

I had to stick around

I had to stick around, so I had to change the way I was living. I had to learn how to manage my time and learn to respect my limits and say no when I needed to.

From now I was going to do things on MY terms. Anybody that didn’t like that didn’t belong in my world.

So I put time management practices in place that dramatically changed my copywriting business: