Time is your most valuable resource as, unlike money, you can’t make more of it or get it back. But to get the most out of it you must first understand the specific time challenge you face, and how it's holding you back.

What time challenge do you have?

⏳ Time Rich

Have you ever taken time off, set assigned a day, or found yourself with an empty week (for instance when you're in-between jobs) but struggled to make the most of this free time? You create a to-do list, then blink, the time disappears and hardly anything gets crossed off the list. 

If this is you right now, you are time rich. So whether you have a free hour, day, or month, your challenge is to create the right structures and pressures to get things done. Think deadlines, setting a timer, or telling a friend what you aim to achieve and asking them to check in on you.

⌛️ Time Poor

Are you unable to find the time to do the things you really care about, or worse, the things you need to do? You probably find irrelevant tasks and requests clipping away at your time, and focus (which is just as important as interruptions can be a terrible time drain). If this is the case, you are time poor.

Your challenge is to find this time drains and interrogate them with questions like "Do I really need to do this now?" and "How important is it compared to what I'm working on?". Then find ways to say no, deprioritise, delegate, or complete efficiently. You could try keeping an "I'll get to it" list, and placing on it new requests/tasks that fly in. Then review this list either at the beginning or end of your day to decide if these distractions should (or shouldn't) become new tasks for you to do.

Adam Ellison

The founder and course mentor at The Monday Morning Club