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Divine Time Management with Elizabeth Saunders

By Arel Moodie

· Conversation,Self-Improvement,Personal,Productivity
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Holy cow, am I excited to have time management guru Elizabeth Saunders on the show today! She joins us today to cover:

  • Macro vs. micromanagement: when to focus on big decisions, and when to handle the small details
  • How to solve common problems in time management: from overclocked busy bees to stressed out and exasperated
  • Where spirtuality and time management come together: If you have a faith, you may enjoy this revelation about how your faith can help you with your time management (hint: it's the other way around!). And even if you do not have a faith, there's a lot of value in how Elizabeth ties belief and organization together!
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Stressed Out with Time? You're One of Two People:

Elizabeth has noticed in coaching time management that there tend to be two types of people who seek to improve their organization:

  1. ​People who work ALL the time and don't have time for anything else
  2. People who are OVERWHELMED by the slate of responsibilities

If you're the kind of person who is constantly working and cannot find a lick of time to devote to yourself or side projects, Elizabeth recommends to identify your priorities. You're spending your time, but are you spending it on the things that matter most to you (Think big picture, like macromanagement.)?

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How about someone who has too many items on their to-do list and "just can't even?" For these people, Elizabeth has found that it's important to get things going, to build momentum (a micromanagement problem).

How do you build momentum (micro)? How do you find your priorities (macro)? Glad you asked; Elizabeth takes us into Macro vs. Micromanagement.

Macro vs. Micro Management

MACROMANAGEMENT

Elizabeth and I talk about how macromanagement involves huge decisions that take up a lot of time. Here are a few examples we discussed:

  • Having a family?  Huge time investment.
  • Are you in the correct job?
  • Side business, or a huge project?
All of these endeavors will soak up a lot of time. If you find that you are constantly working and you don't have enough time, take a look where you are investing that time! Spending time to rake leaves certainly feels productive, but would you value that over a few extra moment with your children?

Get clear on your priorities and this will allow you to direct your energy to the things dearest to you, no matter how busy you may be.

MICROMANAGEMENT

"It's like the responsibilities don't end!" -Common complaint

"Adulting is running from one obligation to another until you fall asleep!" -my wife Yolanda Febles

Any of the above sound familiar? I've been there before. If you find that you are simply stressed out with a load of obligations and you are always scrambling, Elizabeth's fix for that situation will involve weekly and daily planning.

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How to Plan Out Your Week and Day Ahead:

  • [Week] Write out your meetings, obligations, parties, etc. for the week ahead so you know what's coming up.
  • [Day] List your to-dos before each day.  This will allow you to assess the jobs you have for that day, to write up a quick map of the terrain, so to speak.

Picture being able to view the week ahead with a clear idea of all appointments. When you develop the ability to plan ahead, you won't have to toss and turn at night worrying that you may have forgotten a to-do. You won't have to pause for a second to wonder "what's next?"

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Because you already planned the week ahead. Because you know what's on the slate for each day.

Finding Faith and Finding the Time

Elizabeth found that she herself was the kind of person who was overworked and was overclocked; she had no time for other priorities. She needed to be able to tell herself to stop working when enough was enough. Of course, you know that she went to organize her priorities (macromanagement). What did she find when she looked at her priorities?

For her, she realized how her time management strategies were all designed to help her, as if she were the center of the universe. As a Christian, she knew to herself that she wasn't the center of the universe.

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This revelation changed her focus: She wasn't working for herself, but for God.

When she realized this, she found it easier to set boundaries and recharge her batteries instead of overworking herself. Work was not meant to be loaded upon people as if they were pack mules. There is time for rest and recuperation as well.

You don't have to believe in the same religious system. You don't even have to believe in a religion. But imagine that you're working toward a greater good, a good towards humanity...

...and part of working towards that greater good is to get your time management as awesome as you!

The intersection between religion and time management is perfectly encapsulated in Elizabeth's new book: Divine Time Management:

Elizabeth shares with us a special offer: pre-order the book before 11/14 and along with the book will come personalized coaching sessions with her!

You can find the book at www.divinetimebook.com.

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Thanks a ton to Elizabeth for coming on the show! You can follow Elizabeth on Twitter at @RealLifeE, as Elizabeth Grace Saunders on LinkedIn, and at her website at www.schedulemakeover.com

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is an internationally recognized expert on effective time management and the founder of Real Life E Time Coaching and Speaking. Her company partners with individuals on the journey from feeling guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feeling peaceful, confident and accomplished through one-on-one coaching and a Divine Time Management group coaching program.

She has been featured on CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX. She contributes to Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and Fast Company. Elizabeth is a member of the Young Entrepreneur Council and the Forbes Coaches Council. McGraw Hill and Harvard Business Review published her first two books. FaithWords is the publisher for her newest book on Divine Time Management: The Joy of Trusting God’s Loving Plans for You.