Time Management: Part 2 – Make It Count

I Took a Hard Look At My Time Management
Guess What, I Was Fooling Myself All These Years

It’s easy for us with strong Egos to fool ourselves, especially about those things we tend to avoid like our time management skills and maybe some other important processes or techniques that will require a meaningful “Reality Check”, but we’ll get into that some other time.

For me, it was during the 2008 Economic Collapse that required that I take a hard look at why my “Traditional” Graphic Design Business wasn’t growing. A hard look at myself revealed that I was just resting on the laurels of my good reputation for too many years and not actively marketing myself and making myself relevant for an evolving marketplace.

This wasn’t the first time work opportunities had evaporated, Nope, not my first rodeo. Since this wasn’t the first of many downturns in the marketplace, I was ASSUMING it would bounce back like it always had… not this time. Little did I know how wrong I was.

I Finally Wake Up. I was Just Following a “Meaningless” Script
Time to Do Something Different — Adapt, Change, or Fail. Time to Hold Myself Accountable

I finally realized like many of you that I was just following the script that the “Status Quo” Workforce has force-fed us all these years (our Father’s and Grandfather’s outdated business models and methods). As a self-employed individual, who said that You OR I have to start our days at 8:00a; 9:00a, or whatever; how do I know if this is my or your optimal time for your “BEST” individual professional performance.

Following along with yesterday’s Time Management post, “Time Management: What Did You Accomplish or Produce Today. Part 1” I started to keep track of what I ACTUALLY Created, Produced, and Published (got out the door and in front of you). So, from a time management perspective, I needed to identify portions of time or components of my day that I need to manage and over the past few years, I’ve let it define itself based on WHEN MY MOST PRODUCTIVE TIMES WERE/ARE.

Scott Sakamoto’s Natural Order of Awareness and HyperProduction (generally)

So, by my own numbers, I’m extremely productive during early morning hours when there is NO POSSIBILITY of any distruptions. Since it’s almost Summer, I usually wait in bed until I can hear the first birds sing and then with a prioritized “To Do” List memorized in my mind, I swing my legs over the edge of my bed and start my day with Gusto.

I Love to Create; I Love What I Do