Time Management Tip: Stop Trying To Copy Someone Else’s System

We keep looking for better time management in all the wrong places.

Do you know Miss Perfect?

You know who I’m talking about, the person in your office or neighborhood or family who always seems to be ahead of the game, on top of things, organized, and ready to go.

She has her never-gets-lost list her minutely detailed schedule and her comfortably organized home and frankly, she kind of terrifies you.

Because she has become the barometer of your success.

How close your office, home, schedule, or daily list looks like Miss Perfect’s is how close you feel to finally figuring it out.  

The challenge is that her systems just aren’t working for you.

You chalk it up to the fact that you aren’t disciplined enough.

Or that you don’t have the willpower to follow through.

Or that things are just too busy right now but you’ll get the hang of it once everything has calmed down in a few weeks.

All of this is a lie.

Here’s the truth:

Only YOUR organizing system will work for YOU.

[Take this quiz to find out your Time Personality.]

Whether it’s time, email, energy, paper, your laundry – whatever you are trying to organize and manage – it isn’t going to click until the system is based around your life, the way you process information, and your habits. In other words: the way you want to live.

The only difference between you and Miss Perfect (who is far from perfect by the way) is that she isn’t trying to follow someone else’s system. She is following her own. That’s why it works for her.

The systems you build, that are molded to your life are the systems you will actually trust.

Trust builds confidence. Confidence builds momentum. Momentum builds habits. 

Stop for a moment and consider all that you’ve accomplished in your life.

Do you think that would be possible if you didn’t have some good systems in place?

Are you ready to be a time management rebel, embrace who you are, and walk your own path toward the clarity and peace of mind you crave?

Here are a few areas where you can start your own time rebellion…

• If a paper to-do list has worked for you for the past 20 years, embrace it rather than force yourself to use your smartphone – just because it seems like everyone else is.
• If your inbox currently holds 25,000+ emails and it doesn’t stress you out then they should stay right where they are regardless of what anyone says.
• If sticky note reminders work on your bathroom mirror, your refrigerator handle, and your front door knob then keep them there and stop trying to fix what isn’t broken.
• If you are frustrated that you always end up “touching paper more than once” know that you are human and no one else can follow this rule either.

Embrace your own time management systems. Pay attention to what works well. Notice what doesn’t. Often awareness alone can begin to shift the areas where you wish to see improvement.

In the meantime, stay focused on you.