How will Managing Boundaries help in Managing Time effectively...

Many professionals struggle to manage their time. And can't deny that not managing time leads to skewed work-life balance leading to dissatisfaction, sometimes depression and even burnout.

When we search on the internet...we can easily find countless articles, books, webinars which help us to learn about how we could manage our time effectively.  We learn about managing priorities, differentiating between must do and to do, urgent and important and so on. Quite important.

I was wondering even after having that knowledge ... .why many of us still struggle to manage our time well to ‘do what we would like to do ‘ – personally & professionally.

Here comes the concept of managing boundaries.

What do I mean by boundaries?  

Think about any field game – soccer, hockey, cricket, tennis etc. the playing field has pre-defined boundaries, and the players exactly know the area marked for the game. If the ball goes outside those marked areas, there are rules. Right?

 Let me explain further.

Time is finite, we need to allocate our time. In that finite period we need to accomplish our goals ( professional & personal) effectively, and we know that we have that perpetual feeling of inadequacy…..time is never enough.  I have not heard from many people who say – I have enough time in hand.

Another element that affects our planning, even when we plan our best ... disruptions. Many things are not in our control which forces us to divert our attention, again leading  to shortage of time. Is not it ? 

Defining boundaries, on the other hand, would lead us to a more sustainable and realistic approach towards managing our time.  Here, we are not managing time anymore, instead we would define ‘what we will do’ based on the our purpose, wish & need, and also what we would stop doing.

The question is – how could we define our boundaries?

1.      To define our purpose in life : We need to be clear what kind of activities we want to pursue professionally and personally and what we should not.

2.      To introspect what gives us energy & what activities puts us down (clear no-no).

3.      To have a clear strategy & plan on how we would let others know about the boundaries. I am not ever suggesting that we shy away from our responsibilities, never-ever. However, we can always agree (including at work) on certain boundaries, even with our families. It should be a clear ask and nothing wrong about it.

 Now the tougher part: How do we execute?

 1.      We need to live within our boundaries – once defined, we need to honour the commitment to ourselves, to be within our own set of boundaries. If we stick to our own commitment, others will respect our boundaries too.

2.      However, in this dynamic world – flexibility and agility are the key to success and when absolutely needed – we should look at altering our boundaries and re-define them. But then we have a new boundary.

Finally : two tips that can help in defining & living inside boundaries:

1.       NO is a beautiful word.

Learning to say no to ourselves is an excellent skill set. Quite often we are the enemy of ourselves when it comes to time management. Most of us feel it is important to take too much on our plate. Once we know our boundaries, and start to say no to ourselves, life will flow even better as we can free up our time for more meaningful activities for a holistic life.

2.      Practicing Digital JOMO

A few week back, , I wrote an article on JOMO ( Joy of missing out) . In this digital era, we have too much information and notification – do we need all those? Why not enjoy practicing digital JOMO and miss out on a few digital engagements?

To conclude…in the era where mental health and productivity are two talked about issues, I would certainly recommend managing your boundaries versus the traditional approach of time management.

Curious to have your thoughts please.

#timemagament #leadership #upskilling #outskill