Time Management: Tips from the MC Team

Originally featured on the Media Cause blog

On a regular, busy day of making a difference, we often find ourselves juggling many different activities at Media Cause. It’s easy in that situation to fall into a “put out the hottest fire” trap - becoming the proverbial dog chasing every squirrel that shoots into your field of view (or in this case, every email that hits your inbox, or every Slack notification that disrupts your mojo). You may find that by 5pm, you haven’t even scratched the surface of what you planned to accomplish. Before you know it, you’re putting in time to finish up your workday in the evening when you should be streaming that new show you like.

If you let your impulse to answer every ping immediately as it comes guide your day, it can multiply the time it takes to get things done.? There are, of course, some situations where there’s something time critical that needs your immediate attention to meet deadlines - so fair warning, everything we're about to say isn’t for those situations! Do that when you need to, but don’t make it your constant. Under normal everyday circumstances, here are some ways we’ve found that can help you stay focused throughout the day, manage your time effectively, and give yourself the beautiful gift of structure and accomplishment:

Here are some recommendations from our team:

“Creating a 'Focus Time' event on Google is a great tool. I block my calendar to do heads-down work and it helps deter unnecessary or not timely meetings.

Set working hours on your calendar. Anything after or before a certain time frame will decline the meeting if you try to book outside of my set hours.

I close out of Slack completely during heads down time -- no distractions”

—Alex Smith (Sr. Account Director)

“This workshop was free on Creative Mornings years ago and gave some great tools for getting a lot accomplished during the focus time.

For me, just having the focus time is important, but knowing how to get the most out of it has shifted my productivity. Highly recommend.”

—Bridget Harrison (Sr. Account Director)

“Add calendar blocks from 9-10 AM all days or select days of the week, to let teammates know you may have a limited Slack/email presence during this morning time block. This focused morning time will allow you to start your day by knocking out some items on your to-do list before getting distracted by meetings and teamwork.

I like to finish my workday by running through my Asana account to update task status + adjust deadlines as needed, then I check out my calendar for the next day or two and add time blocks for certain clients or projects.

Timers can be a lifesaver for me as I get started or finished on a project. Set a timer for a short period of time (20-30 minutes) and see how much you can get done!”

—Megan Landau (Media Director)

?? Make Workblocks

Block time on your calendar for certain tasks or projects, uninterrupted thinking, or even just ‘answering emails time’. Making dedicated spaces for these things is just as important as blocking off time for meetings! It’s important to make room in your day to get the ‘work work’ done, and putting hard holds on your calendars lets your coworkers know not to grab that time for something else.

?? Turn Notifications Off

Most of the communication tools we use with our teams and clients (email, Slack, messenger) have ways for you to turn off notifications (maybe they knew we’d all get overwhelmed!). That tantalizing ding and little message preview are great at pulling your attention off of something else you’re doing, even before you consciously realize what you’re doing. Pause or turn off notifications at certain times in your day to keep your zen focus and get to those emails on your own terms.

?? Bundle Tasks Together

Try to do everything pertaining to a certain project in one time block rather than chopping them up intermittently throughout the day. Most of the time, you’ll get more done in less time that way, since you’re not mentally having to switch back and forth between different ideas, challenges, or information streams.? This process extends to things like answering emails (clean your inbox 3 times a day instead of 18), addressing a bunch of similar tasks (look at all analytics at once!), or any similar tasks that can be grouped together so that you’re tackling bigger to-dos vs. a series of one-offs.

?? Evaluate Those Wonderful + Pesky Meetings

Take a look at meetings on your calendar for the last two weeks, and the next two weeks, and ask yourself if each of them is a good use of your time. If the goal of the meeting isn’t clear or the expectations of what you’re supposed to do in it (or take away from it) are murky, connect with the owner of the meeting (even if that’s YOU) and think about whether there’s an alternative that makes more sense, like canceling it altogether, changing attendees, or clarifying goals and expectations. Agenda setting is great for helping with this.

Finding the right tactics for managing your precious work time is also a matter of figuring out what works best for you. And from experience, it’s hard to do consistently! Even though we know these methods help us work most efficiently, days can be random and full of the unexpected -- things that can throw you back into not-so-great habits like watching a team Slack channel incessantly for an update instead of just focusing on other things you need to do, and that’s OK!

Those are the times when reminding yourself what it’s all about—doing good work for a good cause—can help refocus your mindset on all of the work that needs to get done, and inspire you to get back into good discipline with your time management.

In the end...

it’s all about owning your workday...

instead of letting the workday own you.