In-Depth Guide to Manage Your Time & Get More Things Done

Whether you’re a new or seasoned resume writer, you’ve learned that mastering your time is critical.

Simply put, better use of your time gives you a competitive advantage, which is why optimizing what you do and when (and if) you do it should be a top priority.

We have more time than we think. The problem, however, is that we all too often focus on busywork, which can be low-value projects that keep us occupied and add very little to what matters.

The key to your success is by doing the right things right the first time. Being more efficient in many ways comes from you retraining how your brain thinks.

Transforming YOU and YOUR BUSINESS isn’t going to be easy. Time management books most often don’t spell out what’s necessary to take control of your time and put your business into warp speed.

Here’s what I believe you need from the onset:

You must have a relentless drive to BE BETTER. The biggest decision you can make for you and your business is to be laser-focused on advanced learning and better systems that will improve your outcomes
This means accepting that the way you’ve done business up until now has been lacking – and that there’s no one to blame but yourself.

You also need to be pissed off at WHERE YOU’RE AT NOW. Nothing gets us fired up (motivated, aggressive, driven) more than when we’re mad about a certain situation.

Lastly, you MUST BE FOCUSED and MOTIVATED because mindlessness and distractions are your enemies.

You can’t sit back and look at your business as a hobby or wait for things to happen to you.

You must make the decision to be driven, focused, relentless, consistent, and time-conscious. You must take control of the negative bits that are happening around you.

Remember the adage, where focus goes energy flows.

If you’re focused on better managing your time, let’s get started.

Heard of Scrum?

My drive to self-improvement brought me to Scrum (Agile Methodology). Yeah, if you haven’t heard much about Scrum, you will. Scrum is finding its way into business functions, including project management, software development, content writing/promotions, and yes, time management.

If you’re new to Scrum, I recommend reading “Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time,” written by Jeff Sutherland. It’s important to note that Scrum works best for those who have small teams, generally, three to seven are optimal according to the author.

Yet, if you’re a team of one, Scrum can help you too. I’ll talk more about this later.

Okay, let’s look at specific steps you can take to improve your time management and increase your output. Within each section, I’m giving you an ASSIGNMENT because you should not only learn about how to improve your time management skills, you should put them into practice PDQ as well.

To prepare for these assignments, go somewhere different; e.g., your local library, coffee shop, or even a chair by your back pool. Pick a place that’s away from your desk — and not desk adjacent.

Being somewhere helps you look at yourself in the third person.

Sound good? Okay, let’s get started.

1. You must be accountable to someone in order to get predictable results and control your successes and outcomes.

If you’re a solopreneur, you’ve learned that you can procrastinate on resume projects because you don’t have a boss standing over your shoulder.

Part of what makes Scrum so successful is the accountability it places amongst members of the Scrum team.

Surveys have shown that approx. 70% of workers need someone to be accountable to in order to produce their best output.

Chances are, you’re one of that 70 %. When you opened your resume writing business from your home office, you were probably looking to break free from having a boss. Yet, bosses play an important role for many workers because they are enforcers, pure, and simple.

You’re probably thinking, well, isn’t the client my boss? Yes, you can look at it that way. Yet accountability goes well beyond client projects and spreads into other areas of business, such as marketing, accounting, tax reporting, sales, and so on. Your clients can’t help you with all of those, however, so getting outside help is ideal.

Have you ever heard of an accountability coach? Sure, accountability coaches get used for “big picture” business goals, such as securing partnerships and growing revenue. However, these specialized coaches can dig down into WHY you put things off and avoid making the most of your days.

Powerful stuff!

You don’t need to hire an accountability coach to get better success by leveraging the monthly coaching you get as part of your membership here at ResumeBiz.com (RBIZ). You can use this coaching for just about anything, from starting your business and nailing down your pricing to improving your resume writing skills and getting advice on a specific client situation.

ASSIGNMENT:

Beyond RBIZ coaching, who else can I align with to make myself more accountable? (For example: fellow resume writer, professional coach, mentor)

1. ______________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________

Additional Resource:

Are you a procrastinator? Take this quiz and find out: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_99.htm

2. Remove obstacles and impediments to deter slowdowns and work stoppages.

As a writer, you know that writing can be hard.

So when you “get into a rhythm,” and the words seem to pour out of your mind with little effort, that is the perfect use of your time. There’s nothing better than when projects seem to finish themselves.

However, that rarely happens because external distractions all too often happen when we get into a perfect mindset for optimal writing. For example, a phone rings or our email provider dings letting us know of a new email.

Internal distractions can be just as time-sucking, such as hunger, stress, and negative thoughts.

We’ve become so conditioned to distractions that we’ve overlooked that these can be huge obstacles to our creativity and productivity.

Going forward, your best initial investment is to plow away those obstacles that siphon time away from more important projects and successes.

ASSIGNMENT:

What about your office environment keeps you from getting more done?
Think about everything. The position and comfortability of your computer and your office chair. Location of your home office adjacent to the rest of the house. Interruptions from family members, friends, or office mates. Playing and barking dogs — either yours or neighbors. Distractions from your office window, such as passing cars and street crews.

Ideally, I’d like you to list your biggest distractions, although you can list more if you have them:

Distraction #1:

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