Struggling to Manage Time? Here are Tips from World’s Busiest People
Time-the most needed entity in our lives but sadly the least available one. As a manager of ProofHub, a wife, and mother, I have always struggled to manage time in a way that I can make the most of it. At times, a slight delay in waking up in the morning leads to delay in every task throughout the day.
However, there’s no antidote to getting your things done in time except managing your time. This is what I have realized after experimenting with my personal time schedules. Everyone on the planet has got the same number of hours in a day and all they can do to accomplish their goals is by working through these hours.
I know you must have read these lines before as well but they failed to inspire you every time. It was the same case with me as well till I found the following list of the busiest people around the globe. These people have the busiest routines but they are able to skillfully manage their day well. Here’s how
Arianna Huffington
The editor of Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington starts her day with yoga and meditation. She doesn’t start her day by checking her smartphone directly, which most of us do and end up wasting the first precious moments of the day. Her Sunday morning routine is staying in bed with her work piled up. For her, it’s the perfect combination of productivity and relaxation.
Take Away: Start your day right! Make sure you bring quality to the first few minutes of the day by walking, exercising, meditation, reading etc.
Payal Kadakia
CEO and founder of ClassPass, Payal Kadakia is a fitness freak. Before grabbing a cup of coffee, she prefers a 30-minutes or 10-minute core workout at home. She stops by Starbucks for a venti citrus green tea which has been a part of her routine for over 10 years and she obviously loves it.
Take Away: Another inspiration to exercise! Don’t let your laziness or tiredness become the reason for your no-exercise routine.
Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour is Vogue Editor in Chief and Condé Nast Artistic Director. She starts her day at 5:45 a.m. by playing tennis for an hour at New York’s Midtown Tennis Club. She handles an endless list of meetings in a day and the longest one runs up to seven minutes according to The September Issue’s director, R.J. Cutler.
Take Away: Still left with a reason to skip morning exercise? I think we must build a strict morning routine now.
Richard Branson
Founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson doesn’t miss exercise even for a single day which may be swimming, tennis or kite-surfing. He answers as many as emails he can and also ensures he interacts with plenty of people every day. He believes that nothing can beat pen and paper and thus he always carries notebooks where he goes to jot down his thoughts.
Take Away: When you have this habit to pen down things, you reduce a lot of burden from your mind. Often, we have this tendency to keep a lot of things on our mind and think we can manage it all which leads to wastage of time, efforts, and energy.
Alain de Botton
Here’s a time-management advice from the philosopher, Alain de Botton. He believes that one should be awake between 3–4 am as it proves to be fruitful. He says this is the best time for writing books and making lists.
Take Away: Well, if you are into a field that demands a lot of creativity then you must consider his advice.
Shami Chakrabarti
The director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti gives prior importance to sleep than sitting for unproductive hours. She prefers to rise early to complete urgent work rather than sacrificing her sleep. Also, she uses her BlackBerry for noting down her thoughts and keeping on top of emails.
Take Away: Figure out the most productive and unproductive hours of your day. This will help you add quality to your work and sleep hours.
Yvette Cooper
A Labour Party Politician, Yvette Cooper who doesn’t get stressed over being late. In fact, according to her, it’s inevitable. Also, she advises to get off the bus a stop early and walk till your office.
Take Away: Even if you have the busiest schedule in the world, you can still be good to your health by walking off the last stretch to work. It’s all about your intention.
David Lammy
Here’s another great advice from a politician, David Lammy who is MP for Tottenham. For him, recording facts in his memory for delivering speeches is the most critical weapon. So, he records all his meetings in his iPhone and plays them during his twice-weekly 7 a.m run and the tube ride into Westminster. Also, he uses Flipboard app to keep himself updated about latest tweets and articles from around the world.
Take Away: With so much advanced technological resources available, I don’t think we are short of time and information. Everything is just a click and an intention away.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy
A newsreader, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is always surrounded by phones, computers, and tablets throughout the day. It is indeed tough for him to manage his family and midnight stories which make next day’s headlines. He used to go for Scuba diving as it involves the use of full brain power. He also loves to play guitar and sing on the top of his voice which keeps his smile on.
Take Away: If your job drains you of energy and enthusiasm, explore your creative side. It can be scuba diving, meditation, music, or playing the violin.
Duncan Bannatyne
Chairman of the Bannatyne Group says that it is enough to have one big goal at a time. Trying to do a lot of things at a time lead to failure of all fronts. He maintains balance by focusing on big decisions, delegating work, and eliminating trivialities. He believes in trusting his team for their talents and work.
Take Away: Being a leader isn’t just about controlling your team. At times, you need to leave the things onto them and give them the lead.
Nicola Horlick
Nicola Horlick is an investment fund manager who became a mother at 25 and a director of a major bank at the age of 28. According to her the only way to get maximum things done is by delegating the work. Another important thing is to treat all those people who work with you in the best possible way to ensure they stay with you for long. This is the reason she had the same housekeeper for 16 years. As a working mother, she ensures that her family gets a clean home and a fridge full of stuff.
Take Away: Delegating your work increases the probability of getting it done easily. But that’s possible only if you treat everyone right.
Rory Stewart
Rory Stewart is a British diplomat and politician for whom sleep is the most important thing. Less than five hours of sleep makes him feel bored and depressed. He even removes the battery of his BlackBerry and hides it in order to get complete rest.
Take Away: Improve the quality of your sleep and rest time by reducing distractions around. Better the quality of your rest, higher will be your productivity.
Camila Batmanghelidjh
Camila Batmanghelidjh is the founder of Kids Company charity. She dictates work to her seven PAs from 8 am to 12 am while playing with remote-controlled cars and toy helicopters. Every night, she goes home with a multicolored laundry bag full of papers which are filed in an incomprehensible manner. She feels joy in coloring out completed tasks.
Take Away: You can do a number of tasks at a time with your multitasking skills. All you need is the right approach to manage it all.
Alan Rusbridger
I play the piano every morning for at least 20 minutes. Not just tinkering but forcing myself to concentrate on learning a piece — lessons and all. It settles the mind, calms the spirit, blots out the BlackBerry and generally sets me up for the day.
I hope the above time management routines from the most successful people from around the globe will help you to create one for you. There is no defined ‘good’ or ‘bad’ routine. It’s all about what works best for you and helps you make good use of resources available.
Personally, I don’t follow anyone’s routine. I have my own style of managing time and things to ensure they are done in time. Moreover, this is the sole purpose of managing time. So, live it your own way because that would be the best one. Don’t let anyone’s opinions and judgments form your decisions. Make your to-do list, find out what time of the day works for you best, and then accordingly build your plans. Keep yourself motivated throughout!
“Want to become a leader who gets things done? Start using ProofHub.”
Originally Published at LinkedIn.
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Vartika Kashyap runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. She is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s been featured among LinkedIn’s Top Voices for the year 2016 & 2017. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.
Also follow our company page @ProofHub to get the recent updates about our tool, published articles, motivational quotes & presentations.
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