How Do You Manage Your Time?

May 7, 2025
9:58 AM

While I was looking for a mentor, I met someone who told me about how he liked to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a kid. He said he liked to eat the crust first and leave the middle to enjoy at the end.

He told me this because it reflected his mentality about work. In his experience, when he tried to enjoy play before work, the play never felt as enjoyable because he knew there was work to be done. Moreover, when he got to work, the work didn't feel as enjoyable because he felt exhausted and overwhelmed.

A few years later, I met a man on a flight from a leadership event I attended. After learning he was a successful salesman, I asked him how he managed his time. He told me he scheduled his time the opposite of how everyone else scheduled their time.

He prioritized his play over his work. Most people scheduled their work and filled the rest of their days with rest and leisure. However, the way he learned to prioritize was by scheduling his play and filling the rest with his work.

He told me he wanted to play tennis three times a week for at least two hours each. After he scheduled his tennis sessions, he filled the rest of his week with work. Knowing that he had made the time for what was important to him, he was able to work without feeling burned out, exhausted, or like he never got to enjoy his life.

As for myself, I settled on budgeting my time like I did with my money. I allocate a specific number of hours, every week, month, or year, for different goals to work toward what I want in my life. It's a way of managing my time that allows me to express and experience all that I want to be.

If you take away anything, know there isn't just one way of managing your time that will bring you success in life. Different ways of prioritizing work for different people. Success doesn't only have multiple destinations, but multiple paths to get to each one. You only have to find one that works for you.

11:12 AM
Chris X