How To Manage Your Time Well

In life, we are given many responsibilities. Those responsibilities multiply as you age, take on new hobbies/projects and get new jobs. And as a busy CEO, they inevitably grow even more. Before we know it, looking at our list of responsibilities can get overwhelming.

Family. Company. Finances. Employees. Resources. Abilities. Time. And the list goes on…literally.

While they are responsibilities, they're also blessings, and it is also our responsibility to be a good steward of these blessings.

Arguably, one of the most difficult things to manage is our time.

Everyone has 24 hours in a day. And each day, we wake up and choose how to spend those 24 hours.

I think it's safe to say we rarely end our days by climbing into bed and saying, "Wow, that was a perfectly scheduled, well-managed day." Many of us often feel like we're running ragged, dividing our time up to so many different people/things and trying to get it all accomplished.

Do you find yourself saying or thinking, "There just aren't enough hours in the day…?" Is it more rare to have a blank date on your calendar rather than one filled up from morning to night? Does your to-do list grow longer as the day goes on?

We must manage our time well in order to keep up productivity and efficiency. And, it is possible.

We can be in control of our schedules. We can manage our schedules, rather than have our schedules manage us. I know it can seem easier said than done.

Let's look at a few practical ways to manage your time well.

• Utilize Your Mornings – I'm not sure what time you wake up in the morning, but the earlier you can wake up before work, the more time you have to get stuff done. I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but this can really have an effect on the remainder of your day. You have to evaluate your personality and see what will benefit you to accomplish in the morning in order to start your day on the right foot. Maybe it's spending time thinking, responding to emails and going to the gym. Maybe it's making a well-balanced breakfast, spending quality time with your kids and setting aside time to blog/journal. It could be meeting a friend for coffee, taking your dogs for a walk or reading a couple chapters in your favorite book. Everyone is different. Find out what you can do in the morning to utilize your time well. It feels good to check things off of your to-do list before you begin your workday.
• Make a To-Do List – You may or may not be a list person, but this is a surefire way to really stay on top of your day-to-day schedule. Use what works well for you: iPhone notepad, sticky notes, a physical journal, alarm reminders. If you take a couple minutes each night to write down what has to be accomplished the next day, you will be able to better manage your time in order for those things to get accomplished.
• Take Breaks – Everyone needs a break. I know your days may seem like you don't have one second to rest, but this is important. Our brains can only focus on one thing for so long. After a certain point, our striving becomes counterproductive because of our state. Don't forget to give yourself some grace and take a second to focus your mind elsewhere. Take a short walk, call a friend, watch a funny video clip, read an interesting article. These will help break up your day, increase your mood and boost your motivation.
• Delegate – This can be hard for some. Why ask someone else to get something done when you can just do it all yourself? However, it is beneficial when you can give some tasks to your employees. It allows you to be more productive and get done what is actually important for you to get done. It builds trust between you and your employees when you delegate an important task for them to complete for you.

As you can see, it only takes a few small changes to make a big impact in managing your time each day. These strategies are essentially tools to help you take control of your day and be as productive as you can.

Which strategy do you think would help you manage your time better? 

Ryan C. Bailey is an Executive Coach who helps business leaders develop in-demand high performing teams.

Take the Time to Know How Your Employees are Doing

Do you know how your employees are doing?

Don’t just say yes. Really think about it. Think about the individual coworkers that you see day-to-day, and ask yourself if you truly know how they are doing.

It is important to keep up with how your employees are doing for many reasons.

Think of how you feel when someone really takes the time to get to know you, and to check up on you regularly. It makes you feel valued and important, right? Maybe it increases your mood, puts a smile on your face or encourages you to ask how someone else is doing. No matter what, there’s no doubt that it makes you feel good.

If you see the benefit of this in your own life, make sure to apply it in your workplace. If you take the time to get to know your staff members and check up on them regularly, it will surely make them feel valued and important as well.

As the work relationship grows, your employee will continue to feel more and more a part of the team, and your business will be sure to grow in these three areas: customer service, work environment, and vision pursuit.

Customer Service

Business owners depend on their staff to provide excellent customer service. Think about the quality of service, or lack thereof, that would be provided by employees that hate their job.

If someone comes to work each and every day upset, frustrated or in a bad mood, they’re not going to represent the company well in any capacity.

The more that you can do to make your employees feel appreciated and thankful to be working where they are, the more they will naturally provide greater customer service.

Work Environment

All parts of your business create a culture within your company. One of these parts includes the team you build up. The staff members you employ have a large effect on the atmosphere of your office.

Who would want their workers talking behind their backs? What business owner would desire their employees to dislike them?

Care for your employees well, and the environment of your workplace will certainly be pleasant.

Vision Pursuit

Look at your business vision. Are you going in that direction? Or are you moving farther away from what you originally desired for your company?

Do your employees know about your vision?

As you care for your employees and show them that you appreciate them and are thankful for all that they do, they will naturally show that they love their job.

This is where loyalty develops. They want your company to see success. They want your company to grow.

If they know your vision and are being taken care of by their authority, they will surely work their best and hardest to pursue the company’s vision.

How can you apply this?

Here is just one example. Maybe you have noticed that one of your employees has been slacking lately. Try taking them out to lunch and see what they’re going through. Ask how you can pray for them.

This simple act can make a huge difference in terms of their performance as an employee and their happiness as a person.

Ryan C. Bailey is an Executive Coach who helps business leaders develop in-demand high performing teams.

The Benefits of Choosing a Healthy Lifestyle

When we think of the word "healthy," many of us picture a pair of running shoes or fresh-cut veggies, dumbbells or a kale smoothie. But, a healthy lifestyle isn't solely about exercising and clean eating. Although those things are certainly beneficial and necessary to maintain a healthy lifestyle, there are other factors that help as well.

Choosing to adopt a healthy lifestyle also includes getting proper sleep and managing your time well, along with many other things. But, before I dive into describing these areas that we can improve in, I want to first bring your attention to the word at the beginning of this paragraph: choosing. It is important to know that practicing a lifestyle of health is truly a choice. Not only that, but it is a commitment.

You have to want it. Because if you want it, you'll work hard to pursue it. The reason you want to pursue a healthy lifestyle versus being on a "health kick" is because one is lasting, and it's easy to know which one that is.

Why pursue a healthy lifestyle?

We know the consequences of our bad choices, don't we?

When we don't manage our time well, it's easy for us to become overwhelmed, stressed and anxious.

When we don't eat healthy foods, we are not giving our bodies the proper nutrients they need to get us through the day. Instead of having energy and feeling good, we get stomach aches or become sluggish.

When we don't get a good night's rest, we quickly see the result. Crankiness. Short temper. A hectic, rushed morning.

When we don't regularly exercise, we gain weight more easily and are not able to properly strengthen our muscles. Gaining weight allows us to have an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

Along with knowing the consequences for unwise health choices, we also know the benefits of our good decisions.

What Constitutes a Healthy Lifestyle?

There are many ways you can do this, but I am going to highlight 4 key areas in which making small, positive changes can make a big, positive impact.

1. Exercise regularly.

It can seem overwhelming at first, but give yourself some grace and do what works for you. This doesn't have to look like swiping your membership card at the gym every single day. There are plenty of ways to get active.

Join a yoga class. Take your dog for a run. Ask a friend to play tennis. Swim a few laps.

If you think exercising as a desire to stay active to keep your body healthy and not a strict contract, it's much easier to stick to and much more fun.

2. Adopt healthy eating habits.

Yes, it is better to eat natural, unprocessed foods. And there are tons of books, articles and resources out there to help you make better eating decisions. But, this goes beyond the content of your food.

Start practicing portion control. American portions are incredibly large. Cut your meal in half and box it up for later. You'll be surprised at how full you can actually get by eating less. It's okay if you're hungry 2 hours after lunch, eat a small snack. It is better to eat six small meals each day than three over-sized meals.

Drink plenty of water. Your body needs it to survive. Drinking water helps energize your muscles, lubricates your joints, and helps nourish and protect your brain. Not to mention it is extremely good for your skin. The benefits seem endless.

3. Get enough sleep.

I can't stress this enough. According to Healthline, 1 in 3 Americans don't get enough sleep at night.

Sleep is your time to recharge. Your body needs to rest and regain strength and energy. Most adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. A lack of sleep can lead to health problems, aging skin, a decreased mood, weight gain and other issues.

Try going to bed at an earlier time. Make yourself some herbal tea. Read a book. Turn on a sound machine.

Whatever helps you drift off, invest in it and stick to it. You will wake up in a better mood, feeling more energized and ready to take on the day... guaranteed.

4. Manage your time well.

This is an important one because it affects so many other areas of our lives.

Our planners and iCals get filled up so quickly nowadays. It's more rare to have a day without commitments than it is to have a day filled with scheduled responsibilities.

When we're so busy, it's easier to skip the gym (who has time?), pick up fast food in between meetings (it's convenient), work late into the night, which can steal hours of sleep (stuff needs to be done).

I absolutely understand that there are things that have to get done. But, there are 24 hours in a day. So, let's manage our time well. Let's plan ahead, set boundaries, create a schedule, and most importantly... stick to it.

This way you can have family time, me time, social time, work time, etc. and not feel frustrated or stressed out.

Be Disciplined and Reap the Benefits

When you discipline yourself in these areas, you will reap many benefits.

• Health
• Increased mood
• More energy
• Health
• Less stress
• Business success

You will see success in so many areas as you make this lifestyle choice. The benefits are worth the hard work and diligence it takes to continue on the healthy path.

Ryan C. Bailey is an Executive Coach who helps business leaders develop in-demand high performing teams.

Video Blog: Laugh Folder

Our days can become stressful quickly. For example, after a great breakfast and a nice morning drive, you can arrive at work to find your email inbox full and 13 new phone messages. And if that wasn't enough, your coworker tells you that your boss is sick and you're leading his meeting in 20 minutes. The to-do lists seem to grow as the day goes on. Laugh your stress, anxiety and pessimism away by creating a laugh folder. In it, you can put funny clips, jokes, and memories of times that absolutely cracked you up. This is a great way to relax and refocus.

Grit: An Indicator of Success?

Repeatedly in research, the same question is being presented: Is intelligence the determinant of achievement and success?

The idea was first introduced over a century ago by a man named William James, who asked two questions:

“What are the types of human abilities and, second by what diverse means do individuals unleash these abilities?”

From these questions, the concept of intellect and ways of measuring it were derived. People wanted to know what makes someone smart and how you could distinguish those individuals from others. Since then, IQ has been studied extensively because it is measurable and familiar.

However, if IQ is the determinant of success, then how do individuals of similar IQ vary so widely in their achievement? Do traditionally non-cognitive attributes, such as creativity, motivation, leadership, perseverance and passion, play no role in success?

IQ is an Incomplete Measure of Success

Research demonstrates that understanding IQ is only touching the surface of human intellect and our capabilities for achievement.

The concept of intellect needs to be broadened.

There is a need for the inclusion of soft skills as attributes of intellect just as traditional cognitive processes are. When these characteristics become an addition to the pre-existing understanding of intellect, then a score on a test is not the only determining factor of future success and outcomes. There are far too many forms of intelligence and talent to be limited to one measure of capability.

In settings of which there are many highly distinguished and set apart individuals (such as medicine, law, investing and academia), individuals were asked what makes someone stand out. Frequently, the answers had little to do with IQ.

Grit: What is it and what does it have to do with success?

Distinguished individuals stood out in their field due to what researchers calls “grit”. Grit is defined as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress” (Duckworth, 2007).

What sets successful people apart is not how smart they are, but rather their innate traits that make them hard workers and over-comers of obstacles.

Another study surveyed 140 eighth grade students to examine just one aspect of grit: self-discipline. These findings showed intelligence alone does not determine success. The study produced significant data showing self-discipline is a substantial predictor of academic performance, more so than IQ.

Intellectual factors (including those discussed above like soft skills) as well as non-intellectual factors (such as self-discipline or grit) have to work together to produce outcomes. IQ alone is not enough.

Think of your most successful co-worker or employee. What sets them apart from the rest? Is it their intellect? Or are there other factors contributing to their achievements? We’d love to hear your feedback!

Ryan C. Bailey is an Executive Coach who helps business leaders develop in-demand high performing teams.

IQ vs. EQ: The Intelligence Battle

EQ vs IQ

For many years, IQ has been praised as a determining factor of success. More intelligent people have a higher capacity for innovation and efficiency. One might assume that more intelligent individuals would also be more successful. However, recent research found otherwise. Dr. Travis Bradberry found that people with average IQ's outperform those with the highest IQ's 70% of the time. What could this mean? If IQ is not the indicator of success, then what is?

One could argue the answer is emotional intelligence (EQ). If book smarts aren’t getting you there, then maybe the ticket is a little more people skills. Dr. Bradberry’s research demonstrated emotional intelligence as the strongest predictor of performance, contributing a full 58% of success in all types of jobs. Am I arguing that IQ is irrelevant? Absolutely not. A combination of IQ and EQ is a great formula for success. Intelligence of all forms is necessary to our world, it’s function and it’s growth. Which is why a well-rounded intelligence is needed- so that we can be holistically effective.

Now you may be asking, what exactly is emotional intelligence? It’s a difficult question to answer, because it is one of the more abstract aspects of our behavior. It is complex and somewhat intangible. We can start by describing some of the skills that emotional intelligence is comprised of.

• Leadership

• Social Skills

• Customer Service

• Time Management

• Empathy

• Management

• Presenting and Communications Skills

• Relationships

• Decision Making

These skills are all similar in that they are not subjects taught in school. They are more practical than they are academic. Emotional intelligence is essentially the ability to understand and work well with people. These talents are critical to business and leadership.

The good news is that you can develop the areas where you are weak. It’s true that emotional intelligence comes more naturally to some than others, but just like any other skill they can be learned. Practice makes perfect right? The same is true for emotional intelligence. There are actually synapses in your brain that connect when you exercise a skill. Rehearse it enough, and it becomes second nature!

What skill do you need to work on? How could it impact your leadership and your business?

It's Not You, It's Me (And Other Management Skills)

Management Skills

A lot of times, it’s easy for managers to blame the downfalls of the company and its work environment on the fault of the employees they are managing. Their thoughts are full of ‘if only’s and ‘should have’s.

“If only my employees were more motivated.”

“This employee should have worked harder for a better outcome.”

But what if the problem isn’t your employees? What if the root of the problem is actually you?

The Manager Controls the Outcome

It’s easy to play the blame game when the outcome depends on the performance of others. However, our role as leaders is to manage our employees in such a way that the team reaches its goals together. It is the responsibility of the manager to ensure success. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, and it will depend on the unique structure and environment of your workplace and employees. Your behavior today will drive tomorrow’s results. Regardless of present circumstances, you can make changes now as management that will change the future outcomes of your organization.

Communication is Key

If you expect specific results, you must be able to communicate those expectations to your employees. When you’re unhappy in a relationship, you must communicate the changes that need to happen for the relationship to succeed. Otherwise, the relationship will continue on as it is.

Just as a football team can’t play well if the coach never calls the play, your employees can’t perform if you don’t communicate the game plan. Seeing the big picture of where you are taking the company may be the push your employees need to make a change. It is hard to move forward with no direction. Perspective will give your employees new insight and reduce your frustration as a manager.

We’re All in This Together

Don’t allow yourself to get into the habit of a “me vs. them” mentality with your employees. If you are just as liable for the performance of your company as they are, then you should be in this together. You are their accountability, and they are yours. You can’t do it without them, and vice versa. So don’t make it a competition between you and them. You’re on the same team, partners in the same relationship, hopefully working toward the same goals. Maybe it’s time you get in the game alongside them.

Ryan C. Bailey is an Executive Coach who helps business leaders develop in-demand high performing teams.