"Where does the time go?" I say it. I'm sure you say it a lot.
We seek work-life balance but it seems there's never enough
time to get it all done.

And yet we all know there are people who accomplish a lot
more than we do in a day — and they don't have magic
powers.

How do the most successful people manage their time?
Laura Vanderkam talked to a number of those people
(including productivity expert David Allen and the former CEO
of Pepsi) and found out their secrets.
She's written about what she learned in a series of books:

1. What the Most Successful People Do at Work
2. What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
3. What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend
4. 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

I gave Laura a call and we discussed what she learned from
successful people about managing time and getting things done.
Here's how you can get tons of stuff accomplished during the
week, feel less stressed and even have more fun on the
weekend.

1. Do a time log.
Interviewing so many successful people, what did she hear
some version of over and over? They all seem obsessed with
one question: What else could I do with that hour?
They plan their time, track their time and are always thinking
about the opportunity cost of their time.
The first question you need to ask is "Where is my time actually
going?" Not where you think it's going, where is
it actually going.
This does not involve leaning back in your chair and kinda
sorta guessing about what you vaguely remember doing.
Write down what you do for every hour of the day.
Let's just say seeing clearly in black and white how you spend
your time can be sobering. Or, in some cases, downright
depressing. But it works.
You can't trust your head when it comes to time. You need to
be accountable. Dieters who wrote down everything they ate
lost an extra six pounds.
Via What the Most Successful People Do at Work : "One study of
a year-long weight loss program, published in the Journal of
the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2012, found that
women who kept a food journal lost about 6 pounds more than
those who did not. Writing down what you eat keeps you
accountable for what you put in your mouth. Likewise, writing
down how you spend your time keeps you accountable for the
hours that pass, whether or not you're conscious of them."
There are other benefits to doing a time log. It helps you figure
out how long things really take versus your optimistic
underestimates.
Here's what Laura told me: "It's just a matter of observation
and saying "What is it that I repeatedly do in my life, and how
long did it really take each of those times?" If that regular
Monday 10 a.m. meeting is scheduled for an hour but it has
never taken less than 90 minutes, then you need to be realistic
and stop scheduling stuff for 11:00."
The other benefit that comes from doing a time log is you can
see the optimal windows for you to accomplish certain tasks.
Are you sharper in the morning? (Most people are .) Then you
can schedule "deep work" for that time.
(For more on the six things the most productive people do
every day click here .)
So you've started a time log (and you've probably spent some
time crying after reading it) and now you're ready to spend
your hours better.
What's the next step? You need a plan. And not some little one
either.

2. Plan the whole week.
In a study of CEO's what correlated with an increase in sales?
Not how much time they had, but how much time had been
planned out.
Via What the Most Successful People Do at Work: A Short Guide
to Making Over Your Career : "Preliminary analysis from CEOs
in India found that a firm's sales increased as the CEO worked
more hours. But more intriguingly, the correlation between
CEO time use and output was driven entirely by hours spent in
planned activities."
Georgetown professor and super-organizer Cal Newport agrees:
To-do lists aren't enough. Things need to be assigned hours to
really get done.
How do you create your plan? Think about two things: what are you
good at and what makes you happy?
Successful people spend as much time as possible on their " core
competency " and ignore, minimize or outsource everything
else.1
They spend time on that thing they're best at which produces
meaningful results.
Writers need to be writing. Accountants need to be working
with numbers. And everything else (like email and meetings)
just gets in the way.
Laura also suggests creating a long list of things that bring you
joy. Yes, you need to write them down.
Might sound silly but by having an actual list it's easier to
remember them and slot them into your schedule vs. waiting
for serendipity.
(For an example of the type of schedule very successful people
follow every day, click here .)
So you're putting your plan together. What's another secret of
successful people that delivers results over the long haul?
Spend your mornings doing things you put off the rest of the week.

3. Morning rituals are for things that don't have to happen.
Morning rituals are for those things that are important but not
urgent. Long term planning. Exercise.
The stuff we know we should do… but perpetually put off.
These things don't have a hard deadline and nobody will shout
at us if they don't happen.
Via What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: "The
best morning rituals are activities that don't have to happen
and certainly don't have to happen at a specific hour. These
are activities that require internal motivation… The best
morning rituals are activities that, when practiced regularly,
result in long-term benefits."
Research shows we have more willpower in the morning.
One of the successful people Laura spoke to said: "Every day I
have a job but in the morning, I think I have a career."
Mornings are the time to make progress on those vital long
term goals.
(For more on how the most organized people structure their
time, click here.)
Time log: check. Weekly plan: check. Morning ritual: check.
What else requires some forethought? Fun.

4. Yes, you even need to plan the weekend.
Here's where people freak out. They don't want to plan their
free time. But if you're serious about your leisure time, then
take it seriously.
I'm not talking about planning work or chores. I'm talking
about planning fun — as in making sure you have some.
How many weekends have blown by where you didn't get off
the couch and, frankly, it wasn't all that memorable? Exactly.
Research shows we're happier when we plan our free
time and that "doing nothing" doesn't make us happy .
More importantly, studies have shown that you often don't do
what makes you happiest — you do what is easy. So you need to
plan if you want to have fun.
What's a weekend plan look like? Nothing draconian. Laura
says you just want 3-5 "anchor events" to make sure you're
having a good time.
Here's Laura: "Just three to five anchor events can really make
the difference between feeling that a weekend was spent well,
and that a weekend merely happened. And these don't have to
be huge things. It could just be, "I'm going to go for a run on
Saturday morning. I'm going to try get together with this friend
on Saturday evening. I'm going to go to church on Sunday
morning."
Looking to be happier? By planning fun stuff ahead of time you
get to anticipate it. And research shows anticipation makes us
very happy.
Best part is even if you don't follow through and do the anchor
event, you already got the anticipatory happiness.
Happiness and laziness!
Via What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend: "One
study by several Dutch researchers, published in the journal
Applied Research in Quality of Life in 2010, found that
vacationers were happier than people who didn't take holiday
trips. That finding is hardly surprising. What is surprising is
the timing of the happiness boost… The happiness boost came
before the trips, stretching out for as much as two months
beforehand as the holiday goers imagined their excursions."
(For more research based tips on how to make your weekends
more awesome, click here.)
Weekend fun is locked in. What's the most vital part of
insuring you're ready for the workweek to start again?

5. How to conquer the Sunday night blues.
You know the weekend is over and tomorrow it's back to work.
Instead of being filled with dread, plan something awesome for
Sunday night.
Here's Laura: "Even people who like their jobs can succumb to
this: "Oh god the weekend's over!" One way around that is
planning something low-key but enjoyable for Sunday night —
anything you can look forward to Sunday afternoon instead
of thinking about Monday morning."
Research shows Sunday is the saddest day of the week. Plan
something fun ahead of time and that doesn't have to be the
case.
(For more on how to achieve work-life balance, click here.)
Okay, we've got some great tips. Let's pull this together.
Sum up
Here's what you can learn about time management from very
successful people:
1. Do a time log. See how long things take and when your best
windows are.

2. Plan the whole week. Focus on your core competency and
what makes you happy.

3. Have a morning ritual that gets you closer to your long term
goals.

4. Set 3-5 anchor events for the weekend.

5. Plan something fun for Sunday night.
168 — that's how many hours we all have every week. We need
to get out of the mindset of "I don't have time."
We all have the same number of hours. Period. It's what you
choose to do with those hours that will shape your entire life.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-successful-people-manage-their-time-2014-9?utm_content=buffer4fcab&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer