Is your calendar out of control? In episode 40 of Power Play, I discuss the (BIG) difference between filling your calendar and EDITING your calendar (AND how you can do both effectively).
This is the third installment in a series of next-level time management tips for women entrepreneurs. Go here to review the rest.
Episode Transcript
Hello, Eleanor Beaton here. And welcome back to our Power Play series on next-level time management strategies for women entrepreneurs.
Now, many of these strategies are really designed for those of you who already have a team. So you may have an assistant in place or somebody whom you can delegate to. If you don’t have that in place, really focusing on other aspects of your business that are going to allow you to get the revenue in place so that you have a team is going to be really critical.
This next aspect of next level time management is all about distinguishing between filling your calendar and editing your calendar. Now there is a wonderful place that women entrepreneurs can get to where they have masses of time and masses of revenue. But for many women entrepreneurs, particularly those who are in growth mode, your time is truly your most limited and precious resource.
Now, you are likely in an industry, as many women entrepreneurs, are in the service based industries where you need to spend face time. Potentially in different meetings, or in different types of activities and your calendar can be quite full.
In fact, I would say that this crush of a weighted calendar is one of the biggest challenges that many of my clients face.
So, one of the things I want you to think about is that, when you empower an assistant or a team member to help fill your calendar, to book appointments for you, even at prescribed times, one of the things you need to understand is, you might empower a team member to fill your calendar but you need to retain overall control over your calendar and you do this through the editing process.
One of the systems that I put into place with my operations manager who has been handling my calendar for two and a half years now, is that she fills the calendar and every Sunday I go in and I take a look at my calendar anywhere from one to five weeks out. And I carefully go through the appointments that I have. I ensure that I have adequate time left or marked off, I should say, to do the deep focus work that I need to do in order to lead my business effectively.
And then when I see red flags, maybe I have a week that is too heavy in appointments or I see two meetings that actually could be cut down to one. Or I see an appointment that’s in my calendar for an hour, when really it should just be a 15 minute call. That allows me to go in and edit my calendar.
So filling the calendar and editing the calendar are actually two different functions. You can empower a team member to fill your calendar, but you need to be proactive and carve out organizational time on a regular basis to review the calendar and ensure that your commitments line up with your intentions, line up with the energy that you have to bring the best of who you are to every engagement. That is powerhouse entrepreneurial leadership. And it comes through next level time management.