how to get everything done and still have time to sleep

 These days it almost seems like a badge of honour when someone exclaims "oh, I'm sooo busy, I hardly have time to sleep!" (for the record, it's not.. it merely shows that you employ poor time management and prioritisation skills)As IT Professionals we've all been there:

• A full time position (either as a job or at your client's office)
• Commuting to and from work (which adds at least 2 hours to every work day)
• Study / research / catching up on new developments in the industry / prepping for the next day
• Have dinner
• Spend a little time with the family (and perhaps kids)
• ... and if you're lucky you can squeeze in some physical activity to stay fit and healthy

When you add it all up, it seems a little overwhelming. Even without the constant interruption of phone, text, email and in-app notifications.  

Project management might actually be a skill set that can help you address this issue:

• Break up your end goal into bite size, manageable pieces of information
• Identify your stakeholders (and how important they are to you)
• Set sub-goals and rewards for each 'chunk'
• Visualise the activities that need to be done to achieve your sub goals.
• Identify the specific skills that are required to achieve the goals.
• Plot the dependencies between each of the sub-tasks (this will also show clashes, both in time and desired result)
• Create a time-budget so you can see how much effort (your effort) is going to be required to make this happen, it shows you clearly where the workload exceeds the amount of resources available
• Identify your top priorities, and subsequently make a list of 'trade-off' activities. When you really run out of time you will be able to focus on the top priorities without feeling guilty about saying no to the trade-off activities.

So, how does it work? How do I get everything done and still have time to sleep?

1. From the list you've created before you now have a clear understanding of the priority of each of the tasks
2. You know which tasks can ONLY be done by you... all the other task could (or perhaps should??) be done by another resource. (automation, outsourced, virtual assistant)
3. You can create a list of tasks that you should NOT be doing anymore (the distraction, the procrastination, the time wasters). Stay focussed on your goal! Saying NO is a lot easier when you know why you say no to this task... For every task that is thrown at you, think "is this really necessary to achieve my ultimate goal?", well... if the answer is no.. you know what to do.

For example:Your goal is to get that promotion to Senior Systems Engineer.For that to happen you need to show that you understand the technology, so you need to continue to learn and study.That's important to achieve your goal. Hanging out with your mates from high school at the local pub?... maybe not so much. Watching the last 2 seasons of "Game of Thrones"?? Perhaps not the best choice. Come to think of it... Turning off the TV is probably going to give you 2 - 4 hours of your day back, each and every day!! Think about that for a second! You could take up a study and spend your time learning new skills to help you achieve your goals and desires.

1. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.

(BTW - if you think that's bad..... check this out: the average American spends 40 minutes every day checking their Facebook newsfeed...)You may also come up with a way that you can cut back on your daily commute - and use that time to work out instead.You now spend you time more efficient by getting more done in the same amount of time.Or bring your lunch to work, rather than waiting in line for 20 minutes at the local sandwich shop to purchase your lunch each day.You still take your lunch break but use your time to achieve your personal goals, rather than being controlled by other people's timelines and desires (i.e. the person in the sandwich shop and their desire to work fast of slow on a particular day).