Get More Done By Managing Your Attention, Not Your Time

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I used to say “I don’t have enough time” ALL the time.

I said it to myself and others. It definitely felt true. It was the perfect complement to other well-used phrases like “I’m so busy”, “there’s always more to do” and “there aren’t enough hours in the day”. Add to the mix a toddler who (naturally) doesn’t care for schedules and sleep deprivation, and I was a mumma in need of a new approach to managing her time.

That new approach came to me when I reflected on how we actually all have exactly the same amount of time.

Constantly telling myself that I don’t have enough time, just made me feel stressed and sabotaged my efforts to be productive.

I realised I was focusing on the wrong thing. There’s something much more limited and valuable than my time, that I needed to manage and protect.

My attention.

Many times, I’ve sat down at 8pm, with a few good hours ahead of me to get through my long to do list, but my brain feels like it’s in slow motion. I can’t give my full attention to anything because I’m so tired.

Can you relate?

Managing your attention involves choosing what to give your attention to and includes taking action to look after yourself, so you can focus when you need to. When you know that your attention is on the right things, you’ll feel calmer and get more done.

You can’t control how quickly time passes, when emails come in or how frequently people post on social media. You can’t eliminate every interruption. You can’t control when your children will need something that changes the plan. But you can control how much attention you choose to give these things. You can control your response.

Time is external to you, whereas your attention is all yours to manage and protect.

Here are 5 ways you can start managing your attention to get more done.

Check (and probably lower) your expectations

Your attention is finite. Be realistic about how much you can actually manage. If you keep pushing yourself to reach unattainable standards you’ll experience much more stress, worry, overwhelm and potentially burnout.

Are you holding yourself to higher standards than those you hold everyone else to?

Can you afford to lower your expectations of yourself, feel less stressed and still get the important things done?

Know what’s important to you

If you know what’s important to you, then at any time, you can make a purposeful decision about what to focus on.

Everything else is a distraction and can be attended to after the most important things. If you have to do something that isn’t that important to you, minimise the attention you give it; get help, take an acceptable shortcut or aim for a lower, yet still acceptable standard.

Are you giving your attention to what’s most important or are you spending it on what’s easier, habitual, fun, or convenient?

What could you stop doing right now without any negative impact on your life?

Allocate attention to downtime

Downtime creates more energy and attention, so it’s an essential part of your attention management strategy. For your downtime to be effective you need to actually stop and be present, so your mind can be refreshed (scrolling through social media constantly doesn’t allow your mind to rest).

What can you do to allow your mind and body to rest?

Record and schedule

Remembering things requires your attention. Instead, have a system to record things you need to do, ideas, appointments and anything else that you’re working hard to remember, somewhere safe and accessible. Then allocate your attention to the next most important thing, and leave the rest safely recorded for later.

A schedule gives you confidence that there will be time for the important things. You won’t need to be thinking about the calls you have to make while you’re playing with your children, because you made time for them later.

Know when you’re at your best

We all have times of the day when we’re more productive and focused. This is when to tackle the most important things or those that require the most brainpower. Focus on one thing at a time. Remove as many distractions as possible and take short breaks if you’re focusing for a long time.

Lastly, when you’re not at your best, consider how you might refresh yourself so you can give your full attention later.

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Louise East is a wife, mum of a toddler and step mum of 3 young adults. She loves strong black tea, travelling, running and personal development. Louise founded More to Mum, through which she helps mums live happier and more confident lives by developing a helpful mindset, realistic self-care habits and by making the practical things in life easier.