The Chinese Menu Time Management Technique

Are you familiar with the Happy Family Chinese-American restaurant meal? Choose one item from menu Column A, one from Column B… and with six you get egg roll…?

Well, that’s how I manage my time. Allow me to explain…

The first thing I do in a Time Management consultation is to help my client clarify their priorities. These usually fall into 3-6 broad categories. Mine are Home, Work, Self, and Others. Yours can be whatever makes sense to you. My job is to remind you of things that you swore were important to you, but aren’t reflected on your Ideal Schedule or on your Master To-Do List. Conversely, I will also make you aware of activities you are spending lots of time on that, as it turns out, now that you are thinking about it, aren’t all that important to you.

The Chinese Menu

Your Chinese Menu choices result from 1) selecting your priority categories, 2) describing what the categories mean or look like to you, 3) establishing goals and specifying activities that support those goals. Such as:

• Home: Maintain an attractive, comfortable home for myself and my guests. (includes house work, yard work, paying bills, repairs, decluttering, organizing, errands, chores, etc.)
• Work: Do some good in the world, make money, and have fun doing it. (includes client care, admin, marketing, creating new Clutter Flow Charts, blogging, networking, etc.)
• Self: Maintain a healthy mind, body, and spirit. (includes medical appointments, exercise, hobbies, recreation, learning, etc.)
• Others: Stay in touch and do what I say I’m going to do. (includes family, friends, colleagues, volunteering, etc.)

So, on any given day, in addition to scheduled activities (which I take care not to cram in too tightly), I like to choose at least one thing from each category, for a sense of balance, and to make a bit of progress in each area of my life. It could be a one-time task, a recurring chore, or something that moves me one step closer to completing a larger project.

Sample Daily To-Do List:

• Home: Shop for groceries
• Work: Write blog post
• Self: Go for bike ride
• Others: Send birthday card

If I have more time between client appointments, and other scheduled activities, I pick more tasks from my Master To-Do List. But I start with the things that I would MOST like to accomplish that day.

Do you think this method would result in a Happy Family? Or, at least, a happy you?

What are your priorities? Are you spending time on each of them each day, or at least each week?

What activities can you let go of (or decrease) in order to make room for your priorities? Please share with us in the comments below!

P.S. Don’t forget your egg roll and fortune cookies (rewards). As my fortune reminded me, “Plan to have some fun!” To me this means: Schedule some fun in your day, lest you get too busy and forget. It’s important, and it won’t happen by itself.

——————————————————————————-
Copyright 2013 by Hazel Thornton, Organized For Life. Republished 2016.
Social media links directly to this page are encouraged!
Please contact me for other types of reprint permission.
——————————————————————————-