Part of how you deal with time is to make sure that the tools you use, and ultimately the system you set up to support you, are a fit for you personally. The tools have to fit your personality, or as I say they match your Productivity Persona™.
Quite often, people don’t think about tools to help them in their day-to-day process of getting it done. Think about tools that you can get from the hardware store. There are tools for many different things and each is uniquely suited for a particular task. Productivity tools are exactly the same, but people really don’t view them like that. When it comes to electronics like smart phones, it’s usually about the toy aspects of the device or toys altogether and not about how the device can serve.
Tools are part of the time management puzzle. You know how when you were a kid and you would be putting together a puzzle and you always ended up with extra pieces that didn’t seem to fit or you couldn’t figure out where they went? That was frustrating, and so is this, so things have to be broken down in a way that makes the pieces create a clear picture instead of leaving you with extra, strangely shaped pieces of the puzzle. Which is why part of my signature system involves choosing the kind of tool that’s a fit for you and then choosing the tool.
What tools are you using right now and what are you using them for? How are they serving you? Do you find that something doesn’t work so well? You might also see that you’re not really using what you have at your disposal. People choose tools and have the best intentions, but then don’t use them or they don’t max them out, meaning that they don’t use everything that the tool affords them to the point of making it pointless to have it. Something else to consider how you went about choosing those particular tools. You might not even remember.
Review your tools and ask yourself those questions and make sure you ask why you’re using that particular tool. Does it fit? If not, it’s probably part of the reason you find yourself challenged right now. You have to be sure that what you use fits you like your shoes. Once again, it’s personal!