How I Manage My Time — 5 Tips To Win At Anything In Life

Ever wish you had more hours in the day? Welcome to the club. Because if you're creative and multi-passionate like I am, sometimes it can feel near impossible to keep up with all the demands on your time. But here's the big truth that most people miss in order to reach our dreams. We actually don't need more time. We just need to use the time that we do have.

So that begs the question, how do we do that? Here are my top tips. First up: Create before you consume. What does that mean? Okay, so here's some honesty time. Do you look at your phone first thing in the morning and check your email, your texts, your news, and your social feeds, or something like Slack?

If you're like billions of other hardworking people, that answer is a hell yes. In fact, did you know that research shows that up to 80% of smartphone users look at their phone as soon as they wake up? Now, if you're an entrepreneur, artist, writer, or just a creative professional, this is one of the most destructive things that you could possibly do to yourself.

Because this one seemingly innocent habit is systematically downgrading your brain, stressing out your body, shrinking your damn bank account, destroying your focus, and decimating the most valuable resource that you will ever have in your whole life: your time. Plus, if you have a habit of looking at your phone first thing every morning, I'm willing to bet that you are consuming more than you're creating, and it is severely limiting your wealth, your health, and your happiness.

How do I know that? Not because I'm psychic, but because I used to look at my phone every damn morning too. And once I broke this one habit, I have never been richer, happier, or more productive. I'm not kidding. So I want you to write this down. Make this your mantra. I want you to make it your lifestyle—get it tattooed somewhere on your body if you need to: Create before you consume.

So what does that mean? It's actually very simple. It means don't even think about touching any device or taking in any information from an external source until you have first created whatever is most important to you for that day. For example, let's say you're an entrepreneur trying to finish your book or online course, or you're writing a new sales page for a launch.

Spend time creating that book, course, or sales page first before you consume anything. Let's say that you're going through a really challenging time in your life, right? And you know in your bones that meditation would make a difference and help you. Spend time meditating to create a stronger mindset and heart set first before you go looking at texts or emails that are going to stress you out even more.

Now let's take a different example. Let's say your goal is taking better care of your body. Why not spend some time doing yoga, a workout, or even just some squats to create a stronger body first? Here's what's cool and my favorite thing about this concept: You can interpret and apply this in so many different ways. But here's what I want you to do.

I want you to make a commitment to yourself right now that from this day forward, you are going to create something powerful and inspiring—whether it's for your mind, your body, or your mission—before you consume anything. Now, I know you know this already, but it bears repeating: How you spend your morning significantly impacts the rest of your day, right?

So your choices when you open your eyes influence how the next 24 hours are going to unfold emotionally, cognitively, and creatively. When you put all that in aggregate, your habits, both in the morning and throughout the rest of your day, shape the entirety of your life. As the saying goes, "We first make our habits, and then our habits make us."

So I want you to think about this. Just imagine this for a minute: How would any human being feel or behave if they spent the first 20 to 30 minutes every single day consuming low-quality, low-value information? And oh yeah, let's make sure this is clear—it was highly likely that that same information they were consuming was going to make them feel angry, overwhelmed, afraid, stressed out, miserable, and maybe like they were woefully inadequate or just behind in their life.

If you were imagining this human being stewing in those emotions every single day, do you think that person would be setting themselves up for success or making their dreams real? Do you think that person would be any closer to all the things that they want to accomplish? Absolutely not. Now let's pause. Let's say that same person decided to make a different choice every single morning.

They decided to do the opposite: to create before they consumed. Now, with this approach, over the course of weeks, months, and years, who do you think would create better results? Which approach is more likely to make a person happy, healthy, and wealthy? Do you think it's consuming first or creating first? Because here's the hard truth: When you consume first day in and day out, you are training your brain to prioritize the demands, the opinions, the negativity, and the agendas of the outside world.

You are choosing a life of misery, immediacy, and overwhelm. Now, on the other hand, when you decide to be a rebel and choose to create first, you are choosing to make your dreams real. That successful business, that strong, healthy body, that big, fat bank account, those great relationships—whatever it is that you most want, I promise you, you can have it.

But you have to use your time wisely. And one of the easiest and fastest ways to do that is to create before you consume. Next tip: Do not prioritize your schedule. Now, I know you're probably thinking, "What the hell are you talking about, Marie? Isn't prioritizing one of the most important productivity tips, like, ever?" Yes and no.

It's actually nuanced, and here's what I mean by that. One of the most powerful principles I have ever learned about time management comes from Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, one of the best books ever. He said, "The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Okay, so what does that mean?

Let's break this down. Most people wake up, go to their desk, and start making a list of all the things they need to do. Then they try and find time for what they say is important. They try to fit in their workouts, make time for friends, or work on their book or some new project all in the margins of the rest of their life.

This is the totally wrong way to go about it. It's never going to work. If something is important to you, don't try to fit it in somewhere—schedule it and make it non-negotiable. So I have a little saying that I run my life by: If it's not scheduled, it's not real. So in my business, even creating this video right now—I’m not just going to try and fit this in. This is a priority. So my priorities get scheduled first; they are in the calendar, time to work on it. If it's going to get done, I am making sure that it is in my calendar, and it's first. Here's another example: My workouts. Dance is so important to my soul and my life.

I don't just try to fit in my dance classes. I literally sit down weeks beforehand, go to the website, look at the schedule, choose the classes I want to take, and schedule those priorities. Same thing with Josh and me. Our relationship is really important. We're both really busy humans. We take time several times a year—both in January, mid-year, and at the end of the year.

We get our calendars together and schedule our priorities of adventures, vacations, date nights—you name it. I think this notion of "don't prioritize your schedule, but schedule your priorities" is so simple yet profound. If you start using this today, it will change your life. My next favorite tip is to make your success plan the day before.

You would never try to drive across the country without a map, right? Of course not. The same thing applies to planning your day. You should never wake up in the morning wondering what the hell you should work on first. You know, there was a study that found planning your day ahead of time significantly improves productivity and reduces decision fatigue, which greatly improves our performance.

No big secret there, so we have to ask ourselves: What's the fix? Here's what I do: I take a few minutes every afternoon and make my success plan for the next day. So let's talk about why this is important to do in the afternoon and not at night. I don't know about you, but once I'm done with work for the day—anywhere between 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, even 8:00 if there's a big project going on—I'm toast.

My brain hardly has any cells left. If I'm trying to look at what's going to be most important and really set myself up for success, you know what I want to do? I want to go get some pizza, or go get some dinner and lay on the couch. So I am less likely to set future me up for success if I wait until nighttime. Here's what I do instead: Anytime between 2:00 and 4:30ish, I take about four minutes. I pause and start to make my success plan for the next day. What does that look like? I take a look at my calendar, check all the upcoming appointments, confirm if any of them need to be confirmed.

I look at what time I might have to wake up if there's any travel time, addresses, yada yada yada. Then I write all of that down in terms of what I need to get done for my top three to four projects, in order of priority. This way, when I wake up the next morning, I know exactly what needs to get done. I feel clear, I feel confident, and I feel unstoppable. I’m not worried about getting stuff done because I have a game plan.

One last idea I want to share about your time and being as productive as possible: You have to get honest about what you can and cannot accomplish in a day. If you tend to bite off more than you can chew (like I used to), or if you're really optimistic and think you can squeeze 25 hours of work into a 16-hour day, I want you to hear this loud and clear: Less is more. And here's why: When you set yourself up with an impossible-to-achieve list, you're literally programming your subconscious mind to say, "I'm never going to get it all done. I'm so behind. I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. I don't have what it takes. I'm a loser."

You are creating failure before you've even started. You will feel like crap. On the other hand, if you can stay realistic, if you can challenge yourself but not set yourself up for failure, your subconscious mind will say, "I've got this. I'm awesome. I'm strong. I'm smart. I'm successful." You’ll be able to execute at the highest levels because you're reinforcing positive beliefs.

So, the lesson here is to be kind and be realistic. Set yourself up for success by narrowing your focus, creating a game plan, and getting those priorities on your calendar. Remember, this isn't just about getting stuff done. This is about making sure that you're doing the right stuff to create the life and the results that you want most.

Now, I would love to hear from you. What's the single most impactful insight you got from today's episode? And most important, how can you put that insight into action right now? Take a screenshot and share it with me on Instagram, or if you're on YouTube, tell me in the comments below. Thank you so much for watching. Keep going. Keep going strong. I believe in you, and I cannot wait to see what you create.

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you never miss a video. And if you want more content like this, head to my website at www.marieforleo.com for more free resources, tips, and the best advice to help you live your best life. And remember, the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you next time.

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