Time is one of the most valuable resources we have, yet many people feel like they never have enough of it. Between work responsibilities, family obligations, and personal goals, it can be difficult to balance everything while maintaining a sense of control. The key to achieving balance isn’t about cramming more into your day; it’s about aligning your schedule with your core values and priorities.
Effective time management goes beyond productivity—it’s about living with purpose. When your schedule reflects what truly matters to you, you experience less stress, more fulfillment, and greater success in the areas that mean the most. In this article, we’ll explore how to define your core values, implement practical time management strategies, and create a schedule that supports your long-term goals and hopefully have fun while doing so! We cover four areas.
One: The Foundation: Core Values and Priorities
- What aspects of my life bring me the most joy and fulfillment?
- What do I want to be remembered for? Is it rushing around with a busy schedule? Is it always running to the next appointment?
- If I had unlimited time and resources, what would I focus on?
Two: Prioritizing the Importance over the Urgent
Sometimes the smallest detail can make a huge difference. We have a small fountain in the back of our property beneath a grape arbor with vines we saved, then planted from several generations of my family. With leaves that drop from the grapevines, the fountain water needs changed from time to time. Even though I knew a small pump would be the best choice to drain the fountain, when draining the fountain I took my bucket and started filling it with water then poured the water on surrounding plants. Soon, I was in a full sweat and the water level had not gone down even one inch after filling and dumping multiple large buckets of water.
This was puzzling until I realized I had not disabled the “auto-fill” lever for the fountain. With every bucket of water I dumped out, the same amount of water automatically flowed in the fountain, erasing all my progress. After laughing at myself, I realized there was a valuable principle that could be taken from this illustration. We tend to think we are reducing stress and responsibilities by eliminating certain buckets of commitments, but the auto-fill never shuts off.
Many people struggle with time management because they confuse urgency with importance. Urgent tasks demand immediate attention (emails, meetings, minor crises) that keep filling up our fountain, while important tasks contribute to long-term goals and personal fulfillment. The key is to prioritize the important over the urgent and keep close watch on any “auto-fill” lever in our life.
A good tool to use is the Eisenhower Matrix to categorize tasks in defining levels of urgency.
This helps to identify the Urgent & Important, Important but Not Urgent,bUrgent but Not Important, and Neither Urgent nor Important
Three: Practical Time Management Strategies
I watched my father, who was not only a fire captain, but also was involved in construction on his days off, building industrial buildings. He would load his tools in his truck the night before. This was because when he showed up on the job early the next morning, if he wasn’t ready, his workers would sit around waiting, wasting valuable time and resources. My dad was never one to waste time or money! So that example of getting his tools ready the night before stayed with me, to plan ahead and be ready for the next day, the next week and even the next quarter.
Also, the principle of batching tasks is a highly effective strategy that can improve productivity in many areas of life. It involves grouping similar tasks together—such as formatting articles, writing newsletters, or recording podcasts—in one focused session, allowing them to be scheduled for future release. While occasional last-minute work is inevitable, thoughtful planning through batching creates more freedom, boosts efficiency, and reduces stress. I use this method often, especially in producing articles and podcasts.
Another helpful principle is to eliminate distractions, which are often the biggest barriers to effective scheduling and task completion. Distractions act like an endless "auto-fill" to our fountain, constantly pulling attention away from priorities. Taking deliberate steps—such as turning off notifications, decluttering your workspace, and using a timer for focused work sessions—I have a 10-minute timer!--can make a significant difference. You may be surprised at how much your productivity improves simply by creating an environment that supports deep, uninterrupted work. See Cal Newport’s excellent book Deep Work for more on this.
Four: Aligning Your Schedule with Your Life Goals
For many years, I worked with numerous private students instructing them in voice and piano. Part of my job was to hold them accountable for what we covered the week before, preparing them for performance. All of them moved ahead to not only learn and achieve their goals, but to perform. If the student put in the work, there was always a huge return on investment. Accountability is an important element of goal-setting that is often skipped. This is why I’ve started adding an accountability option for some of my online courses to help attendees not only complete them, sometimes to even start them. We also need to be accountable to ourselves.
Many people set goals but fail to schedule time to work toward them. Reverse-engineering success involves breaking long-term goals into daily or weekly actions. For example, if your goal is to write a book, you might schedule a chunk of time to write every morning, or whenever your mind is most clear. To help with this, I’ve provided free goal setting downloads, so make sure you get them!
Your most important values deserve protected time on your schedule. Whether it’s exercise, date night, or creative pursuits, treat these commitments as non-negotiable. They are priorities. A rigid schedule can be counterproductive and stressful, so you don’t want to be so scheduled that the fun is taken out of life. Life is unpredictable, so allow for flexibility while maintaining overall discipline. For example, if an emergency arises, reschedule rather than abandon important commitments.
Application
By making small, intentional shifts, you can take control of your time and create a life aligned with your core values and your goals. Here are some steps:
One: Identify your core values and assess whether your schedule reflects them.
Two: Take off the “auto fill” by identifying what you can pause or eliminate from your schedule with clear priorities. Have fun doing this!
Three: Batch some tasks to structure your day, week or month efficiently to free up time and energy in the future.
Four: Revisit your goals often, breaking up larger goals into very small steps.
You’ll be amazed at how effective revisiting these steps will be. How you use your time reflects what you truly value. By taking charge of your schedule and aligning it with your core priorities, you not only become more productive but also experience greater fulfillment and success. Enjoy this process and start small, stay consistent, and watch how your intentional scheduling transforms your life.
Additional Resources
Stop Circling: Steps to Escape Endless Roundabouts by Deborah Johnson
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Online Courses in Personal-Professional Development and Music
Goal Setting Downloads- Free
Effective time management goes beyond productivity—it’s about living with purpose.
deborah johnson
Thought Leader, Keynote Speaker, Author
If you are interested in growing and learning, check out our online courses here: Online Learning
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