Want to increase your bandwidth and still have time left over for yourself?
Here are 4 areas of leadership to master
“There’s just too much to do and not enough time to do it!”
”Work is overwhelming, and I’m spread too thin.”
”I just don’t have any bandwidth left.”
Have you ever felt this way? I hear this all the time from colleagues, leaders, and clients.
As a working mom, I can relate. There are a million things that need to get done, then a million more that I want to get done. When you factor in the running list of those you live with (spouse, kids, etc.), bandwidth seems like a lofty goal.
As a working parent, the demand for my time often feels unending. There’s always something that someone needs from me, and I have to be really intentional about saving up time for myself each day, otherwise I run on empty.
There’s this constant tension between the things I want to do, need to do, and the things I can actually do on any given day. And I don’t just want to get stuff done, either - I want to get stuff done well. It’s a constant balance and, as someone who tends to take on more than I should, I always have to keep this in check.
Parenting has taught me a great deal about productivity, but it wasn’t until I became a full-time working parent that I had to make some major adjustments to my commitments and learn how to fix my bandwidth problem. Here’s what I realized: bandwidth isn’t actually the issue. Bandwidth is often a symptom of the problem, not the actual problem.
That means that the only way to tackle our bandwidth problem is to get at the core of the issue. But how?
Here are 4 areas to master to significantly increase your bandwidth
#1: Delegation
Did you know you don’t have to be the one that does everything? Shocking, I know. In fact, you don’t even have to have your hands in everything you manage or oversee. The biggest pushbacks to this argument I hear are as follows:
“There’s nobody who knows how to do it like me.”
”I don’t have enough time to teach anyone how to do it.”
Delegation is a strategy, and learning how to delegate effectively will increase your bandwidth and put you in a position where you can focus your efforts on higher level thinking and vision-casting. Yes, it takes time to get someone up-to-speed, but the investment far outweighs the cost because the returns are undeniable. Plus, when you empower someone else, you not only free up that responsibility from your plate, but you give them a chance to grow and potentially train others.
Delegation can be really hard for new leaders because they’ve not actually put this skill into practice.
When you learn how to delegate effectively (aka, teach others how to do what ‘only you can do’) you will:
increases your capacity, freeing you up in other areas
elevate your leadership potential
make yourself look good, because when the teams wins, YOU win
#2: Clear Communication
Clear communication seems obvious, but let’s face it - few people communicate well.
It’s one thing to master what good communication looks like, but putting it into practice when you’re mixing conflict, emotions, and lots of other variables into the mix, clear communication is just hard.
The good news is, you can get better with practice, and the workplace is a perfect platform for real-life application.
When it comes to clear communication, consider this:
Try to keep the emotion out of it and when it comes to addressing conflict, give yourself a moment before responding.
Proactive is always better than reactive.
Don’t sugar-coat the truth. Clear is kind. Get to the facts and be direct.
Consider who you’re communicating with and what they need to understand, i.e. bullet points, lots of context, visuals, etc. The point is, speak to your audience.
#3: Prioritization
Far too often we approach our suffocating bandwidth by either procrastinating the inevitable or multi-tasking too many things at once. Both approaches are inefficient and ineffective.
Procrastination robs us of maximizing the time we do have, while multi-tasking limits how much of ourselves we are able to offer to any given project.
One question that has really served me well over the years is: “is this a problem for today or tomorrow?” In other words, does this need to get done right now, or can it wait?
Reminder: it’s okay to not tackle everything in a day. Project management has more to do with efficient and valuable progress than it does quantity and how much you were able to cross off your list.
Leadership lessons from the vault
I remember a time I worked for a leader who had an “everything is urgent” mentality. He would react to everything like the house was on fire, making it feel as though I needed to drop all my projects at once to attend to whatever it was that came up at that time. At first, I responded as such, and slowly felt the pressure building up behind me as I’d chase every little problem he’d drop on my desk.
But then I got smart. I started asking questions and pushing back. I learned that asking better questions would often lead me to the source of the problem, which was usually easier to solve than the trail he’d lead me on. I also learned that I could let him decide what my priorities were. If he was going to change directions on me, he needed to be the one to authorize what was going to stay on my list and what was going to get delayed.
For example, I’d often bring him the 4 urgent projects I was working on and ask him which ones he’d like me to prioritize. By going through this exercise together, the full scope of what I was managing was top-of-mind for him and he would have visibility (and ownership) into what projects were being delayed.
#4: Time Management
It’s time to stop being a slave to your schedule and start being an owner of it!
Time management looks different for all of us, but here are 3 things you can do to be an owner of your time, instead of a slave to your schedule:
Set daily goals and celebrate small wins
I’m highly motivated by achievement. I’d argue that all of us can relate to that to some degree. While I think it’s important to challenge ourselves and work hard to achieve something grand over the course of time, I also find value in celebrating small wins throughout the day.
This starts with creating daily goals that are clear and actionable. These can be both personal and work-related and should reflect what’s important to us while also pointing towards larger things we may be working toward.
For example, if you’re writing a book, a daily goal may be a word count, or a time-allotment to do some free-writing or editing. Write this down, block some time in your day to do it, and then celebrate when it’s complete. This doesn’t have to be extravagant, but a simple acknowledgement that you finished. Maybe there’s a song you love or a favorite drink you enjoy. After you complete the daily task, play that song or make that drink. The point is, find what motivates you and take time to name the accomplishment.
When we set goals for ourselves that we can accomplish in one day, it helps us see that we are indeed, making progress. It can be easy to miss the progress sometimes because it gets lost in the everyday chaos, but taking time to slow down, set a goal, and then identify what you’ve accomplished helps to keep you motivated and encouraged along the way.
Use your calendar and schedule the most important things
Instead of being a slave to your schedule, it’s essential to leverage it in a way that helps you honor the valuable time you have.
Look at your calendar as a sacred place. You value your time immensely and this is where the most important appointments go. This space is reserved for the relationships you set the most priority on, the high-priority tasks that are going to help you achieve your big goals, and those important reminders that you just can’t forget if you don’t want to let yourself and others down.
Scheduling time blocks also keeps us accountable, making visible the things we’ve said we would do. And I’m not just talking about important work meetings. Schedule things like:
Planning/thinking blocks: shut off notifications so you give yourself plenty of time to focus without interruptions.
Dates with friends, kids, partners, etc.
Reminders: things like groceries, taxes, paying bills, scheduling appts are all good things to have on your calendar.
Exercise & meal planning.
Build margin into your schedule
It doesn’t matter if you work from home, volunteer, raise children or don’t, or run your own company… we all need margin.
Margin is simply space to breathe, time to unpack or decompress, time to switch gears from one type of work to another, creative space, or simply the mental capacity to manage all the little things that unexpectedly pop up in your day.
We all need it, but most of us rarely take into account margin when it comes to our schedules. Start by thinking through your day and the times where you routinely feel stressed or overwhelmed with your schedule. This is usually a good indicator of where you might need some margin.
I highly recommend taking an inventory of your schedule and determining specific times where you need to create some breathing room. Not only is this good for your soul but it will also improve your productivity.
Question to consider:
In what area do I lack the most experience: delegation, clear communication, prioritization, or time management?
What are some ways I can develop in that area?
Let’s take an inventory of my bandwidth:
what are some things I could delegate to someone else?
what areas do I need to get clarity on?
do my priorities need to be adjusted?
what is one way I can build margin back into my day?
Personal bandwidth increases significantly when we learn to master these 4 areas of leadership: delegation, clear communication, prioritization, and time management.
I want to remind you that we all have the same number of minutes in our day. It’s what we do with our minutes that determine our margin, level of productivity, and dare I say it… bandwidth. And while you may be carrying too big a load or expected to manage too much, there has to be a level of ownership over our time that puts us back in the driver’s seat and out of the victim’s chair.
The good news? With practice and the right application, you can build a life of increased bandwidth, freeing you up to do the things that matter most.
Until next time,
This is all great information and advice. Thank you for sharing.