Time budgets: what to do when you can’t do it all

Humans aren’t great at accepting that our time is limited. We don’t like to think about the fact that lives, relationships, experiences all come to an end. We psych ourselves up by telling ourselves that anything is possible and encourage each other by saying “yes” to ideas, dreaming big, and aiming always for more or better. But, time is a resource — the most important resource, and it’s finite. Like other resources, time budgets can help protect our time and how we fill it.

Having lots to do is good

If I peered over your shoulder and read your To Do list, what would I see? I’m guessing it’s a list longer than today. I’ll guess that there are more things on your To Dos than you can accomplish in a month. If I peeked at your calendar, I’d see meetings, meaning even more To Dos looming soon in your future? If I stepped back and looked around, I’d probably see an organization with a list of commitments that could keep it occupied for years.

That’s wonderful. That’s fantastic. It means you’re doing well.

If you’re an advocate or a counsellor or a researcher or anyone working to improve conditions for other people, then each and every To Do is a sign of hope. It’s proof that there is something you can do to make a difference.

Far worse than a long To Do list is an empty one. A blank page would mean you don’t know how to help. To Dos means to hope, and hope is good.

Trying to do it all is not so good

Trying to actually do everything on that list, on the other hand, is not so good. It’s impossible, so you need to make choices.

You — and your team — only have so many hours in a day, a week, a month. Deciding how to spend that time is the most important decision you’ll make as a manager or a leader.

Spend your time wisely

Most managers know how to create a financial budget for a project: you figure out how much you can afford to spend, and you try to stay under it. Time budgets work exactly the same way. You figure out how much time you have for a project or as an organization, then spend that time accordingly.

If you or your team are doing everything at the last minute, are feeling overwhelmed by the workload, or your priorities fall by the wayside, then you need a time budget.

How to create a time budget for one person

1. Calculate how many hours the person has during a specific period of time. For example, the average full-time work schedule is between 1700 and 2000 hours each year. In a normal week, it’s 35-40 hours.
2. Look at all of the tasks and responsibilities assigned to that person, and estimate how much time it will take to accomplish each of them properly. For example, if they monitor emails, that task may take 5 hours per week (1 hour per day x 5 days per week = 5 hours per week and around 250 hours per year); if they need to collect water samples in the field, it may take 30 hours a week and 1500 hours per year.
3. Match the tasks and responsibilities to the number of hours available; don’t forget to account for maintenance work like checking emails, attending staff meetings, and keeping files organized. When you run out of hours, that’s it, you’ve created your budget.

Try it now with your To Do list of the week. How long will each item take? (See our tool of the week for a template that you can adapt to your needs)

How many will you check off before you hit your time budget (e.g,. 40 hours)?

How to create a time budget for a team

Team budgets work exactly the same as individual time budgets. You just add together all of the hours everyone on the team can contribute, then allocate it across all of the different project responsibilities and tasks.

Once your team’s time has been budgeted, that’s all time you have to spend.

Ways to use a time budget

1. Hiring: When you are creating job descriptions, break down the percentage of time you expect people to spend on their different responsibilities. This helps to paint a clear picture of how people will be spending their days and which parts of the job are the priorities.
2. Managing: Track and report how you and your team are spending their time routinely; see if expectations match reality and if workloads match priorities. A mismatch between how time is being spent and the organization’s priorities is usually a very early indicator that someone’s workload is way too heavy, they are being distracted, or their priorities are conflicting. It’s only a matter of time before teams in this position burn out, lose interest, or aren’t able to deliver meet project goals.
3. Plan your future wisely: When you are raising money for new projects, time budgets help you figure out how many people you need to get the work done. You can launch new projects knowing you have the resources to actually get the work done.

Set people (and yourself) up for success

Sometimes you really do need to work long hours. Sometimes you will need — or want — to sacrifice some opportunities in order to achieve other goals. The excitement of doing good work with great people can make it fun to get swept up in the momentum. Those moments of real meaning are some of the best moments in social impact work.

But if you want to do this work for a long time and you want to enable others to do it, too, you’ll want to set people up for success. That means matching workload to capacity and keeping priorities consistent. Time budgets save you from feeling so overwhelmed from constant last-minute scrambles. They keep you priorities in focus and help you prepare for the moments when you get to celebrate hard-won accomplishments.

Read More

• For best practices in getting started with, and sticking to, a Time Budget check out these helpful guidelines from Herzing University.
• To build your own Time Budget, use Entremission’s complementary Time Budget Template for Organizer subscribers.
• Time budgets work best for planning ahead, but not every day will be the same – the Organizer has touched on this before. See Issue #13 on the Eisenhower Matrix for tips on prioritizing unforeseen tasks.