A recurring joke has been popping up on social media since at least 2020. People phrase it differently, but the gist is basically: wouldn’t it be a relief to live in “precedented times” for once?  

Between politics, the pandemic, extreme weather crises, artificial intelligence, the economy, etc., it feels like current events are described as “unprecedented” every single day these days.  

Facing a Wild Year Ahead

Let’s be real: this year is going to be another wild year. We’re all living with a lot of uncertainty about what’s going to happen in our communities, in our country, and in the wider world. There’s a lot that feels uncertain.  

Navigating your daily life and running your business through tumultuous times can feel a little bit like walking through a haunted house at Halloween.  

You know there are jump scares ahead. But you don’t know where or when they’ll be, or just how much they’ll throw you off course.  

Preparing for the Predictable and Unpredictable Times

In your business, you can prepare yourself for slow periods, difficult clients, rising costs, personal time management challenges, and all the other predictable problems that might pop up over the course of a year.  

What about a natural disaster that floods your office and destroys all your files and electronics? A personal health crisis? New laws or new technology that have a negative effect on your business? Or… well, who knows! We’ll just have to wait and see.  

That’s the thing about unpredictable times. You don’t know the details, but you do know they’re coming.  

In the meantime? You have a business to grow and a life to enjoy. And while you can’t control the headlines or stop disasters from happening, you can control your time. 

So, read on for four strategies to help you stay focused, work productively, practice good time management, grow your business, and protect your peace—even during unpredictable times.  

1. Memorize Your Big Goals.  

You have a finite amount of time and energy to use in the year to come. Unpredictable stuff is going to hijack some of the time and energy you plan to spend on routine work. When that happens, you might end up scrambling to catch up or stay on track. It gets hard to prioritize clearly when you’re feeling pulled in all directions. You might waste valuable time trying to figure out what to do next. Or, you just pick something to work on, even if it’s not urgent, because that feels like good productivity at least. 

Staying in relationship to your most important goals makes prioritizing your to-do list SO much easier. Instead of looking at all the things you could/should do next and weighing the pros and cons, you’re able to jump straight to: “Okay, [X] is my highest priority goal right now; I’m going to put my time there and will work on [Y] afterward if there’s time.” When those curveballs come at you, some of the stuff that was on your to-do list for the day might not get done. However, you’re able to use whatever time and energy you have left for that workday to make sure the most important stuff does get done.  

If you’ve already created a list of your most important goals for this year, great! If you haven’t, go ahead and start that list today. And then keep looking at it. It’s so easy to let your big plans drift away when you’re busy with all the day-to-day stuff you already have going on.  

Memorizing your goals helps you stay in close relationship to them. Maybe that means summarizing each of them in one word and turning them into an easy-to-remember mantra. (For example, something like “Conferences, 20 percent, Spanish” could help you remember that you want to attend more industry conferences, increase your revenue by 20 percent, and learn to speak Spanish this year.) Or write them on a sticky note to put on your computer monitor, where you can’t miss seeing them. 

Then, when those scary life events and headlines happen and you feel overwhelmed and distracted, you can go back to that list of most important goals. Having something to work on that’s aligned with your top priorities gives you someplace positive and productive to put your energy and attention, instead of worrying about stressful things you can’t control.  

2. Audit Your Time Management Systems and Productivity Strategies.

Inefficiencies waste your time and create more stress that you don’t need. Assess all the time management systems and processes that you use as part of your workflow, looking for places where you can make your life easier.   

For example:   

  • When you need some piece of information from your files, can you always find it easily, or do you have to spend 30 seconds searching for it?
  • Is your physical desk setup comfortable and efficient to navigate?
  • Are there any buggy or hard-to-use software programs slowing you down?
  • Is your calendar planning system working well for your needs?
  • If you work on billable activities, do you have the right system in place to make sure you’re billing accurately and quickly?  

Logging your time for a few days or a week could help you notice some places where you could be doing things more efficiently. Creating really good, workable systems helps you build the structure you need to work at peak productivity, even when things in the outside world are trying to pull your focus.  

3. Be Intentional About Managing Your Access to Stressful Content.

There are news updates you need to know about, but you probably don’t need to take in dozens of infuriating or frightening headlines during your lunch break. Creating and maintaining boundaries about the content you consume is critical, especially during unpredictable times. If you’re prone to doomscrolling through news sites or social media feeds, that’s probably not great for your mental health, and it’s definitely not productive time management.

Unless there’s an active crisis happening that you need to track, give yourself permission to limit your access to news and social media throughout the day. Set controls on your devices to limit the amount of time you’re able to stay on those sites. Choose other engaging activities, like reading books or playing with apps that help you learn new skills, to fill your downtime so you don’t get consumed by stressful news while you’re taking midday breaks from work.  

4. Protect Your “End-of-Day Self.”

Here’s a grim stat: a 2024 survey from SHRM found that 51% of American employees said that they felt “used up” by the end of the workday.  

There’s more stress waiting for you at home, where there are always projects or chores you still have to get done, not to mention people/pets who want your time and attention. By the time you crawl into bed, you might not have energy to do anything except scroll through your phone until you pass out. And if you go to sleep totally depleted, you’re probably not waking up in six or seven hours feeling refreshed and ready to do your best work that day.  

Ending every day exhausted and mentally burned out creates a cycle that’s hard to escape from. Your physical and mental health can suffer, making you less resilient when those unpredictable events show up in your path.  

Instead, what if you were intentional about protecting some of your time and energy for your after-work self? Think about the activities you would most love to do after work, and how you can prioritize your ability to enjoy them. Maybe an hour-long yoga class helps you unwind and feel great, but you’re always too exhausted by 7 for anything more than child’s pose. Or, you want to carve out more time to enjoy weeknight dinners out with friends. Knowing that you need to give yourself a hard out at 6 tomorrow night, and that you want to have enough energy left to enjoy a long dinner, lets you build your schedule for the entire day with that objective in mind. You’ll still get the most important stuff done at work, and spend the day looking forward to enjoying your evening plans.  

Unlock Your Productivity in 2025

Most professionals need support with time management and productivity at some point—what about you?   

What’s possible for your business this year? What’s possible for you? Distractions, time management challenges and unpredictable times don’t have to hold you back, no matter what kind of surprises are in store for the year ahead. I’m here to help in whatever way I can, including giving free access to my webinars:  

Coaches and Consultants, join us for our upcoming webinar, 3 Keys to Unlocking Productivity for Consultants on February 12th at Noon ET. Get the details and register here.

Attorneys, How to Supercharge Your 2025 with Ease for Attorneys will provide you with the time management strategies you need to kick off the year strong. Get access here. 

Realtors, How to Supercharge Your 2025 with Ease for Realtors is designed to help you make 2025 your most productive year yet. Click here to sign up. 

Be well,  

Sarah 

Sarah Reiff-Hekking