Do you have a schedule? Is it detailed and set up to where you have allocated specific times for office work, client meetings, the physical labor, sourcing, a life, and family time? 

As an aspiring young wood professional, it is fair to assume that most days you’re just going to get up and go to work. Once you get to work, you’ll probably just … work. However, like workpieces, life sometimes can throw a curveball at you on any given day. What seems to be as simple as getting up and going to work can often not be as simple as we plan. 

That’s why this month we’re going to talk about time management (I know proverbial eye roll, I did it too at the thought of writing this article). I have learned when I grimace at a topic, it’s usually one I really need to look at.

Time is the villain
In my work, I always say time is the main antagonist or villain in my daily narrative. It can be the leading variable in great efficiency or leading variable in profit failure. 

Over the years I have learned it is very important for me to find a way to operate and work at my most efficient and very best. Time management has a lot to do with that. I genuinely do my best to set a schedule and try to stick with it. 

I do my office work and marketing planning Monday mornings and Friday afternoons. I typically deal with sourcing Monday afternoons, including going and retrieving things physically when needed, as well as taking care of anything I have to order. 

The rest of the time in my week is for doing the physical labor. I also break down time management specifically within the physical aspects of work. I have found that I can build multiple things at once by managing my time efficiently with good planning. 

I start my day with a simple tidying up anything I miss the day before and I immediately dive into anything that requires glue time, finish time, or any time where it has to sit before I can continue working on it. 

Basically, my in-shop work prioritizes attacking time itself to stay ahead of it. Time is my villain, remember, so the best defense is a great offense in my experience. 

I allocate other aspects of work like sculpture, routing and sanding to the back half of my workday because that requires no sitting time and the results can be achieved immediately. On a good day, I can follow up that work by moving the stuff that was in glue back into the fold and get some of it routed, sanded, cut, or sculpted as needed. I work typically and preferably between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., although sometimes earlier and later are required to make deadlines.

Keeping priorities straight
I try to maintain getting finished by 6 p.m. every day so I can also be home to enjoy time with my family. They are the main reason for everything I do so I try not to lose sight of that and keep my priorities straight. 

When I was younger and didn’t have a family, I did not take that time off, and I regret it, because I could have been building other elements of a life, including hobbies and friends that I had to splice in over the years. It also fostered a habit of always working. 

What I’m really talking about here is boundaries with yourself, healthy living, and sticking to your priorities. Most successful people I know do that, and they also keep a good schedule. 

The Greeks believed that a warrior is at his best when he is at peak functioning mentally, physically, and spiritually. I have found that they were right and having time management in good boundaries with myself by having a schedule and sticking to it has allowed me to maximize that. 

I highly encourage you to sit down with a rigorous honesty and come up with the schedule that allows you to be productive and still have a life.

Clients on the clock
Time management with clients is another aspect that is important to discuss. There have been times in my career when I was so busy that if I stopped physical work to talk with clients every time, I would’ve gotten no work done at all. 

I learned I have to have set hours in the week that I leave open for that and no more. There is no more important client than the one whose workpiece is currently sitting on my workbench. It doesn’t mean that I am difficult to deal with or that I don’t prioritize client relationships. It means that I have respect for the clients I already have and make time for prospective clients within my pre-planned scheduled times. 

Many of my clients are not available until evenings or weekends so I try to be flexible when needed by picking a two-hour block on a weeknight or weekend every couple weeks to accommodate that. It’s not a big a deal to step away from family time when its scheduled ahead of time.

These clients I schedule that time for I have already vetted and know how serious they are. The funny thing is I have found most prospective clients actually like that and respect it, taking it as a sign of professionalism. 

I have also found that the quality of my work when I’m actually working is better because I’m not having to stop and start over and over again. Woodwork for me requires staying in a rhythm and nothing ruins that rhythm more than having to stop and change gears or change my mindset on things that are abstract instead of what’s in front of me. This is also common to hear from others that work in the trades in my experience. 

One of the reasons I had this luxury is because my work studio is private and nothing comes into that space mentally or literally unless I allow it. If your workspace is public and people are coming in and out, I would suggest you come up with a way to keep conversation short and come up with a method to help you to deduce how serious they are and get back to work promptly when you can. 

Many professionals in this situation typically have a short list of questions they ask to gauge or qualify clients. Some of it is instinct you develop over time. Be polite and respectful but remember that getting product out requires your time too. It’s hard to do that if you’re always talking to visitors.

Making time for friends, family
Last but not least, visits or favor requests from friends and family. In my experience being self-employed and working in a private workspace can be difficult when it comes to your availability time for friends and loved ones while on the clock. 

This is not a knock on them. Unless they have also been self-employed or run a business, it is hard for them to understand that just because you’re technically setting your own schedule, it doesn’t mean that you can just break from it whenever. 

Best way for others to respect your time is for you to set the tone by respecting it yourself. Most of the time they do not understand that when you have to lose some time for something, it is inevitable one way another you will have to make it up. 

At the same time, I am a father, and telling my daughter or family members no is extremely difficult. I have had to get better at saying, “Not yet,” or “Not now, I will deal with that when I’m off of work.”

Anytime I have failed to stick to that, it has actually created situations that induced more stress than the simple event of small stress that comes from saying no or not yet. 

This can be harder than it sounds with loved ones but if you want to stay in business, you have to attend to it. I am telling you this because it’s important that you practice good principles in running a business and you are allowed to work set hours. You are the boss, right? 

Establishing good time management and setting boundaries with yourself and others in all of the ways we’ve discussed should win over people’s hearts and minds — along with your own — over time as shown by the success of your work. That speaks for itself in every way from quality of life, comfort, profit, and professional respect. 

Just as I’ve suggested to you, I will take this opportunity to sit down and edit my schedule and calendar because I’m sure there’s some edits and old habits in there I need to implement some of my own suggestions. Until next month, be well everybody.

#YoungWoodPro is a contest and an educational program sponsored by Grizzly Industrial to help novice professionals improve their skills in business and woodworking. Entries are closed for the 2024 contest. Learn more about the winner and finalists.