Ever find yourself saying:
- “I don’t have enough time to …”
- “There’s never enough time.”
- “I just want some time to relax.”
- “I never have time for myself.”
- “There’s not enough time in a day.”
Well then, let’s take a look at some of the tried and true ways to invent or create some of that precious commodity.
Quit Stopping Yourself
Stop saying or thinking those statements above … they slow you down and can make you give up before you start. Those are negative thoughts and do not open the door to a handling. What you say often becomes true. So turn it around into positive statements. “I have a whole day ahead of me to accomplish anything I want to.”
Prioritize
It can become a challenge and a game to make a big list of things to do in one day and go for the gusto to get it all done. However, you can also kill yourself off at the beginning of your day by planning too much into it so it is absolutely impossible to get done. Make the list and THEN decide what is important to you and what is optional for that day.
Schedule
Once you have decided on what is important to get done, now schedule those things into your day first and estimate how long it will take to do them. Then look for the sequence they should be done in for maximum efficiency and use of your time. Then look for openings where you can fit smaller list items into that are less of a priority.
You can even plan out the whole next week at once and spread your to do list out evenly over all the days.
Efficiency
Keep yourself focused on being tight on your time schedule and sticking to it. A helpful hint is to finish things that you start so you are not surrounded by a pile of incomplete actions pulling your attention all over. You start something … you finish it and put it away. That way you don’t have to come back to it later. It’s DONE … a load off your mind. By being efficient, you are buying time units to use as you want.
Delegate
Perhaps you have staff or family that can be delegated too and get help from. If you try to do everything yourself, then you are going to go spinny. For example, hiring a cleaning lady for 4 hours 2 times per month is only $200 and she can clean a 2,000 square foot home completely in that time. This frees up 8 hours of your time per month to do what YOU want to do. Look for opportunities to delegate what you can.
Positive Thinking
Instead of being a drama queen about how “it is all too much,” think in a positive direction as to how it can be done. Follow the above suggestions and you may just find yourself with time on your hands where you are forced to come up with something to fill that time with. What a problem!
