How often do you hear yourself saying there is just not enough time in my day? I am guilty of saying this one too many times. I think I am an organized person, but yet I feel like the chores and tasks are always ahead of me instead of the other way around. Over the years I have set goals each week, so I could finally conquer this feeling that I don’t have enough time. Some weeks I would feel like I did it and other weeks I would feel like I was back to square one.
I have to do a hundred things in a day. It’s just how my life is. I have a career, kids to take care and so many life in-betweeners, not to mention my need to go to the gym. My body is not what it used to be. Things are starting to sag and going to the gym is a must. There are just so many hours in the day. Then there are my son’s regular homework duties. As a mum, this takes top priority and time. We all know how painful homework duty can be.
How can one petite lady like me handle it all and still have enough hours to sleep at night?
I stopped trying to manage my time. Instead, I started to self-manage. Is there a difference? Yes, definitely. Time goes by whether you like it or not. You can’t change time, but you can change your self and your perception of time.
Have you ever done something and regretted it so much that you wished you could go back in time and redo it? I have, and I’m sure, so many people have too. It’s not the greatest feeling that’s for sure.
I stopped having regrets like that. What I have started doing instead is managing myself so that I wouldn’t need to wish I could go back in time to rectify it.
How did I learn to self-manage?
Firstly, I started thinking differently about time. Instead of giving myself an hour to complete a task, I reduced the time to 15 minutes. Grouping my time into 15 minutes to 30-minute tasks made me feel like I was getting more done.
I prevented myself from getting sidetracked.
When I needed to do something, I knew it had to be done, but I never set a time limit on it. As a result, I would get sidetracked. Leaving something you are trying to finish to do something else is such a common human flaw. Are you guilty of doing this?
I learned how to multi-task by giving myself an hour to complete as much as I possibly could.
I am a visual person so I am always thinking of how I will do things before actually doing them. Multitasking allows me to stay organized and ahead of the game. I already have my time limit set, and my vision is clear in my head, so all I do is execute it.
I reward myself for self-managing
When I have done a lot in a week, and I feel good about managing myself, I allow myself to relax and be lazy. I have extra time not to think about time. I don’t wait for the weekend to do this. Life is too short to wait for weekends. When you can manage yourself, you will discover that you have time to enjoy those extra things in your life. It’s a great feeling, and I suggest you try these simple techniques to gain more time for yourself.
If you would like to discuss more ways to manage your time. Send me an email. We all need a different perspective sometimes.
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