Many of us struggle with time management.
The important things get next behind and the small screens engulf our precious time: Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram and endless scrolling.
Planning Your Week
So how do we manage this?
Try making a list of everything you should be doing more of.
Make another list of everything you should be doing less of.
Now make a schedule
Mon - Sun.
Put three blocks for each day.
Day | Am | Pm | Evening |
Mon | ​ | ​ | ​ |
Tues | ​ | ​ | ​ |
Wed | ​ | ​ | ​ |
Thur | ​ | ​ | ​ |
Friday | ​ | ​ | ​ |
Sat | ​ | ​ | ​ |
Sun | ​ | ​ | ​ |
Morning afternoon and evening.
Put in the most important things that you need to get done:
It could be exercise, working and studying, time with family, meditation/praying etc
You could have a morning or evening once a week with your spouse- schedule it in.
Add in time for self development- reading or studying, making phone calls, replying to emails.
Decide how long you want to spend on your phone everyday and make a note of that.
Make a bedtime routine. It could involve reading a story boom to your children, putting them to bed and then starting your own bedtime routine.
Hold yourself to account for that time.
Make sure you have a diary/planner, whatever you call it. Add any appointments in there and check through it at night time before you go to bed.
Try and build in systems into your weekly schedule to help with time management and ensuring important tasks get done.
Review your phone time each week and ask yourself what is helping you become the person you want to be and how much of the online time is distracting you?
How much of that time could be better spent? What else could do you with an extra 2 hours a day?
Set a new screen time goal for the coming week and continue to review it weekly.
Don't reply to emails and messages that don't need a reply. How much time do you spent reading and sending emails that just say OK.
Sleep early and wake up early.
If you have young children, waking up early could give you a chance to get things in like exercise and your morning shower before they wake up.
Prepare For Tomorrow
Get clothes ready the night before for you and your children for the next day before you sleep.
Ruminating
How much time do you just spend ruminating?
If you need to sort things out or make decisions, set some time to journal or research information to journal.
Many people spend hours with unhelpful and endless ruminating, going over and over events and getting emotionally triggered and charged.
Find an outlet to help deal with emotional storms. From exercise, to journalling, reading self help books and working with a practitioner to help you work through your thoughts, you could be saving hours a day.
Less Waste
Trying not to waste food. We work anf earn money, shop, buy food and cook it. Wasting food goes beyond the actual food that is thrown away, but a waste of huge resources of your time and money.
Cooking less, storing the food, freezing some after cooking it, to sharing with neighbours can all help with saving the wastage.
Setting boundaries
For time management, we need to set boundaries and br able to say no to protect our time and priorities.
Everything that needs protecting has a boundary. Are you someone who can never say no?
If so, you will end up doing things and being in places that aren't important to you and waste your precious time from doing things you value. Saying no, isn't easy, especially if you are someone who often feels guilty. But remember showing up half-heartedly, hoping the other person realises they shouldn't have asked you for something seldom works.
Politely learn how to say no and prioritise people and tasks that give value to your life.
Listen to Audiobooks
Prepare task that you could do when driving or cooking listening to an audio book or something useful, if you think it's safe to do so.
Work On Your Physical Health
Ensure good sleep, drinking water and exercise. Eating less can also save time. Many of us don't need three meals a day and many people manage on one meal a day.
Work On Your Emotional Health
Emotional storms can take hours, days, weeks , months or even years to recover from. They take our energy and divert our attention from what really matters. How long does it take to recover from an argument with your spouse or family members? Most arguments are futile and achieve little. Could your energy be better diverted ? Working on your mental health can give you the tools to be the calmer version of you, and you will find it helps you keep you bearings during life's storms.
Self help book, courses and personal coaching can help you with your emotional health.
Remember life, is very short and very precious. Make sure you spend it doing the things that matter to you.
I hope these tips help.
