Ever found yourself craving more hours in your day? Are 24-hours in a day just not enough? Just not making the best use of the time that you do have? Then this article is for you!
Time is of course a precious commodity. You have a daily bank of 24-hours in which you must spend it wisely to accomplish all you need to achieve in order to reach your goals and live life to the fullest.
Sounds easy, right?
So much to do, so little time. And the long and short of it is that we just never seem to have enough or sufficient time because life just gets in the way!
Don’t despair! Good planning and being mindful can go a long way in helping you spend your time efficiently.
Optimizing Time By Managing It More Effectively
Without a doubt, one of the most common problems faced by movers and shakers is a ‘lack of time’. However, some people seem to effortlessly glide through the day cashing in on the same 24-hours we all have but achieving so much more. I can tell you that it isn’t because they have magical powers it secret tools that no one else knows about. It is down to the fact they are very aware, mindful and respectful of time – their own and others.
If you are affected by the ‘not-enough-hours-in-the-day syndrome’, there are some key questions that you can ask yourself to help uncover any familiar patterns or roadblocks that eat away at your daily time allowance. Once you have identified them, you can make changes to help break old habits to get you back on track balancing your hours in the day.
Not Enough Time? Ask Why by Answering these Questions
1. Am I clear on my goals and vision both short-term and long-term? Lack of clarity results in procrastination and confusion.
2. Is my work area as organised in the most effective way possible? Being disorganized and without structure reduces focus and energy.
3. How easy is it for me to say no? If you find it difficult to say no, you may be spreading yourself too thin.
4. Do you spend hours per day wasting time spent on social media? Research suggests that social media is responsible for thousands of wasted hours.
5. How strong are my boundaries? Do I allow too many interruptions from others? Do I stick to my boundaries? Healthy boundaries act as time bodyguards to ensure you stay on track.
6. Am I eloquent in my communications or do I chat unnecessarily? Less is more. Say what you have to say and move on!
7. What is my relationship like with multi-tasking? Multitasking can increase productivity & performance but perpetual multitasking may have an adverse effect on productivity.
8. Do I love the adrenaline buzz of being overly busy? Ask yourself if the buzz is more important than the task in hand – you may need to refocus.
9. How well can I delegate tasks to others? Relinquishing control and asking others to help is important to avoid burnout. You can’t do EVERYTHING!
10. Do you allow any time for the unexpected things that crop up? Avoid scheduling yourself back-to-back all day long. Life often doesn’t work out the way we thought it would. Have a plan B in place.
11. How reflective am I on my time management to help better understand my strengths and weaknesses and areas that I can maybe improve? Reflection and awareness allows you to make the improvements you need to get better at managing your time.
12. Is my morning routine grounded and healthy to inspire and energize me, or do I hit the snooze button too many times? Morning exercise routines are a great way to kick start your day and remain energised through out the day.
13. Am I a procrastinator on important tasks? Why would that be? Ask yourself if fear of not getting it perfect is affecting your action?
14. How do I feel about money? Do I feel like there will never be enough? Oftentimes, poor decision making is based on fear rather than logic when connected to money.
15. Do I pick up the phone every time it rings and respond to every email when it comes in? Perhaps consider setting time aside to do check emails once a day and limit phone time.
16. How well do I plan my week and how often do I reassess my to-do list? Is this always an afterthought or something that you place importance on and prioritise?
17. How passionate am I about my work or am I too exhausted to feel energized by my passion? It could be time to reassess what floats your boat and kick it up a notch if what you are doing is no longer working for you.
18. Are my goals and targets solid and in place and do I know how to achieve them? Lack of clarity is one of the top culprits in poor time management.
19. Do I come up with new ideas all of the time and desert my current goals to check out these fascinating new options? Try focussing and sticking with one main goal.
20. Do I invest in myself and my business by consulting with experts, or do I think I know it all or feel threatened by others’ success? Time to understand that there is room for everyone and being happy for others is positive.
Take some time with these questions. Sit down and answer them truthfully. The answers to these will help you bring awareness to what is really behind not having sufficient time in your day and find familiar patterns to help create a plan to create new habits to start making every minute count more.
So, if you think you might be lacking when it comes to conquering the hours in your day, then check out these 5 useful ideas on how to master the time-sucks of modern life and become an efficient, productive person.
5 Ideas To Increase The Hours In Your Day
Here are 5 top tips to help you enjoy more hours in your day to ensure that you are on top form to be super motivated and productive.
1. Get Up Earlier
It is said that the early bird catches the worm! In the bygone years we would naturally rise with the sun and whilst things have of course changed somewhat, Carpe Diem (seizing the day) is a significant way of earning yourself some more hours in the day.
By getting up just one hour earlier everyday, gifts you approximately 30-hours extra per month. This equates to 4 extra (working) days a month, which is a whopping 48-days more a year to work, grow, study and develop. Now, that is a serious head start!
Moreover, morning hours are the most productive so you will be getting more bang for your buck by doing more, with more time. Win-win.
At first it may be challenging for your mind and body to align to an earlier wake up time however, once you have adapted to your new routine you will only wonder why you haven’t done it sooner.
Top Tip:
Adjust slowly. Albeit some people like to go all out and jump in head first waking an hour earlier, most like to start step-by-step by waking 10 mins earlier, then 15 and so on and so forth.
2. Outsource the Small Tasks
Even though it may be tempting to do everything yourself, (after all no one does it as good as you!), you must learn to delegate. Those tasks that can be done by others, must be done by others. If you have your own business, consider employing some freelancers. There are so many freelance sites out there nowadays that a simple Google search will pull up a host of options whatever your needs may be. Of course this option will cost you but the time you save for doing the more important things is priceless. By cutting out the small jobs, you can focus on the much more significant ones to get your business or career moving into that upward trajectory.
Top Tip:
Experiment with this and start with some of the smaller/cheaper tasks and see how you go when you outsource them. If managing them goes well, then you can let some of the larger ones go too.
3. Know When to Stop
In your quest for success, you will be tempted to work like crazy and not know when to stop. Even though you may think you are working hard and doing what you need to do to succeed, this is a false investment and not sustainable.
Knowing when to stop, take a breath, and rejuvenate is essential to ensure that those hours you do work are productive. Everyone needs to come up for air sometimes. Your body will let you know when you need to slow down and take some time out. It is important you listen and take heed.
Top Tip:
Set your alarm to signify the end of your working day and don’t press snooze. Be self-disciplined in stepping away from your work day.
4. Learn How to Say No
Saying no is one of the most empowering things that you can do for yourself. If you are looking for more hours in your day, in order to achieve what you need to achieve, you are going to have to learn how to say no. Saying no helps minimise distractions and helps prioritize your time much more effectively. One of the biggest challenges will be to say no to social invitations so that you can be fully present in what you need to do. You will need to find the balance between being social and being focussed. You get to decide.
Top Tip:
Change your mindset from ‘people pleaser’ to ‘you pleaser’.
5. Be Super Organised
Being organised helps you allocate your time more efficiently to generate more hours on the clock for you. Not only does it improve your quality of life, help you feel more motivated and in control, it saves you time. A tidy environment is a sign of self-respect and self-care as well as providing a sense of structure and positive well-being.
In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “For every minute spent organising, an hour is earnt”. Mighty words for mighty claims but there must be some truth in this as 67% of people said that they could earn themselves up to half an hour per day by being organised.
Top Tip:
Take some time everyday to ensure that your environment is conducive to a healthy environment. Start with making your bed in the morning and see the snowball effect of this one small accomplishment.
Time Management: The Take Home
If you hear yourself saying, “I have so much to do” and “I never have enough time” you are stuck in the ‘victim’ role. “Not enough time” are words that allow you to hide behind when it comes to effective time management. By blaming external circumstances gives the illusion that things are beyond your control. This is totally wrong. You are in full control of everything in your life. You run the show. Full stop.
Proper time management is essential to ensure that you turn ‘not enough time’ to ‘sufficient time’ in your day.
A key to being successful is effective use of time. Managing your time well can help you improve in your career, build your business, accomplish goals and advance your aims and objectives.
Good time management gives you extra time to spend in your daily life. People who can time-manage effectively enjoy having more time to spend on hobbies or other personal pursuits
Plan. Prioritize. Limit multitasking. Keep your to-do list updated and close by. Limit distractions. Focus.
Life is full of many beautiful, wonderful, interesting things to experience, learn, enjoy and share that each hour we have becomes beyond valuable. The magic of being able to expand that time tenfold can be achieved with just a few small tweaks. Why not just try one and see where it leads you? Who knows, it could be just the one that you need to kick start that business idea you have floating around in your head or get the much desired promotion you are looking for.
Time is a gift, spend it wisely.
