Create time, change your world.
You have the same hours in the day as Beyoncé…
Think about that for a minute.
Create time? Change your world? You can do it!
You have the same amount of time as a Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, actress, mother, wife, d-floor slayer and yet if you’re anything like me, you struggle to find the time to put your pants on the right way round.
Why??
Time is a funny thing.
It seems there’s never enough of it or far too much of it and it often feels completely out of our control. But Imma let you in on a little secret; you are the Alice of your Wonderland, you are your own timekeeper.
Whilst it may sound simple, the amount of time you have or do not have is completely down to you though all too often, we freely give our time away and spare no time to think about the consequence.
How often do you find yourself having cleaned the house from top to bottom but not had time to work on your dream business idea?
Or, perhaps you’ve dominated a 12-hour workday but not had time to sweat it out at the gym class you’ve looked forward to?
Or a personal favourite, you’ve enjoyed far too many champagnes at an event you attended out of obligation only to find your much anticipated brunch plans overruled by a stinking headache and couch time?
The key to having enough time is simply to prioritise; to make time for the things that are important to you and schedule all else around this.
When you make a conscious effort to map out how your time is used, you will be amazed at how much time you actually have.
After all, it is possible to have it all, it’s just not always possible to have it all at once.
”So… How do I do this?” I hear you ask… Here are 5 practical time management tips that will have you wondering why you didn’t try these sooner…
Create time today, tomorrow or whenever you choose, to:
Replace “I don’t have time” with “It’s not a priority”
Alter the way you talk about time and you will discover what’s important to you. Saying we don’t have time is a way of softening the blow that you’re not important, your needs are not valid and you are not a priority.
Change this… quick.
Don’t let people steal your time
The fastest way to lose time is to let people steal it from you. You know what I’m talking about - the calendar invites that fill your schedule with no purpose, the “can I ask you a quick question?” that turns into a 30mins whinge or the weekend play date you never wanted with Moaning Myrtle and her 14 children.
Be protective of your time, everyone else is.
Get up an hour earlier
Be like Ms Michelle Obama and get yo bad self up an hour or two earlier. A head start in the morning will have you knocking out tasks before the rest of the world has even rolled out of bed.
Extra time in the morning with less distractions and a whole lot of energy is a force to be reckoned with.
Commit less
Get comfortable with space and down time, leave time in your week for absolutely nothing.
The biggest enemy to ‘me time’ are the commitments and errands you jam pack around this which eat into your time, cloud your time or worse, leave you feeling guilty about taking time for yourself.
Get sh*t done
This is one I struggle with most but it is so important – I’m quickly learning that it’s better to have done a good (but not great) job on something than to not have done it at all.
Focus on completion rather than perfectionism and your productivity will sky rocket.
And If you have any other time management or productivity tips that have helped you to create more time in your world, we’d love to add them to the list.
Now, go forth and create some time extra time in your world… I’d love to hear how you maximise your time and what tip has got you most excited… only if you have time of course ;)