More time: I wish there were more hours in the day. Have you heard yourself saying that one? Sometimes we all wished we could just make the time stop so that we can catch up on everything that there is still to be done. Overscheduling ourselves by putting too much on our to do list is a possible reason how we end up with just too much to do. But then others add things to our to do list, maybe our tutor, our boss, our family or friends. That’s trickier to handle then since we seem to have lees influence on that. Wondering how to make more time in your life? Since lacking time is an issue for many of us, we’d love to share some high impact tips with you.
Plan ahead
Make a calendar of the upcoming days, week’s months. Put everything you have to do with all your commitments, travels, events, studies, sports etc. in your calendar. Like this you get an overview of “how much is on your plate” for the upcoming future. Take a look; do you like the look and feel of your agenda? Does it feel powerful and promotes a “can do” attitude? Or is your calendar stuffed full of things that it makes you want to run away or just throw it away because you don’t know how you will ever manage to actually make all that happen? If the second question resonates more with you then you have to start planning ahead. Before you say yes to anything that should go on you calendar, look at it first. Will there be enough time for you to squeeze in that extra assignment or meeting next Wednesday or will it put you under pressure and stress? Planning ahead will make you more successful in managing your time and also influencing how others impact your time. It’s you who says “yes, I can” or “no, we have to do it another day”. Pick the one that’s right for who you are and want to be.
Be realistic
That takes us to your own judgment of how much can be achieved in one day, week, and month. Be honest to you. Things hardly ever work out as we plan, but if we can project ourselves forward, assuming that something will come our way, we may become more proactive than reactive with our time. An emergency or something important gets dumped onto our to do list, just a bad day, anything really are real and happen to everybody. Cramping your days, weeks and months won’t leave space for such matters. Of course they’re often not really foreseeable, but let’s be realistic they do happen, more then we believe. Make sure to plan your days that there is actively some time to dedicate to those instances. And let’s face it, if planned ahead and you know what you are doing and where you are heading, then even if you end up with a “free slot” in your calendar, then you always have the option to pick up a task that is planned for the following day and just get it out of the way earlier. Our tendency is anyways more to be in a “catching up attitude” rather than “proactively being ahead”. And most importantly, do also not forget to “schedule” time off; it doesn’t happen if you don’t plan on it.
Planning ahead and being realistic are the first tips for you to implement. Try them out and let us know how it works for you in making more time! Make sure to read more tips on how to make more time in our next blog post.