Do you ever find yourself asking, “If I had two more hours today, I could finish everything I wanted to get done!”? After working, school, chores, sporting/club events, etc, the clock says “bedtime” and those extra activities you wanted to get to today will just have to be pushed back (again) to tomorrow…hopefully tomorrow. There is never enough time in the day! I have a brilliant quote that I want you to let soak into your head: “you always have time for what you make time for”. There is a reason you are so busy that you do not have a free moment; that reason is simply you! Whatever you are engaged in currently, did you choose to do that? In America, we have the freedom to choose whatever we want to do! We can choose if we want to become an executive and push 60-hour weeks, or we can choose a career path with minimal demands. We can choose to take more classes and stay up all night studying, or we can choose to skip happy hour and replace it with an earlier study time. Marriage and children are also a choice, and you should love them all for what they are worth to your life, even if things may get a little chaotic in the house from time to time. American is so very lucky to be able to participate in these freedoms. I encourage you to seriously take note of the power you can hold over ‘time’. Let me reiterate my earlier quote and emphasize the fact that you can personally control your time.
Now that you understand this concept (and you are leaping up and down with joy that you just took back your life), how can we get to where we want to be? Here are a few options:
· Create a reasonable list of things that you want to accomplish on that particular day, and then review your schedule to see when you can designate time in your day to actually do those tasks. This works especially for visual learners, because they can clearly see when they will have time on their daily calendar to complete all the things on the to-do list.
· Cut out an activity/job/etc. that you do not need to do and replace that time you had with something valuable, such as spending time relaxing with your spouse and/or children, or working on fixing that darn sink that has needed repair!
· Wake up a half hour earlier than you normally would, and use that time to do whatever you wish to get accomplished (i.e. jogging, reading, watching TV, catching up on some laundry, etc).
· Eat healthy and drink plenty of water. While this may not necessarily help you to take control of your time, a healthy diet can help you to feel at your best and thus enjoy what you are doing with your time!
· Find an accountability buddy. No matter what you wish to have more time to do, there is more-than-likely someone else out there who wants to do that too, or who may be intrigued by your idea. Having a friend to complete your activity with will push you harder to make time to do that activity and you will know that you have someone else who is counting on you to do that activity with them! This will give you more of an incentive to follow-through.
· If after reading all of these suggestions and you are still thinking that you still have just too many commitments to attend to, see if you can ask a friend or family member to help you with one of your activities. This could be something as simple as asking a relative to pick up the children from school, which could give you those extra minutes to go on a jog, clean the house, mow the lawn, or go to the grocery store. Also, if you can afford it, check into hiring a professional!
If you implement these suggestions into your daily lifestyle, you will see changes, and you will be a much happier and relaxed being. Just remember, you always have time for what you make time for!
