MANAGING OUR LIMITED TIME

MANAGING OUR LIMITED TIME

Managing our time can be difficult when we feel pulled in so many different directions. We often have home maintenance and cleaning tasks we need to take care of, maybe some appointments to be made, work or other projects that need attention, time to rest, and time for fun. While it seems obvious, when planning your time and how to make the best of it don’t forget that our time is limited. Due to the natural limit on the amount of time we have in our day, we have to remind ourselves that no matter how much we stress over a list of things that will take three days to do, it will not make it possible to get it all done today.

Having an unrealistic to-do list for one day does nothing but create stress that cannot be resolved because there is no way to do the number of things on our list. Our time is limited and therefore so should be the list of things we would like to accomplish in one day. If there are more tasks on your list for the day than what is even remotely possible to get done, something needs to go regardless of how important they all seem. When we feel overwhelmed with what we tell ourselves we have to get done we may end up procrastinating and getting little or nothing done. Knowing that you have your time planned out in a way that more often than not you are making progress is such a huge benefit to our stress levels and happiness.

PLAN YOUR DAYS IN ADVANCE

I am not saying you have to know minute-by-minute what you will be doing each day. But taking some time to look at your calendar and deciding what you would like to accomplish on a particular day can be much more productive than waiting until the morning of to start to decide what you will do that day. You don’t want to plan to work on a project that will take hours only to realize you had several appointments on your calendar that will take up most of your time.

By looking ahead you can set realistic expectations about what you can actually work on in a day and how much time you should have available to work on it. Planning in advance can be done weekly or even the day before. Pick a time when you have lower energy to sit down and plan your day. This doesn’t take a lot of energy to do, so you don’t want to waste time when you could get something else done that does require a good amount of energy to get done.

SCHEDULE THE THINGS YOU WANT TO PRIORITIZE

Very often there are things that we say we would like to do when we have more time. If we make these things a priority in our schedules we often find that we can squeeze in the time to do them. As some of you know, I own and ride horses. Three days during the week and one weekend day I schedule to be at the barn. By putting it on my schedule I make it a priority and if something else potentially comes up for that time, most often I say I can do it because I will be at the barn.  Same as if I had work or another appointment.

Do I often tell myself that I really don’t have time to go to the barn and I really should skip it some days? Yes, I do.  But, most often I make myself put those other things out of my mind and make myself stick to my schedule. I never regret sticking to this part of my schedule.  Instead of telling myself I don’t have the time, I make the time. Do some things get put off?  Yes, of course, but nothing that had any major impact on our lives. It’s important to prioritize at least some time for doing the things you love. We usually can find some time if we make a real effort.

HAVE A MASTER TO-DO LIST

As we all know, while we are in the middle of doing something we think of something else we need to get done in the future. Without a place to keep track of those random things that come up, we can let them distract us from what we are currently doing because we think we will forget. Or sometimes, we might stop what we are doing to go do the thing. This is not only distracting but also not efficient to bounce from task to task if we are really trying to focus on something.

By having a master to-do list, we can quickly jot down the task that we thought of, and not have to worry about it until the time comes to tackle it. If you are out and about when you think of something, it’s good to have a process in place to temporarily hold those notes until you can put them on your master list. You might want to email yourself, text yourself, or put notes on your phone (assuming you will go back to check it). Once something is on a master to-do list, you don’t have to worry that you will forget about it and you can stay focused on your current priority.

HAVE A SEPARATE DAILY TO-DO LIST

A master to-do list is great to have one central location to keep everything that you would like to accomplish at some point. It helps us limit the distracting thoughts we can have when trying to make sure we remember all of the things. However, working off of a master to-do for your daily tasks can be very overwhelming. It just doesn’t feel great to check two or three things off of a list of 25 items!  Or maybe way more!

When planning what to do for a particular day it can be really helpful to review your master to-do list and pick 2 or 3 things that you would really like to get done that day. Checking off 2 or 3 things from a list of 2 or 3 things feels a whole lot better than checking off a couple of things on a master to-do list. If you end up having more time to get something else done, you can always refer back to your master list and pick another item. Also, by sitting down once and picking a few priorities you can avoid having to review your entire list each time you are ready to work on a new task.

MANAGE YOUR ENERGY

Managing our time also means managing our energy. We all have certain times of the day when we have more energy than others. Certain tasks require more energy than others to complete. It is important to manage what you expect to get done with periods of time that match that energy. If you are a morning person like me, you probably want to tackle your most energy-draining tasks first thing. If you prefer to work at night, then save those tasks for later in the day. Have a mix of to-do items that require higher and lower amounts of energy. When your energy has gotten lower, it’s great to still feel like you can get something done without exerting too much effort. You also don’t want to burn yourself out by picking only majorly energy-draining things to do throughout the day.

CREATE TIME FOR BREAKS AND LONGER PERIODS OF FUN

Time management isn’t only important so that you can get more things done. Life isn’t just about getting things done. We want to be able to get what needs to be done as efficiently as possible so that we can have time to do the things we enjoy. When planning out your days and weeks make sure that you are planning time slots that allow you breaks and time for things you find fun or relaxing. Often planning for these things in advance makes them more likely to happen. One thing that I have found helpful is looking at Facebook events for local things going on that our family can attend.

When I don’t plan something to do for the day, even if I would like to go out and do something fun, the day can often just kind of get away from me. Next thing I know it’s dinner time and we never did anything. But, if I see these local events on Facebook on my calendar, I am more likely to say let’s go do this thing today. It’s very important to plan fun and relaxing things as part of your time management, so don’t leave that part out!

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!

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