How to Find Time in a Busy Schedule

There has been a time in everyone’s life in which they felt as if they did not have enough time. And I’m not talking about micro time constraints; I’m talking about “not enough time in the day” type time constraints. This is an easy trap to fall into. However, getting past these constraints takes only a few days of reflection to cure. 

Key Takeaways

• Tracking
• Planning
• Repeat

 

Tracking

Most people may think the logical first step is to set some goals for how they’re going to improve their time management but my argument would be that it’s best to know where you are right now before you try to make radical changes to your future; therefore we should start by tracking.  What are your current downfalls?  What activities are you engaging that are not enriching you?

When tracking your daily activities, the goal is not to make substantial changes to how you manage your time, but rather log how you are currently spending your time. When you begin tracking your time, don’t make any changes to your day; log the exact activities you engage in and for how long. Simply bringing your awareness to your current habits can and will be transformative in and of itself. 

It’s best to use a daily planner that allows you to break your day into 15 or 30 minute chunks. Keep this print out near you at all times and consider setting a timer every hour to remind you to fill in each 15 or 30 minute time block. Any time you hit a roadblock in your time and activity management, come back to this step; just track and then see.

Planning

Now that you have logged how you spend your time it is time to set some tangible goals. Ideally, you want to look at your habits. What habits are causing you to lose time? What are some priorities that you are not allocating enough time toward? Where can you reduce the amount of time you spend on certain tasks? Are you wasting any time throughout your day? These are the kind of questions you can ask yourself as you start to plan how you're going to make habit changes. 

When setting goals for yourself, it is important to note that creating habits takes time. Don’t be too ambitious in setting multiple advanced goals and expect them to happen overnight. Instead, start with one or two small attainable goals and track them throughout the week. Instead of scrolling social media for 30 mins when you get home cut it down to 15 minutes.  That’s a huge change.  If you do that every day for a week that’s an extra hour and 45 mins per week you just freed up! Multiple tiny changes are not only easier to stick to but their effect may be more profound than those big changes people like to think about.

Finding Time Bottom Line 

If something is important to you, you have to make time for it. Don’t wait for certain habits to manifest into your life. If you do this, you will be waiting a very long time and won't see any results; rather, make goals with the intention of shaping your life the way you’d like it to look. When it is time to reflect again, ask yourself: are my actions reflecting the goals that I set for myself?

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