HOW TO CREATE MORE TIME IN YOUR DAY (+ SAVE YOUR SANITY)
Are you ready to stop wasting time and create a SIMPLE plan that allows you to be more productive during your day? You’ll not only get my daily + weekly planner that will help you stay productive during your days, but you’ll also get a time audit (to see where you are spending - and wasting - your time) and my Ideal Schedule worksheet! Best of all? IT’S COMPLETELY FREE!
We all do it…Someone asks us how we are doing, and our immediate response?
“Good. Busy. But, good.”
Y’all… we wear BUSY like it’s a badge of honor. Like, if we’re not busy, what are we actually doing with our lives?! Believe me, I am 100% guilty of this as well. I hate being bored, so I find reasons to be busy - to the point where I get completely overwhelmed and then this wave of depression takes over me.
It’s a vicious cycle…
I don’t think there is anything WRONG with being busy, but we also need to be SMART about it. If you want to take on more or do a better job of things, we absolutely need to find areas where we CAN save time so we can focus on the things that DESERVE our focus… you know, things like our family, or our job/business.
Here are my top 3 time hacks to save your time (+ sanity)…
Put your phone on “do not disturb.”
When I first heard that people did this, I was appalled! What if you MISSED something?! Heaven forbid I don’t respond to a text or message immediately, especially as a business owner.
But, you’ve got to set some boundaries with your time. What happens when you hear a ding or notification go off on your phone? You immediately check it. And once you check it, you feel the need to respond. And if you don’t respond, you can’t stop thinking about it.
It’s like when you give a mouse a cookie…
So, what if you turned your phone onto “do not disturb?”
What if you set boundaries to when you look at your phone and respond to messages?
You might find that you’re spending LESS time scrolling, and are MORE productive with your time.
BONUS TIP: If you have an iPhone, you can set your “favorites” for your contacts so you never miss a call from the people who are most important in your life. I have my husband, mom, and the kids’ schools in my phone so the important calls still go through.
Batch your work or tasks.
Even if you’re not a business owner, you can benefit from batching your tasks.
Batching means you have a different focus each day. If you’re a business owner, like myself, you can focus on different aspects of your business on different days.
For example…
>> MONDAY: CEO Day (the day where I work on my business only)
>> TUESDAY: Client or Team Related Tasks
>> WEDNESDAY: Content Writing + Projects
>> THURSDAY: Client Tasks
>> FRIDAY: Planning + Catch-up
As a mom, I also do this for my cleaning. The last thing I want to do is spend the weekend cleaning my entire house. Instead, I spend less than an hour (usually less than 30 minutes) cleaning a part of my house everyday…
>> MONDAY: Clean the living room + kitchen
>> TUESDAY: Clean the bedrooms + change sheets
>> WEDNESDAY: Deep clean one section (this rotates each week)
>> THURSDAY: Clean the bathrooms
>> FRIDAY: Vacuum + mop the floors
Not only does this save me time, but it also makes cleaning less overwhelming. And my house stays cleaner! If I miss a day, I miss a day, but typically, this allows me to free up my time to be present with my family on the weekend.
BONUS TIP: By doing this, I also don’t feel like I need to hire someone to clean my house. While that’s a long term goal of mine, it’s not financially responsible at this point.
Create a weekly plan.
OK, maybe this sounds counterintuitive. “Wait, you want me to spend time planning to create MORE TIME?!”
Yes! And here’s why…
If you’re flying by the seat of your pants every single day, you probably are WASTING time. Maybe you get to 3PM and go, “Where the heck did my day go?!”
Y’all, this is a classic case of time wasting and not planning ahead.
This doesn’t have to be a long process. Set aside 30-60 minutes on Sunday night and write out your schedule for the week. What appointments do you have? What meetings do you have? What do the kids have going on after school? What are your meals for the week (yup, plan that out too)?
And then put it in your calendar. I know exactly when I am planning on working and what tasks I am going to complete during that time because I have it all planned out ahead of time. And guess what? I get A LOT more done than if I didn’t have that planned. Because if I didn’t have it planned, I’d waste my time trying to figure out what I was supposed to work on that day.
Put these into action and see how much time you actually SAVE over the next few weeks! Plus, I bet you’ll feel a lot less stressed too…