How Do You Find the Time?

Hello Friends,

People often ask me “How do you find the time to …” or they say “Wow, it would be nice if I had the time to …” Sound familiar?

Everyone seems to wish that they had more time. What they don’t realize is that everyone has the same 24 hours in each day. It’s what you choose to do within that day that is the difference.

Life is all about choices, and that includes how you spend your time. Lifestyle choices, job choices, habit choices, and spending choices all contribute to how you spend your 24 hours each day.

If you feel that you don’t have enough time to live and enjoy the type of life that you want, you can make some changes.

The first thing you want to do is sit down and make a list of all your daily activities. Monday through Sunday. If you already use a day planner or calendar this will help you out a lot. Then add in all the little things that you don’t put in your planner or calendar like stopping for coffee or grabbing dinner on the way home or something like that.

Now make a separate list of all the things that you would like to do in your week if you had time. Prioritize these based on what would make you feel the best, give you the most relaxation, or benefit you the most.

Next look at how long it takes you to do some of your habits, for example putting on make up in the morning or sitting and having your coffee.

Are those important? Could you shorten them to include something else in your day? Also look at how long it takes you to get to work, maybe if you left earlier you would avoid traffic and you could get more things done earlier?

Utilize ‘dead’ time, like waiting for appointments. A good example is that I’m writing this blog while waiting for an appointment. I’m dictating the blog, then I’ll edit it in about five minutes.

Analyze your weekly prep. Do you spend some time every week getting ready for the upcoming week? If you don’t, this is a game changer!

Spend 20 minutes on any given evening pick out all your outfits down to your accessories. Have them lined up for the week. Then you don’t have to fuss with what you’re going to wear, you can grab an outfit and go.

Next spend about 20 minutes meal planning for the week this way you have a menu plan in place.

Spend 30 minutes chopping vegetables prepping salads and sautéing meats. (This step may save you both money AND time.)

This hour and a half of prep time will save you literally four or five hours during your week. This frees you up for those extra things that you want to do: for some down time, for some fun time, for some family time.

Sometimes leading your best life, your happiest life, is all about time management.

Have a Great Day!

Dottie Lake