Time is one of the most valuable resources we will ever come across. We all have limited amounts to enjoy, but that shouldn’t worry us! That means every minute is precious. Making the most of our time doesn’t mean we have to do unforgettable actions like skydiving every second of our lives – it simply means that we properly manage the time we have to get the best experience. A well-managed sports team usually gets the most wins. A well-run restaurant offers the best food. And a well-organized schedule leads to a more fulfilling life. Here are some of the best ways to keep your time in order.
Assess your current schedule
One of the best ways to create a time management system that works for you is to see where you currently spend the most time. Writing down or drawing the approximate number of hours you spend on everyday things like work, sleep, exercise, TV, social media, etc. helps us understand where the 24 hours of each day are really taking us. Once you have a clearer understanding of what you’re spending your time on, you can start making minor adjustments at the start of each new week.
set limits
Work is important – but it doesn’t have to occupy your mind all the time. Give yourself your personal time and make sure you enjoy it. We can be good at our job, good at our relationships, good at giving back to our community, and so much more. We can do our best in all of these things if we break them down and give each one its own focus. It’s difficult to enjoy your road trip when you’re still busy with Excel spreadsheets at the office. Take your time and create memories.
make space
We can’t always control the amount of things that are on our schedule each day, but we can block chunks of time to complete the tasks at hand more efficiently. Approaches like timeboxing and the Pomodro method provide us with the blueprint to create enough space throughout the day to accomplish what we need to do. No need to reinvent the wheel, just follow these already proven guidelines to make your life a lot easier.
plan ahead
Life can often feel like an open fire hydrant – a thousand tiny droplets heading towards us at 100 miles per hour. This feeling is amplified when we wake up each day with no overall plan other than to do the best we can. When we take time each night to plan blocks of time for the next day, we can significantly reduce the stress we feel trying to accomplish everything we need to do. When it comes to time, a little work goes a long way.
Time is finite, but what we do with it is infinite. Manage your time better to create the good times you deserve.
Cover photo by Peggy Marco
