Calming the Chaos with Time Management Strategy
In today’s hectic world, it can feel like there’s never enough time to achieve what we want to. Time-management expert Laura Vanderkam recently tackled this issue on “It’s a Good Life,” explaining how we can make time for what matters most. Here are some of her top tips:
Think about your time differently
Regardless of the demands on your time, when something is truly important to you, you’ll make space for it. Think about what happens when you experience some kind of crisis, for example. Time doesn’t magically expand so you can cope – instead, you move less urgent things to the side to deal with what’s vital. The key to successfully maximizing your time is to clearly identify your priorities and then treat those with that same level of urgency. It is possible to build the life you want with the time you have.
Get clear on where you want to spend your time
Many people feel like they simply don’t have any spare time, so they never ask themselves what they would actually like to spend more time doing. The fact is, there are 168 hours in a week so, even taking work into consideration, there’s still space to do things you want to, you just need to get clear on what those are. A great way to start is to make a list: where would you like to spend more time professionally, personally, or for your own physical, spiritual and emotional health? Once you identify priorities, choose a few you could spend an extra hour a week on, maybe by spending an hour less on something that isn’t that important to you.
Track your time
If you would like to manage your time better, track yourself for a week so you can monitor exactly how you spend it. We often tell ourselves a story about why we feel so overwhelmed but, when we can see where our time is actually going, we realize we do have time for what matters. Instead of saying, “I don’t have time,” try saying “it’s not a priority” and see how that feels.
Life can often feel chaotic. We all want to feel that we have time to handle our many responsibilities, as well as time for the things that are fun and make us feel rejuvenated. To learn more valuable tips for maximizing your time, listen to the latest episode of “It’s a Good Life.”
