Two years ago, when I was talking to a group of friends, I realized I shouldn’t have said something out loud. In saying this one sentence, I saw the eyebrows raised and the looks that may have literally killed some cells in my body.
I said the forbidden: “I have so much time, I’m bored.”
And the statement is still true. Oops, I did it again.
Are you asking -- “How is that even possible???” You might even be saying this with a few expletives, but let’s try to keep this clean folks.
I said the forbidden: “I have so much time, I’m bored.”
And the statement is still true. Oops, I did it again.
Are you asking -- “How is that even possible???” You might even be saying this with a few expletives, but let’s try to keep this clean folks.
As crazy as it sounds, it is in fact possible to have too much time and, in the spirit of the Life Engineer, I’m going to share my personal secrets with you on how I manage to do so. Why? Because I want to hear you say it about your own life. It would make me giddy to hear you say “I have time for that” or “I’m way too busy….with the things I love.”
Here’s my seven tips to help bring you back more time in your day, week and life.
Do you know one or two people who should be receiving these tips for a lovelier life? Let them know and encourage them to subscribe by forwarding them this link: The Life Engineer TIP (Totally Important Person) List.
To a Life Beyond Measure,
Shazia
The Life Engineer
Here’s my seven tips to help bring you back more time in your day, week and life.
- Group tasks together - do you have errands to run? Make a list of what has to be done before going out to do it. You can mentally map out your route to get the most out of your trip. The few minutes spent to think about this can save you hours! Bonus: Go out only as much as needed and do all things then. If you already have to do one thing, you might as well do the other 4. And if you only have to do 1 thing, save it for another time.
- Schedule - everything. Need to pick up a book from the library? Put in your calendar. Have to call Verizon? Put in your calendar. Want to call a friend? Put it in your calendar. You get the gist. As Michael Hyatt says - ‘What gets scheduled, gets done.’
- Get ‘er done - I have found that ‘just doing it’ gets things out of the way that are taking up time in my life and in my head. It’s an interesting phenomenon that something on your mind can actually take away time. The hemming and hawing about, ‘man, I need to get that done’ eats up a lot of mental energy. If it’s something small to do, use the 5 minute challenge to cross it off your list. Race against yourself to see if you can do the item in just 5 minutes. If it’s bigger than that, break up the item into smaller chunks so you can feel the success of getting one thing off your list. It will give you momentum to do more.
- Outsource - Don’t feel like cooking? Get take out or have some cook for you. I started doing this recently and it’s incredibly convenient and much more affordable than I thought! Have too many kids to handle at the moment (that could even just be one, no judgments here!)? Hire a babysitter once a week. Is your house a mess and you hate cleaning? Get a cleaning lady and as a bonus, pay her a bit extra to also fold your laundry and put it away. If money is tight, barter services with people you know. Be creative here to outsource the things you dread and fulfill tip #3 too.
- (my favorite) WANT time - no, that isn’t a question, it’s a verb phrase: Want time. Change your thinking to wanting and then #2 and #3 it. You’ll see that by scheduling and doing what you actually want, you will feel better...and so will those around you too. Promise.
- Take breaks - lots of them. When I get tired, I stop. Could I keep pushing until I run myself to the ground...sure. And when that happens, I get so pooped that nothing is useful anymore. Instead, if I need to take a nap, I will. Or I will go enjoy time with loved ones even if I have something else that has to be done. Relax, refresh and rejuvenate!
- This is Lucky #7 and I will share it with you next week. Stay tuned!
Do you know one or two people who should be receiving these tips for a lovelier life? Let them know and encourage them to subscribe by forwarding them this link: The Life Engineer TIP (Totally Important Person) List.
To a Life Beyond Measure,
Shazia
The Life Engineer