As life moves forward, more and more commitments attach to our days organically without us much noticing. Soon, we're feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and things that used to seem fun feel more like a chore. Here are 6 tips on how you can audit your time and try to recapture some room to breathe.
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Write it all down- Take a 3x5 index card and list out
all you need to get down. Put a small dot to
the right of any of these chores are
recurring over a series of weeks or months.
If it helps to categorize them, do that
(house chores, work, projects). Try to get
it all out on paper.
- Carve up your day-
Using the
time carving method I discussed, make a
grid of the hours you have available in a
day. Block out all hours that you can't
control (sleep, family time, some of work
but not all, unless you're a captive
audience). What's left over is where you can
stick all those items we just wrote down.
- Start with Hobbies-
Hobbies are anything you're doing for
yourself for pleasure with no benefits other
than peace of mind. We need this time
temporarily to get you out of the weeds. You
can have it back. Oh, if you're watching TV,
you can trade 1 hour of TV for an hour for
your hobbies. Eliminating hobbies is
temporary, but frees up a block to move.
- Find Commitments to Cut-
Things you said "yes" to a year ago might no
longer fit your plans. Match your list
against things you want to be doing in the
future. Do they line up? Wherever it
doesn't, consider finding a graceful way to
bow out of that commitment. Your personal
family commitments should be solid, but
sometimes extended family is a place to find
some of these. (Whatever you love can stay,
but you're trying to make time, and it has
to come from somewhere.)
- Align Around Priorities-
If you've read the 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People, this is Habit 3. Take what
remains of your list and determine how it
relates to what matters most to you. This
exercise should give you ideas on what else
might have to go to give you room to do what
needs doing.
- Protect Your Future- One reason people say yes without thinking is that they don't see their time commitments laid out. You wouldn't write checks blankly without knowing your budget, would you? Make sure you're aware of your time budget before taking on new projects, and check these new commitments around your priorities and see how they match up.
This isn't about restricting you, but rather
it's designed to help free up cycles for you to
do better, more meaningful work on the things in
your life that you decide are the most
important. Too often, we let our obligations
clutter the path to success. By rethinking your
time, you'll find a big improvement in the
quality of your days.