Create more time – Here is how!

Don’t have enough time in the day to do what you need to do? Are you exhausted and unhappy? You need to create more time! More time = being more present = happiness and peace = happy children. But just how do you create more time, you may ask?! Well, I will tell you in a minute but first we need to understand why you do not have enough time in the first place.

To discover why you do not have enough time, we may carry out a few exercises as suggested by Project Eve:

1. First, make a list of everything you do in a day, from morning reading to personal care to time spent eating to activities at work.
2. Second, assign the amount of time you need for each activity.

In this particular case, Jackie said the following about her client:

Even using modest time projections, she needed a 33-hour day to accomplish all she needed to accomplish. We had a good chuckle over the absurdity of a 33-hour day. The source of her lack of time and accompanying overwhelm were apparent. Her expectations exceeded reality. While realigning expectations to fit reality was one strategy, there was more left to do to create more time.

She goes on to share 3 more strategies on how to create more time in our lives.

1. Buy it. You don’t have to do it all. Identify tasks you’re currently doing that you could hire someone to take over at minimal cost (time = money).
2. Find it. Tracking commitments and time requirements makes one painfully aware of the growing number of obligations. Rather than pile on, pare down commitments that do not advance your personal or professional goals.
3. Create it. Thinking out of the box is helpful when creating extra time. For instance, rather than spend time filing and organizing paper, go paperless using Evernote or other suitable software, automate repetitive activities, etc.

Other strategies may include:

• Disconnect from the internet and have some down time to re-evaluate your goals and plan going forward.
• Handle things once (saves 15 to 20 minutes). When it comes to email, voice mail, or paperwork, take instant action—i.e., read, answer, delete, file—so you don’t have to come back to it. The accumulated time saved can add up to ten hours a month, says Jana Kemp, a Boise, Idaho, “time architect” and the author of “No! How One Simple Word Can Transform Your Life.”
• Make good use of “waiting time” – whether its at the doctor, the dentist, with the kids or before a meeting; use that extra 30 minutes productively (this can include spending quality time catching up with the kids or getting some work done).
• Establish one or two “nonnegotiables” and work your schedule around them. For example, eight hours of sleep a night, two hours of exercise a week, or one night out for fun, suggests Valorie Burton, a life coach in Annapolis, Maryland, and the author of “How Did I Get So Busy?”
• Write it down. Constantly cycling through a to-do list in your mind hinders productivity and creativity. Carry a pad or Smartphone (Evernote syncs with your Computer) and jot down what’s got to get done, clearing your mind so you can come up with work solutions and new ideas more quickly.