Managing your time is a lot like managing your money. It's not about the numbers; it's about your behavior. The best time-management tricks in the world won't do you much good if they don't actually make your life better.
In this article, I will explain that although you will never have more than 24 hours in a day, you can make some changes today that will free up more time in the long run.
Is there a secret formula here? Nope! Just a different kind of thinking.
I. Fact: We have enough time if we prioritise it correctly.
You may want to say, “No, Nath, I really don’t have the time.” Well, an easy way to see if you really don’t have time is to track your time
We all wish we had more time. It turns out we have plenty. I want to share ideas on how to take our time back. This way, we can set us free from mental burden and actually create “more” time for our future self.
A. Enough time:
We often say “I don’t have time”. Oh don’t you? Or are you just using ‘no time’ as an excuse? Because, it is often the case that rather than openly admit that something is not our priority at the time, people will usually say “I don’t have time. Sorry, next time” when being asked to hang out or help with something.
You may want to push back on this and say, “No, Nath, I really don’t have the time.” Well, an easy way to see if you really don’t have time is to track your time - just like you might track calorie intake or daily steps. If you don’t measure and track, you can’t improve, whether it be about weight loss or productivity in a day.
To track your time, there are plenty of apps that you can use (ex. Toggle Track or Timelogger). But I personally prefer the good ol’ paper timesheet and a pen. If you have never tried tracking your time before, try it for a week! (Though 2 weeks is even better) and let me know what you find out. 🙂
II. Top 3 strategies to multiply your time
Although the promise of multiplying your time sounds exaggerated, and not possibly true, I believe that yes, you can do “all”.
But you need to be smart with your time, and invest your time like you invest your money (to make more money). After all, we already invest our time to make more money. Like, when we study a topic or practice a skill for years in order to have a higher income.
A. Calculated “Laziness”
I hate cleaning the house. I read that on average, a woman vacuums the distance between Paris and New York 3 times in her life.
Invest a couple of hours every week to assess and improve your life so you can be “lazy”.
I do it everything Saturday morning. I like to asses and reevaluate a pain point I came cross during the week. It can be as simple as cleaning the house. I hate cleaning the house. I read that on average, a woman vacuums the distance between Paris and New York 3 times in her life. (Sorry, I am not that kind of woman. I’d rather get on a plane and GO to New York, rather than vacuuming!)
So my point is, I am lazy, but not dirty or messy. Just strategically lazy.
So I had to find a solution to clean my house, without doing it myself. Many would tell me to get someone to clean for me. Yeahh nah, sorry don’t want to spend the money on that. But lucky me! We are living in a modern world, where technology is at our finger tips - presuming our wallet can follow. So I got a robot vacuum!
I have been using one for over a decade now, and I’m still very happy. I can’t imagine the number of hours I saved in almost 10 years… On average 1 hour per week… Over ten years that adds up to 520 hours or 21 days! Yeah, I take that!
You will say “Hold on! you saved 520 hours, you did not multiply 520 hours”. Yes and no... Yes, I saved that time, but I also used it to do more things that are saving me time again, but I also used this time to enjoy life!
B. Ask yourself: What can you do today that would make tomorrow better and easier? The idea is to invest a bit of time today to get more done tomorrow - with little to no effort.
By spending an hour today setting up your banking payments, you free up time for the coming months. AND you free yourself from the associated stress.
Example 1: Spend 1 hour to set up automatic payments for bills, so you don’t have to do it manually every month. This also frees up mental space! Then, you don’t carry the mental burden of constantly reminding yourself to remember to do it. By spending an hour today setting up your banking payments, you free up time for the coming months. AND you free yourself from the associated stress.
Another example: If you do your groceries via online shopping, spend 1 hour to create your usual weekly grocery list. If you know you need milk, eggs, orange juice, bread, fish, and chicken EVERY WEEK, why do you bother to add them to your online cart every week?
If you spend an hour going through what you know you need each week and simply create a ‘usual items’ shopping list, then when it’s time for you to do your grocery shopping online, you just have to add the ‘usual items’ list. It saves you time, and removes the risk of forgetting something essential.
C. Plan to be lazy: What I mean here is that for any repetitive job or task you have to do, think how you can lift the burden. Is it with a system you can put in place? Or could it be with the help of an app? or maybe a template that you always use?
I personally use templates for almost everything. I have templates for emails, for budgets, IG captions, blog posts, painting, etc. I don’t like to start from scratch; it stresses me and then I find I have blank page syndrome. 😱 A template - even imperfect - is just enough to help me kick off and start the tasks I need to do. And to be honest, after sticking with it for 5 mins, I forget I didn’t want to do it at first!
Key Takeaways:
There is no perfect time management method. But, the key to success is being flexible and trying to improve inch by inch.
Often the first step is to work on your mindset. Second, understand that it is actually possible to improve your time management. Last, don’t be afraid to be “lazy” ;)
If you want to dive more into this concept of multiplying your time, check out Rory Vaden’s book Procrastinate on Purpose: 5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time
Which of these techniques are you going to use? Comment and let me know! 😃
Photo by Morgan Housel on Unsplash Photo by Veri Ivanova on Unsplash
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