Time. Seems like there’s never enough of it. I don’t know about you, but I sure run out of it quite a bit!
Last year, I worked on revamping this website. A lot of months of effort and tears went into it to make it what it is today. And I used a terrific goal planning system that helped get this all working.
But one thing I didn’t account for.
Life.
Life is…
When the kiddos get sick and it interferes with work to be done on a project that day.
When the car dies and an appointment can’t be reached.
Times when there seems to be no end to tasks that popped up by magic and cannot be ignored.
The internet decides to be super slow, but the deadlines come super fast.
You get the idea.
Life.
How do you fix this?
You can’t fix Life. That would be like trying to nail jello to a wall. It just doesn’t work.
So what do you do?
Build in time!
No, I don’t mean try to create time out of something unchangeable.
I mean, change your method of approaching the problem.
Necessity of managing time…
I wrote about managing money a little while ago. Budgeting isn’t something most people want to do. But if you have the end goal in mind, your money starts to cooperate with your long-term goals. And you end up with the flexibility to meet unexpected expenses. And flexibility to have fun and even savings for emergencies!
The same goes for managing time. It needs to be budgeted.
Time is finite, just like our income. And if managed well, it will go a lot further than it does without a budget. That small method of naming every dollar and constraining spending will give you freedom instead of stress.
Let’s review a few basics of money management…
With your present income in hand, write down what that figure after taxes is.
Then list your expenses:
- tithe, or charitable contributions
- food
- housing including utilities (like electricity, internet, cell phones, etc.) and insurance
- transportation costs including fuel, maintenance and insurance
- clothing
- medical deductibles or other out-of-pocket expenses
- birthday and Christmas gifts
- extra expenses, such as personal websites, bank feeds, miscellaneous items (like toilet paper, pencils, and other non-consumables), pet food and veterinary expenses
Once you know what you must spend, then build in a little bit of wiggle room for fun things.
During our really tight times, I’d set aside my quarters so we had something to buy treats once a month. It wasn’t much, but for us, it really was special. Then we’d buy a soda or other treat from the gas station after the car was filled.
It wasn’t much, but it made us feel rich!
Do the same thing with your time…
Do the same thing for your time spent during the day. Keep track of what you do every day for at least one or two weeks. Get an idea of how long tasks take, what unexpected events come into play, etc. Round out the minutes to the nearest 15 minute increments.
You’d be surprised just how much time something really takes – and how much time is wasted down the internet or video game rabbit holes!
For example:
- 5-6 am Get up, do quick exercises, take a shower and dress for the day.
- 6-6:30 am Walk the dog and feed it.
- 6:30-7:30 am Get breakfast and pack lunch for work (Save money!)
- 7:30-8 am Drive to work
- 8 am-12 pm Work
- 12-12:30 pm Lunch break
- 12:30-4:30 pm Work
- 4:30-5 pm Drive home
- 5-5:30 pm Take dog out for walk/jog
- 5:30-6:30 pm Make and eat dinner
- 6:30 – 7:30 pm Relax, read a book, turn off internet and distractions, and unwind
- 7:30 – 8:30 pm Get ready for bed routine (brush teeth, turn back the covers, do stretches and relax)
- 8:30 pm Lights out
Obviously this is a fictitious list, but you get the idea. Taking the dog for a walk or getting prepped to go to work might actually take you less – or more – time that you think. So write it down and keep a tally just so you know what your average time expenses are.
Then plan accordingly!
Don’t think that you can get this all down immediately. It takes time to make time!
But once you have a general idea of how long things take, you can then budget your time.
And, more importantly, you can build in wiggle room where you see unexpected time expenses cropped up in your time evaluations.
Time budgeting…
Now that you have an idea of how much time is spent in each category, time block out what your must-do tasks are first on your planner. The rest is negotiable.
First, block out time for things like driving to work, work hours, lunch hours (or 30 minutes), etc.
Those blocks of time can have some flexibility as to their contents, as work projects and tasks will vary from day to day. But the fact that they are blocked out gives you the freedom to put in that space the specific steps needed to move the needle toward your ultimate goal.
If it just hangs out on a goal sheet and never makes it to a slot in your day, it will be forgotten. The long list of tasks will just seem an impossible mountain to climb. And they will stay put on the long list – not in the place that will do you the most good. In your blocked out time slot.
Don’t cheat!
Just like using an envelope system for money, your planner is your “envelope” system. The envelopes cannot talk to each other. If they do, then you won’t have any money left.
So, too, with your planner. Your time blocks can’t talk to each other. What is scheduled for work stays for work. What is scheduled for personal time stays as personal time.
Your time blocks can’t talk to each other.
If you can’t get things done within the timeframe you set, then do part of it today and do the rest tomorrow.
For example:
This is a copy of my time tracker. There are days I can fit it all in…then there are days that I have to move the rest to the next day.
Notice the red arrow pointing to the right of the page. I ran out of time working on my yearly goals. So they got moved to the next day.
Notice, also, that there are 15 minute times in the time blocks to the right of the calendar example. Those are the breaks I’m supposed to take.
(“Supposed to” – operative words, there. It works – but only if I set my Time Timer on, which I frequently forget when doing interesting things – like writing this article.)
One day at a time – no more.
Don’t plan too far ahead!!!
Planning for the week isn’t a bad idea. But scheduling in every iota of work isn’t.
Lay out your days with scheduled blocks of time. But, for your own sanity, don’t fill them with tasks more than one day ahead at a time!!
And limit just how much you will allow yourself to do. Adding in too many tasks will only lead to frustration, burnout, and poorly executed assignments.
Remember. You only have a specific number of hours in the day.
Every day is different. And something may come up in the next day or two that you didn’t expect, throwing off all your best laid plans.
Plan tomorrow at the end of today. Not before.
Routines may change..
If things get added to your time plate, maybe it is time to reevaluate just how much time you’re spending again. Then adjust your schedule accordingly.
Remember. You only have a specific number of hours in the day. Don’t overload your schedule or very little will get done.
Except maybe accelerating the path to a nervous breakdown!
Then build in time for yourself
Time off means an hour or two a day just to decompress. It means spending the weekend for your personal time – not bringing home work to play catch-up for changes that management decided Friday afternoon.
If the job is that stressful, and there is an opportunity to either change jobs or start your own business, do it.
And if not, then start budgeting enough money to set aside for taking days off “unpaid”. Then take those days – or a week – off without the stress of not having enough in your budget to cover that much needed break.
Give yourself the allowance to breathe.
Track your minutes like you track your pennies…
I know what it’s like to live under the stress of the corporate jungle.
But leaving was the best decision I ever made.
Even if I my income is now 1/3 of what it was.
Do I miss it?
No. Only the paychecks. And even then, like I did years ago, I allot myself a little bit of built in fun money so I don’t grow frustrated from the financial constraints.
But now I have the mindset and energy again to start over. Now I can work on building things I loved to do.
And that is worth every bit of tracking those wasted moments in life and capturing them back.
Just like those pennies that disappeared into the ether until I learned to art of budgeting, I am able to recognize when I’ve allowed my precious moments to be mishandled for stupid things. And I can adjust my schedule to make up for my slack.
Like getting lost in the black hole of YouTube…