Do you ever feel pressured, behind, as if you’re not getting enough done, or as if you’re always tired? This is a message that you should organize your time in the same manner you would your space.
Time management works in the same way that space management does. There’s only so much of it, and you have to find out how to make it work.
Your time is cluttered when you have more on your to-do list than can fit into an hour (or a day, week, or month). This is the same syndrome that those who have trouble managing their space suffer from. There’s a lot of stuff. It’s just difficult to see because our closets aren’t cluttered with time obligations, but our lives often are!
How Do You Organize Time?
You must first determine what is causing it to fill up. Keep track of your time for a week. You have complete control over your time. When you don’t account for all you have to do, including transitions and to-do lists, your days become cluttered. All of those five-minute tasks and 15-minute errands add up to a significant amount of unscheduled time.
Most folks schedule their appointments, but often forget to factor in travel time to and from the appointment. Similarly, you may be attempting to get eight hours of sleep each night but failing to account for the time it takes to get ready for bed. Before you can fall asleep, you may need to do things like wash the dishes, grab some water, put on your jammies, brush your teeth, and read. When attempting to organize your time, you must first examine how you spend it.
Decluttering Your Time
The next step is to declutter once you’ve figured out where your time is going. Reduce or remove the things that are clogging up your calendar that you have control over. When people think about what they should cut out, social media and television are frequently at the top of their lists, but they aren’t your only options.
It’s possible that you spend lots of your day driving fifteen minutes to perform errands. You’re not aware of how long it takes because you’re doing things on different days. Although you cannot control traffic, you might consider traveling a little earlier or later to avoid the busiest commute hours.
You might even opt to relocate closer to work or your child’s school, or join a gym in your neighborhood rather than further across town (or work out at home). While awareness and decluttering won’t solve all of your time problems, they will help you spend time more intentionally and organize it better.
Organizing Your Time
Put your to-do list on your calendar like an appointment. Apart from getting rid of the obligation itself, this has a greater impact on your time management than any other method. Choose a day of the week to put down your to-dos and think about when (and if) they should be completed.
Do you want to do laundry, create food lists, or go shopping on which day(s)? Consider the flow of your week and your energy levels. Consider when the roads are the busiest or the stores are nearly filled. All of these choices have an effect on how long something takes.
What can be crammed into a single day or trip? Can you stop by the grocery store on your way home from your weekly class to save yourself a trip? That could save you 30 minutes of driving time, which you could use for something else.
Consider what can be done by someone else in addition to scheduling when you will get stuff. Is it possible for family members to share responsibility for tasks? Could you pool your resources with others by carpooling or joining a food co-op to reduce dinner preparation time? Could you hire someone to provide some services, such as a housekeeper, or have Instacart do your grocery shopping and driving for you?
Design Your Organized Time
Make the appointments for your to-do list next. Make a note of them on your calendar. If you use your calendar on your phone or computer, set a reminder alert, so you don’t forget about your commitments and may reschedule them if necessary.
Your calendar appointments aren’t just for what you have to do. Make plans for what you want to do as well. Do you have the life you desire? Are you getting to do all the things that really matter? Will you be satisfied with how you spent your time when you look back on your life? While time organization won’t solve all these problems, it will help a lot.
Need help with any home, office or life organization project? Book a free 15-minute Zoom call here and let’s chat about how Just Organized by Taya can help you.
Working with Taya and her team is easy. You can book an appointment easily on her website, or contact her directly at 832-271-7608
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