How to Free Up Time for Your Aspirations: Make the Most of Your Day
One of the statements I hear the most from my clients, colleagues, and friends is “I don’t have time”. From “I don’t have time to talk to you right now” to “I have so much going on that I don’t have time to shower or brush my teeth.” I actually heard the latter from a colleague. Personal hygiene notwithstanding, that statement represents a deep issue with the perception of time, self-prioritization, and very possibly lack of boundaries.
Frequently we feel that we have to be super humans. Our saboteurs convince us that we are the only one who can take care of this task, event, person, or situation. So we end up constantly running around, and often we do not know how to stop. Or we do not want to stop. If we do (stop) we may have to face something we do not want to or are not ready to process.
Time, like death, is a great equalizer. We all have 24 hours per day regardless of our background, ethnicity, how big or small our financial net worth is, or where we live. The individual difference resides in how we use those hours every day. Do we use our prime time (i.e., the time of day when we are at our best) for our big rocks aligned with our overall purpose? Or do we use it to see the latest in our inbox, CNN, Instagram, or even LinkedIn?
Many years ago, I learned about the five balls from the book Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson. Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.
I think about the five balls often especially when I start to feel out of balance. It is a solid starting point to prioritize.
“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” Stephen R. Covey, American author, and businessman
These are my set of principles to prioritize how I use my time
Self-care is non-negotiable. Since exercise is not my favorite thing in the world, I decided to do it first thing in the morning (during my prime time). That way, no matter what the rest of the day brings, I put in the time and effort to move my body. Another part of my self-care is minding the food I consume. Since I know I will not have much energy after a full workday, I carve out time during the weekend to prepare the meals for the week.
Family and friends deserve my undivided attention. When I am meeting ‘my tribe’ whether is on the phone, video, or in person I bring the gift of my presence. I pay attention to the conversation instead of thinking “OMG I forgot to do X!” or, God forbids, looking at my phone. To achieve this most of the time, it is important to select when and with whom to meet or talk. I appreciate that for the people-pleasers out there this may sound sacrilegious. The important thing here is knowing that we have a choice. Mine is quality (presence) over quantity.
Eat the frog. In his book Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy defines the frog as your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it. Sometimes the “frog (or frogs)” can feel overwhelming. What works for me is to take a first step even if it is a tiny one. After that one is complete, I take another one, and then another. By doing so, I break the inertia and before I know it, I am in flow.
As a leader, people come first. Whether you officially manage people or not, building and nurturing relationships is a key aspect of our work. They are our ‘work friends and family’ and also deserve our undivided attention. When we multitask while interacting with others, we send the message of ‘I have more important things to do or think about’. Here boundaries are important. In the words of Brene Brown clear is kind. There will be times when you will have to prioritize finishing a specific task over having a conversation with a colleague. Communicate clearly and kindly and follow through (no ghosting).
“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” Unknown
What are some practical tips to free up time?
Once you set your own principles to prioritize how you use your time, the question that comes next is how do I actually free up time? By the way, the principles can change over the years based on your specific situation and priorities.
Be very clear on what you are paid to do at work
As we grow in our careers, we are paid to do less tangible things like influence others, bring out the best in people to achieve bold goals, create a vision, etc. It is difficult to show a piece of paper, report, or presentation with these results.
This could be a challenging transition. I felt that I did not have anything to show for a full day’s work. I had to redefine how I was going to highlight my value in the organization. I was no longer paid to prepare a report, download data, or create a graph.
That meant I had to remove those tasks – that gave me so much satisfaction in the past – from my list by delegating them to others, and go into the less known territory of creating a strategy, discovering people’s potential and assigning them to the appropriate roles, influencing my peers in other areas of the company, etc.
Remove notifications from your phone and your work email
I can hear the collective gasp as you read this tip. Take a deep breath and keep reading.
When we are in flow and we are interrupted, it takes a long time to reconnect to what we were doing. For this reason, I removed all email notifications at work and on my phone. I keep the meeting reminders because I know that, once I am in flow, I will need it to stop and transition into the meeting.
If there is anything urgent that requires your immediate attention, people will let you know. Or you can tell them to IM, text or call you. I do that with my colleagues and team all the time.
When I am planning my day, I look at my work inbox to see if there is anything urgent so I can add it to my list of priorities for the day. I process my inbox later in the day after I have used my prime time for the big rocks.
Try it for a week and see what happens. Observe how you feel, what messages your gremlin tells you.
You don’t have to attend all meetings you are invited to
You may not be a required attendee to all meetings. You can either catch up via meeting minutes/notes or send someone else from the team to represent.
When the meeting invite does not clearly indicate the purpose and topics of discussion, I reach out to the organizer to know more. That helps me decide if I will prioritize, delegate, or remove it.
A few more tips
When meeting others or when doing deep work, hide your cell phone. Put it inside your bag, behind you, in another room, under a cushion. Out of sight, out of mind.
Have your groceries delivered or buy them online and only pick them up. I realized that going to the supermarket, getting the groceries, and coming back home took me approximately 2 hours per week. Once I started to take advantage of this service, I reallocated at least 75 minutes to something else.
Exchange money for time. For example, it takes me approximately two hours to clean my apartment. I decided to use those two hours for something that is higher on my priority list and pay someone else to clean my home.
Others in the household can pitch in, too. Many times I find myself reminding my friends that they have teenage kids to whom they could delegate certain tasks like starting a load of laundry, ordering groceries, doing the dishes, etc. If you want to mix it up for them, they could be in charge of updating the electronic family calendar, providing a list of options for family activities, etc. I started to do grocery shopping for my family before I was allowed to drive by myself. My mom would drop me off at the supermarket with the list and a signed credit card voucher. An hour later she would pick me and the groceries up.
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
One more thing before you go
No matter who you are (CEO, admin, teacher, stay at home parent, part of the majority or minority) or where you are (city, farm, small town, in your twenties, seventies, or fifties), you have the same twenty four hours every day that everyone else has. If you want more time, you could move to Mars where their day is twenty-five hours long.
We can take fierce and purposeful action on how we use our daily twenty four hours. We choose if we use our prime time for our big rocks based on our aspirations or for inconsequential items on our to-do list. It is always, always, always our decision.
Delegating is key. We do not have to do all ourselves personally to be a good parent, person, or manager. Why deprive others of self-actualization and/or livelihood? Why not allow others to grow by learning new skills and/or having different responsibilities?
What is all this busyness and hyper achievement costing you? Quality time with your friends, family, and significant other? Your health by not having the energy to exercise, eat healthy, or talk to your therapist?
Let it go, pass it on. If you are no longer paid to create a report, pass it on. Perhaps your kid is old enough to make his or her own bed, then let it go (and for the love of God, do not re-make it). If the two or three hours that take to clean up your house can be reallocated for something aligned with your aspiration, pass it on.
Time is the most precious commodity we have. Our presence the best gift we can give ourselves and the people we love.
How do you manage your time more effectively? Please, let us know in the comments.
As a leadership coach, I enable talent to achieve bold goals with high standards. My mission is to empower underrepresented women in the financial industry transition from mid to senior level leadership positions using mental fitness to achieve peak performance, peace of mind, and healthier relationships.