Avoid time-wasters and make time for what you want

What are some time wasters in your life? Do you spend a lot of time playing on Facebook? Do you drive around town doing chores? Do you watch too much television?

A system to organize your life will help you make the most of the little time your life seems to have. By putting this system into place, you will feel more happy and free. We’ve talked about calendars and time before. Now let’s see if we can put everything together, make your life more organized and free up some time to relax, take a long, hot bath, read a good book or maybe even take a nap.

Take a few minutes to think about what you did today. You probably hoped to perform a series of tasks. Did you finish everything you intended to do? If not, you need some help. Make a schedule. You do not have to mark down every minute of the day, but a general idea of what you have to do. Think about how long it takes to do each task and make time for them all. If you don’t have time to do everything on your list, then be honest with yourself and remove/reschedule the non-essential tasks (you can always have a ‘wish list’ for the non-essentials). Figure out when you need to drive somewhere, eat your meals and walk the family dog. All of those things take time. When you are finished your calendar, you will see what you should accomplish in a week. It might vary from week to week, but one week is a good starting point.

The first thing you will notice is that you get a lot more accomplished than you thought. But, you can do more. Schedule times to do those relaxing things like reading. A few minutes to mentally refuel the tank go a long way toward your peace of mind. Make sure you eat when you should to avoid overeating when you should not. A good breakfast is not just brain food for your kids.

By scheduling time to do certain tasks, they will not snowball and turn into monster-sized jobs. For example, if you do laundry every Monday and Thursday you will never end up with a mountain of laundry. Taking small bites of work is a lot easier than waiting until the task becomes massive. 

Once your schedule is set, give it a try. See how close you are to the schedule for a week. Tweak it if necessary, for the following week. Eventually, you will come up with something that you can live with and help you manage your time more effectively.