The objective of this post is not to make anyone feel bad about themselves. It’s really intended to give you some tough love and help you realize that you’re capable of anything you set your mind to.
One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say “I don’t have time for that.” Because 9 times out of 10, you do have the time. You just don’t care about whatever it is enough to make the time for it. Which is OKAY. It’s okay for something to not be important to you. You should never value or give importance to something because you feel like you should or because society says you should. If working out isn’t important to you, that’s fine. If starting your own business isn’t important to you, that’s fine. If reading books isn’t important to you, that’s fine! It’s more toxic to yourself and your wellbeing to lie to yourself and say that you don’t have time for it. Just be up front and honest with yourself and admit that you just don’t want to make time for it.
I will insert a disclaimer here. If you work a million hours a week and literally don’t have time for anything besides eating and sleeping when you get home, this may not apply to you. Although, I would like to point out that there are 168 hours in a week. If you sleep 8 hours per day, that leaves 112 hours a week for work and whatever else you want to fill your time with. So if you work a normal 40 hour work week you average about 72 hours a week of unallocated time. If you work a crazy schedule and have an 80 hour work week, you have only about 32 hours a week of free time.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that there are other things in life besides work and sleep. I know that you have to clean your house, take care of your kids, make and eat meals, drive from point A to point B, you have errands to run, you want to spend time with family and friends. But if you’re someone who works a 40 hour work week and you have 72 hours a week of time to fill after work and sleep, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you can spend some time on that thing that you want to do that you “don’t have time for.”
I want to reiterate that IT IS OKAY to admit that you just don’t care enough about something to make time for it. It’s also okay to know your limits and know that taking on another task could burn you out and make you go over the edge. I’m not trying to ignore these points. The point of this post is to remind you that if you have a goal that you really want to chase after, you do have the time. You can give yourself an hour a day, or 7 hours a week from your 72 hours to work towards your goal. You can even scale back on that. You can do 30 minutes a day. You could even do 20 minutes a day. 20 minutes. I imagine that you probably spend at least 20 minutes every day either scrolling through social media, playing a game on you phone, or watching something on tv. You have the time to work towards that goal you want. You have the time to learn that new skill your’e interested in.
“But that 20 minutes is my down time.” First of all, I doubt if you only take 20 minutes of downtime in the whole day. And second, I bet you can work on your goal for 20 minutes and still find some time for rest.
I’m not trying to ruin anyone’s day here. I just wanted to share this because I fell into this trap my WHOLE LIFE. Thinking that I couldn’t go after a goal I wanted right now because I “didn’t have time.” If you’re truly feeling like this, I encourage you to take a look at how much time you spend doing what each day. I think you’ll find that you have the 30-60 minutes a day that’s going to help move you closer to your goal. You just have to want it. And when you decide you want it enough to make the time, start now. Not tomorrow. Not Monday. Start now because you will never feel “ready” and there will never be a perfect time. Starting now will give you the momentum you need to keep going and help you towards creating a habit that will stick. You’ve got this.
Here are some tips that I came up with to help you get on track with managing your time.
- Prioritize. Write out everything you want to do and prioritize what’s most important. Pick out your nonnegotiables. Do those first. Everything else comes after.
- Schedule your day. I know life happens and sometimes we can’t follow a schedule to a t. But having your day roughly mapped out of when you’re going to do what helps you stay so much more organized. I love ‘to do lists’. I make a list for myself for the day of obtainable tasks and get it done.
- Give yourself AT LEAST 15-20 minutes a day towards your goal. This is focused time that you’re not doing anything else. You don’t pause to make a snack or text someone back. It’s you working for 15-20 minutes and nothing else.
- Break down big tasks into smaller tasks. Feeling like you accomplished something makes you feel good and gives you the momentum to keep going. Sometimes big goals/tasks can make us feel like we’re not getting anywhere and this is when we tend to give up.
- Be nice to yourself. There’s a difference between making an excuse that you don’t have the time and actually just running out of day to get everything on your list done. There are plenty of days I have a few things left on my list. But I know I tried my best, so it’s okay. They’ll just go to the top of the list for the next day.
- Remember to add self care to your list. You’re going to need it. Especially when going after a new goal. It’s important to schedule in time for yourself to unwind and not be working on your goals.
If you have any questions about time management or want a fresh set of eyes to help you schedule out your day, I would be happy to work with you.
