Add Time to Your Day part 2

Add time to your day would be wonderful wouldn’t it? Increasing important hours so that you could accomplish what you want to accomplish. Right? My original post with several ideas I wrote on this is HERE

My husband and I are in a new season of working jobs during the day and writing and working on a ministry website in the evening. I keep thinking if I could just add time.

I often go to bed tired, and frustrated that I needed to work a little more, and get more done. Or that I wished I could have spent more time unwinding after a very stressful day.

Increasing time to your day would mean you would be able to get more done right? How is that even possible? Can you take the time you have and re-work it?

Would you work more? Accomplish more? Rest more?

I am not sure you would accomplish more or continue doing what you are doing now. Work, eat, sleep, get up and start all over again.

Perhaps re-working my day is what I need to do so that I am productive with the time I do have.

I came up with a mathematical (simple really) way of seeing how much time I actually have to work with an do something productive with.

I take 24 hours.

Subtract Sleep time (usually 8 hours for me)

Subtract work time, food prep, kitchen cleaning, laundry, basic chores, etc. We go to church. There is sports on the weekends. Grocery shopping, bill paying, basic life maintaining type responsibilities. I bundle and group together things so I can get them done faster.

Then the time left over (=) is what I have for doing something enjoyable, or productive with something I would like to do.

24 hours – Responsibilities, Work, School, Family, Sports, Church = Time left over to accomplish and be productive.

Somehow it disappears if I don’t protect it. I have also decided to give myself a time frame for social media time. Those minutes can add up and spend my productive time.

And just like money, I don’t want to waste my money on stupid stuff and then not be able to make a house payment because the money was spent on unwise things.

Time can obviously be spent on unwise things, and then it is gone. I am not sure about you but I absolutely can’t stand laying in bed at night thinking to myself “I never had time to do what I really wanted and needed to do.” The process I have created does not always work because life happens. But I have found with a plan and process in place, I am more likely to accomplish things I really feel called to do.

Increasing Time

My process and plan for adding and increasing time is this:

Get up 30 minutes earlier. I get up earlier because I am not a late night person. If night is better for you then give yourself 30 minutes of uninterrupted time that is specifically focused for what you want to do. That can also be increased by eliminating time wasting activities.

It took a few years for me to figure out that I am an early day, morning, creative when the sun comes up kind of person. I was in college when I finally realized I can’t function well at night. Can’t pull all nighters. Study groups at midnight turned to napping at midnight. Even if I am still up I am not functional.

But not having a plan meant disaster for me. I realized I needed to create a plan, a system or a process to help me be more successful Or rather just get the really important things done. In college that meant studying earlier and not leaving it to the night before a big test. That was usually a train wreck when that happened. And that happened because of a lack of planning or assessing my time frame.

Same thing applies now. Important things have to happen first, My plan for myself is execute the most important chores and responsibilities first. I can’t accomplish something I have never planned.

To see more of my posts on planning good days please be sure to see them here @ Ribbonwoodplanner.com

Time to Accomplish my best plans and best goals.

I wake up and have coffee first thing. Then I do my devotions by reading the Bible, a woman’s devotional or a Christian perspective, Christian lifestyle, don’t give up kind of book. After about 45-60 minutes this is my time to realize my best plans and best goals. If I am going to get something extra done this is where I add minutes that add up to hours.. I start with 30 minutes. At the end of a week, if I have gotten up 30 minutes earlier each morning I have added time to my day. 3.5 hours extra a week. The same would apply if done at night.

The key is taking a certain amount of minutes or hours and only doing this one thing with it. For me that is writing, blogging, working on a website, etc. Managing time with little ones in the house is obviously a different world. Take into account what the daily schedule requires. I remember when I had 3 kids under 5 I lived for a nap. That is all I could think of because I was so tired.

Be realistic and genuinely forgiving of yourself, your energy and stamina level. It matters for certain seasons of life.

More responsibilities require more time. Time requires more energy. Energy requires filling up with the right fuel.

The last thing I want to give you-

Your hours are meant to be used by you, spent by you and lived by you. Your day is your day. Regardless of your responsibilities, at the end of the day, the time is spent by you. Begin thinking on how the day could flow better. What routines would help?

I have said this before, but I created a “key basket.” It is near our front door. I ended up spending so much time every day looking for keys. There was no one place to set them down so they always were set down wherever they landed. I created a place and a process for the keys. This was a simple system that helped my day flow better. I created a system and process for me really, but it was also for my husband. I helped our team.

Do you feel like your days rush by without accomplishing anything? That can change.

If you feel overwhelmed try this one thing-

Eliminate one thing and give yourself that space to do something you want. That is a step forward in the right direction. Eliminate a tv show, scrolling on social media, a meal, etc. Sometimes I will do chores as fast as I can on one day so that I free up some moments on my next day. Those are just some suggestions.

Here is a free checklist for you to save, print out and begin writing in. Write down all the things you need to do and want to do. Plan to accomplish them. Then check each one off as you are done! For more planner printables, to do lists, checklists, habit trackers visit my shop for budget friendly printables. HERE

Blessings,

Debbie Mills Booth