Are you someone who says you don’t have time to do all the stuff on your to do list?

You feel stressed and frazzled often, and never feel like you’re getting ahead?

Lame – but so normal.

Recently, I had a “This is it. I’ve had enough.” moment regarding my time management.

I was tired of always feeling behind in my daily tasks, and I was tired of always thinking about work {even though it’s my passion}.

I needed some balance.

What’s the best way to gain freedom from overwhelm?

Set up some rules. Make plan. Follow it.

1. Take It Day by Day

What’s worked for me lately is setting up a tentative schedule for the week and then editing it the night before to fit the next day.

One mistake I made in the past was trying to plan the entire week. As soon as a client rescheduled or a lunch meet-up became available my schedule would be “ruined”.

That was a lie I used to tell myself.

2. Commit for 30 Minutes

This is a game changer for projects you dread or get overwhelmed by. Put a 30 minute block on your calendar for this specific task. Commit to doing the task for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes you get to stop and walk away! In my mind, I think “okay, I can do 30 minutes, even if I hate it the entire 30 minutes, I can do 30 minutes.”

And what almost always happens, is I get to 30, and I’m like, oh, I could do a few more. Or I get to 30 and I’m like, “ah! I’m done with that,” and go and have a dance party or jump on my trampoline.

3. Build in Breaks

Add space between your appointments and tasks to give you time for overflow, hydration breaks, and mental downtime. In the past, I would put all these 30 minute tasks back to back which is not realistic!

Breaks will help you stay on track and feel peaceful that you’re still getting stuff done! #balance

This is the MOST IMPORTANT thing – having this structure will give you mental freedom to set a task aside for it’s alloted time instead of carrying it around in your brain all day.

Save your mental energy for the time when you really need to do the task. If it’s not time to do the task, don’t think about it! Think about something else. Try that.

It’s a practice for me too.

I’m always thinking of what needs to happen, what do I need to do, what’s going on, and it robs you of the joy of right now. That’s so important. We just have to be where we are right now, and we’ll be the most joyful and the most present. And people will like to be around us more.

I’d love to know which one of these tips you are implementing this week!

Send me a note and tell me how it goes!

This is Part 11 in a series called Life Hacks!  Here’s Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,  8, 9 and 10 if you missed it.  

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