You can’t have it all
Here's the hard truth - you can't have it all. While most of us wish for extra time in a day, the reality is that we only have 24 hours, and only about 16 active hours if we factor in sleeping. In our workshops, clients get surprised when we emphasize that what effective time management really boils down to is recognizing and prioritizing your values in life. When you break down the hours in a day and realize how limited time actually is, the necessity of understanding what you truly want from life becomes self-evident.
If you constantly feel overwhelmed with time, or struggle with getting to do the things you love, we recommend taking some time to sit down with yourself and making a list of things you truly want to do. Then looking at your schedule, identify the activities on your calendar that you’ve said "yes" to simply out of habit or fear of being judged. Make a commitment to start crossing such activities off your schedule. While it may be difficult to immediately cross them out, make a commitment to yourself to start phasing these activities out. Remember, with only 16 active hours in a day, your time is too valuable to be doing things simply out of obligation or fear.
Remember: Your time is too valuable to be doing things simply out of obligation or fear.
As you start crossing out activities off your calendar, look at your to-do list of desired activities and schedule those instead in the free time that emerges. We recommend starting with scheduling one or two items on your wish list in blocks of time that are at least 30 minutes or longer. As you get more proficient at saying "no" to things you don’t want to do and keeping time reserved for activities that matter to you, you can start adding in more items from your wish list.
More than any time management or productivity tricks, we believe that a commitment to making time for yourself and the activities you truly care about will drastically improve your quality of life and leave you feeling more happy and fulfilled every day.
