Top 5 Time Management Tips

What are you doing?  This could be a comment I make to my 5 year old as I discover him doing things that are inappropriate. Or it could be a question you need to ask yourself on a regular basis during the day to discover where you are spending your time. What does this have to do with managing our weight or being a Healthy Human?  You have to manage your calendar and time to get to the gym, make healthy food, drink all your water and sleep 6-8 hours a night, it can get overwhelming for the most organized person. Start with my top 5 time management tips.

What are you doing with your time?

If you are at a point where your weight and life are out of control, looking at this will be painful. It may make you want to retreat to a bag of cookies or chips.  I am going to be hard line on this one. STOP AVOIDING and STOP PEOPLE PLEASING. These two activities put you in this hot mess in the first place.

But, before you think: “great, another blogger who is going to pontificate” – nope – I struggle with this too.  I bought two planners in November trying to figure it out. I purchased The Passion Planner (which is what I have landed on for 2019, and used in 2017 and 2018 and NOW, ) and one of Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Habits Planner (I used it for two months to reign things in). For the record, I am not an affiliate for either of these companies. It’s taken me 3 months of dedicated time to get a handle on creating my life the way I want it.  I am still tweaking.

The First Thing You Must Do to Manage Your Time

You have to know

1. WHAT you are currently doing with your time to change it. Yep, pull your head out of the sand. Becoming aware of your habits is  the first step to changing them. This is your current reality. You are a product of whatever habits you are currently participating in.  Yes, I said participating.
2. Next, admit to yourself that YOU chose your habits at some point, it was the easiest way to make something happen.  You created them, however subconsciously it happened, it was you. Good news! Since you created them, can you change them? Of course you can!
3. Now, for the next three days, commit to discovering what you are trading your time for in your life. You don’t need anything special to do this. Get three sheets of paper and start with the time you get up – not what time you WISH you got up – the actual time. Write down your feelings along the way.  This will help you connect to what’s going on in your head.
4. Are you avoiding things in the morning? Facebook vs meal prep? Write down how you spend every waking moment for a minimum of 3 days.  Yes everything! From the time you wake up, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, take a shower. EVERYTHING! See my example below:
5. Where are you wasting time? Social Media? Chatty colleagues? Email? Snooze alarm? In my example, I could gain 18 minutes just by getting out of bed when my alarm rings.  This is plenty of time to make breakfast and throw together a quick lunch.
6. What needs to get done before you leave in the morning? Meal Prep – lunch, what’s for dinner? Setting your schedule for your day? Prayer/Meditation? Workout? I start my day with Rachel Hollis’ Start Today journal.
   
7. Calendar everything! Your exact morning routine, exercise, grocery shopping, time for rest AND fun – anything that is important to YOU! Here are some other Healthy Human Habits you might want to look at for your life.
   This may feel selfish, it is really self-preservation. Get over it! Grow a pair and hold your boundaries – YES, I just said that…People pleasing doesn’t fit on a productivity calendar(that’s another blog or book ;))The most successful people do NOT check their email first thing in the morning. Schedule time to get at least 45-60 minutes of actual work done before checking your email. Then, only look at the ones that need to be handled today. Give yourself 45-60 minutes ONLY.  Turn off your notifications. Get up every hour for at least 3-5 minutes and MOVE your body. Put these breaks on your phone. Again, self-preservation.  It is a BS – Bad Self-talk – story that you “don’t have time” to take 3-5 minutes to take care of your cardiovascular and musculoskeletal system during your day.

   Set yourself up for success and make sure you are being realistic in how much time to allot for things.  Like, you cannot run to the grocery store in 30 minutes if it is a 15 minute drive, one way.

8. Try your new routine for a week and have grace and forgiveness for yourself – these are new habits and won’t go as planned. Stay flexible and stay aware about what is working and not working for you and your familySome people may not take to the new, organized you. They will get over it and you will find new friends who will support you in your new quest for sanityMove things around if they don’t work.  If you are not making it to the gym at 4:30 in the morning, ask yourself, “when is a better time”?  NO! Never, is not the correct answer, lol.

Manage Your Emotions and Make a New Habit

Yes, I am taking the hard line on this because remember, I struggle too. It’s actually FEAR that gets in the way… I struggle way less now, I took the time to figure it out instead of avoiding it.  Do not let the Perfectionism Bug (another blog for another day) grab you and get all up in your panties. Remember, I told you it has taken three months of constant focus to get some of the carp cleared out of my head and off my schedule. 

What it Takes to Make a New Habit

Here’s the real habit scoop. Recent research shows it actually takes 66 days to make a new habit. I decided to put in some rules about for myself to stay accountable. Here it is: I know that if I cave more than 2 days in a row in the first 66 days I have to start all over again.  This will create more self trust and will be self motivating in the long run.

I have decided to fill my schedule with things that create more joy in my life and less stress. All of that to say, I am in process just like you… I would love to hear more of your own time management strategies that work for you.  How do you say “no” to those pesky time wasters in your life?