3 simple steps you can take today to free up your time

Are you doing the things and being the type of person you've always wanted to do and be? Why or why not? What's holding you back?

I'm going to help you with 3 tactics you can adopt today which will most definitely help you to save time. First congratulations for taking the time to read this blog. We can get into a pattern of busyness which often means spending a lot of time running around, getting less done than we plan for, procrastination and/or overwhelm and, of course the main person who suffers is you - you don't have time for you, to do all those things you'd love to do and/or used to do.

Have you lost your way? You're no longer feeling important, a priority? Well only you can change this. The first part of this blog will give you exactly what the title says - 3 simple tips you can adopt today. The key's are:

1. Actually doing them, and

2. Realising that freeing up your time, only to fill it again with other people's priorities or the same busyness which you may already be experiencing will make number 1 totally pointless.

Part 2 of this blog (if you can spare just a couple of extra minutes) will provide you with a couple of additional tactics and thoughts so that you can find time for you.

Part 1

1. Ditch the To Do List - How long is your To Do List - do you have more than one? How does it feel never getting to the bottom of the list? There are always new actions to be added to the list, and the ones you don't want to do often get missed until they become urgent. Set yourself 3 key tasks to do every day (at work) and 1 at home. Then have 3/4 (max 5) minor little tasks which you'd like to do.

There are tasks which you keep putting off (the frogs) - if they are important put them on the list.

N.B. do reward yourself - you can even have a sticker system (why should kids have all the fun!).

2. Delegate - delegation is quite often a challenge for many of us, after all we do things differently and no one does it quite as well as you do. It's time to let go of this belief, to empower others to do what you do and let yourself off the hook.

It may take a little time and investment in the short term to train them, however you don't need to do it all yourself.

What can you delegate today to make your life more simple.

Just think by doing this you're also helping others to take responsibility and to feel like you trust them to do a good job too.

N.B. This applies across all areas of your life and it will be worth it as you'll free up loads of time.

3. Put your car keys in the same place every time you get home. This is an example of how the tiniest of things can make the biggest difference. It may not be your car keys, however there may be somehting which you can never find. Give it a space and keep putting it in the space as it will save you a lot of running around trying to find it.

4. A BONUS tactic, this is my favourite food time saver. Have a white board fridge magnet on your freezer and write down what's in it. This saves time and money and it means you actually eat what's in your freezer too!

Part 2 - let's go a little deeper (this bit's still short I promise!).

How many times a day do you say I'm busy, or make some reference to not having enough time?

There will always be 24 hours in a day so you can't change that. You can change:

1. Your attitude and thoughts about time, the more you say you've got no time the less time you have. Yes this is a little woo woo however you do get what you focus on. There are over a million bits of information going into your mind and it can only process a small amount, therefore the more you focus on having no time.........

2. What you are doing with your time. How much of your time is spend doing activities which are important to you? There may be distractions (such as Facebook), or other people who you keep saying yes to even though you want to say no. Identifying what you are doing with your time is the first step towards changing what you're doing with the time you have.

So what can you do?

Well, you can decide what you are going to:

STOP doing

KEEP doing

START doing

This will help you prioritise your time.....

I do want to be totally honest and upfront with you. They key to all of this is doing something to make a change and to decide that you are important enough to make a stand and use your time for you.......

My Mom was at the extreme end of this scenario, she felt that she had to take on board all of her children's stress, and she sacrificed her health to do this. In reality we still had stress to deal with, which was made worse with a Mom who was ill a lot of our childhood. I would have preferred her to be mentally well, to have looked after herself. This was her choice and there was a lot going on however I just wanted to say that putting everyone else ahead of your health doesn't necessarily mean you are helping them. If you are healthy, full of energy, confidence and are doing things which fulfill you then that's the best example you can be to those around you. Also it means you have the energy and healthy to truly help everyone!