I hear from a lot of people that they don’t have time. They’re always running out with friends, going over to family homes for dinner, or doing work things.
They’re totally excited to do everything, but underlying all of that, I always hear the inevitable:
- “It is so stressful to juggle all of this…”
- “Wow, I had SUCH A WEEK!”
- “I need a break.”
To me, all of those activities above, are fun.
In moderation.
And that’s the key. MODERATION.
And here’s how to quickly take back your life with three simple steps:
1. Schedule your time
If you put in your schedule that you are going to see Tracey on Friday night, and then over promise for a big breakfast gathering with old school friends… you have to make a choice.
Either you reschedule Tracey, or you head out for the breakfast gathering. Doing both, is not such a hot idea because any of the following things could happen:
– You blow off the big breakfast because you stayed out too late with Tracey last night
– You blow off Tracey and end the dinner early because you know you have to get up early and get to the big breakfast
– You do both, and end up feeling tired, cranky and less than your fabulous self at the big breakfast
This is where a schedule comes in. You get to see at a glance what you have coming up as commitments. You can prioritize what you need to get done, what is more important that weekend, and make sure that you don’t overbook yourself.
If you see that your February is PACKED with an event every weekend, and you can’t possibly squeeze in another without compromising on your previous commitments, then you have to:
- Reschedule
- Cancel
- or…… #2 on my tip list:
2. Sometimes you have to just say NO.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I get that way a lot when I go back to Ontario and I have a whole packed list of friends and family to meet, and I feel rushed, stressed at times, and feeling like I wanted more time with certain people and less with others.
So sometimes, I have to say NO.
No to going out late until midnight with friends to a fancy restaurant when I have to leave early tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. to get to another city to make the rounds.
No to packing two lunches back to back and the second friend feeling like I left her on the backburner because now I’m picking at my food and not enjoying being in a restaurant.
You have to stop over planning your weekends and evenings, and when domestic tasks or other things at home start to pile up, then you have got to take time for yourself to set aside half a Saturday to either just get things done like catch up on laundry, wash the dishes.. etc.
3. Set deadlines for your priorities.
Going back to the schedule idea, if you have to DEFINITELY get something done in two weeks – a major project for example, then it HAS to be your priority.
You have to set aside real time for it, and start planning out what you have to get done for the projects and GET ‘ER DONE.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
I learned this a while back about a lot of things. Now when someone says they “don’t have time” I often will throw that back at them. We all MAKE TIME for what’s important to us. Each and every one of us chooses what we do and don’t do. If we don’t have time in our schedules it’s because we’ve made the choice that doing something else is more important. The idea that gosh-I’m-so-busy-I-just-don’t-have-time is thrust upon us by outside influences is one that people need to let go of. I learned that when I wanted to change my eating habits and lose weight (almost 100 lbs now). I could make excuses that I didn’t have time to exercise, didn’t have time to plan my meals, didn’t have time to cook healthy food … or I could realize that my schedule reflected my priorities and if I wanted to change my life, I had to change my priorities.
Kristy: I love the idea of one side as the schedule the other as to-do
How about just a notebook, note down on the left JUST the times/schedules of what needs to get done (separate the page mentally into morning afternoon and night), then on the right, your to do list?
Hmm FB, you must be on the same wavelength as me to post this today. I’ve been feeling soooo run down lately, you have no idea. I don’t feel like I have time to breathe, let along anything else. And, I’ve got so much on my plate that I’m having a hard time juggling it all.
Here’s my dilemma with schedules. I start out all gung-ho, writing everything down, etc. and then a couple of weeks into it I stop. There’s usually several reasons. First of all, I have a pretty good memory. I don’t really need to write a lot of stuff down and so I just stop doing it. It takes less time to write stuff down. Secondly, I can never find a planner that has exactly what I’m looking for and doesn’t cost $100 or more. I would like a planner that has each day divided into two pages. On the left page is the time break-down and on the right is the ‘to-do’ list. I’ve considered making my own, but that would probably get expensive. I could easily type and print out what I want, then just take it to FedEx/Kinko’s and collate them. But, going with an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper, I could realistically only put one or two months in one set or it would get too big.
Then I thought about electronic, but that gets complicated because then I have two systems, one for work and one for personal life. I want one organized system and since I can’t export anything from Outlook at work, a paper based system makes more sense.
I think I’ve answered myself here, but it was really more just talking it out because this very topic has been on my mind. I haven’t been as efficient as I normally am and I’m feeling the pressure and strain of letting people down. So, I’m looking at ways to simplify my life. Planning would definitely help.
Thanks FB! LOL.
Kristy
http://www.masteryourcard.com/blog
I love this post! I started saying no a lot more last year, and it has been such a relief. I know that I’m better off and much less stressed if I’m not overscheduled. One social commitment per week is enough for me. Any more and I start getting stressed. Thanks for posting this.
Katie at http://www.saverchic.com/
Thanks for the heads-up about my comments messing up! I tried to figure it out but just ended up changing the look. And I love your blog! I’ve been reading it for about six months now and am so glad to finally have joined the “PF blogging world” so I can officially comment. 🙂
You are so on point with your advice. Great post.
I learned number 2 years ago. I will say that it changed my life. I make careful decisions to what I say yes to. I use to always say yes no matter what. I was so busy doing other people’s stuff. Now, I choose and my life is so much nicer.