The last few months have been extremely busy. There have been events that I have wanted to say yes to, but have had to say no due to working longer hours. This has left me feeling frustrated and feeling like I need more than 24 hours to have a balanced life. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wonders how to add more hours to the day. I’ve come to the conclusion that by applying a few time management techniques, both at work and home, it will allow me to regain my life balance.

My day will look completely different to your day, but what we all need to do is to focus on what the important things are and limit the time stealers. Do you know what these are? To find out let’s do a little exercise – take a piece of paper and divide it into 24 hours. Start by putting how many hours you sleep. Then the average number of hours you spend at work. What’s left is your leisure time. Now for both work and leisure start to make a note of your activities and how long you spend on them. Do this for a whole week to show you where you are spending your time. You’ll start to see what activities are your time stealers.

 “Making time for ourselves, friends and family makes for a enriched life and one that we all deserve. By implementing some of my tips, on how to add more hours to your day, it will hopefully add at least an hour or two to your day.”

15 Ways to Add More Hours to Your Day

Set timescales – and stick to them. By giving a task or an activity a timescale, it will allow you more time to move onto other things.

Handle things once – don’t procrastinate. Tackle things head on by leaving them, because you know they aren’t easy or don’t hold your interest, will only mean they will take longer to complete.

Learn to say No – and mean it. Very often we say yes to something when we either don’t want to do it or quite frankly haven’t got the time. By saying no and not feeling guilty, you’ll be able to move onto other activities.

Stay focused – avoid interruptions. If you have set aside time to get a task completed don’t answer your phone or emails, that way you will be able to complete the task within your allotted time.

Double time – make use of waiting time. Whether on your commute, at an appointment or taking the kids to classes, make use of the time you are sitting still by doing paper work, check emails, or relax by reading a book.

Be decisive – look at only a few options. With so much information at our finger tips we can spend hours looking for the perfect holiday, piece of clothing, or house accessory. Visit only a few trusted sites and then make a decision.

Don’t be controlling – let others help you. They may not do it the way you would, but if the end result is achieved, it doesn’t matter how as long as it gives you back time.

Check emails – four times a day. Don’t check emails as they come in (unless you are waiting for something important). Check them in the morning, mid day, late afternoon and evening. When an email comes in deal with it.

Schedule social media – to avoid loosing hours. Allocate specific times of day to look at your social media accounts. If using these for work schedule content in advance. If using for leisure then learn to understand which platforms can be viewed daily versus weekly.

Limit internet usage – don’t just browse. Use the internet constructively for when you need to find information. Just because you don’t look at it every day the information isn’t going to go away.

Batch cook – healthy food. Spend three times a week batch cooking healthy foods, so you know you’ll always have something for lunch and dinner.

Chores – bite size chunks. Rather than one big clean go with the little and often mode of thought and clean a room at a time through the week. Load the washing machine when needed rather than in large batches. Iron five items at a time rather than waiting for a mountain to build.

TV viewing – limit usage. Make use of recording facilities and batch watch your favourite programmes, whilst having an indulgent lazy start to the weekend.

Plan ahead – for the next day. Spend a few minutes the night before getting clothes set out, lunches boxed and bags packed. It will save you precious time in the morning and will avoid you being late.

Make notes – so you don’t forget. By writing things down as they pop into your head, you won’t spend time trying to remember what you wanted to do.

 

What time management techniques will you be employing?