Everyone gets 24 hours in a day – that is a fact of life. But at the same time, many people continue to feel as though time is never enough sometimes. They complain about not getting all things in their to-do list done no matter how hard they try. Even after starting their mornings early, there seems to be some unavoidable situations that come their way that cause them to put things off for the next day.
Do you find yourself to be a little inefficient sometimes and not accomplishing things you are supposed to do each day? The issue is not having inadequate amount of time. After all, if this is the case, why do you think some people feel quite accomplished while others do not share the same sentiment? The problem, then, is with how you make use of your time through proper management and discipline.
So, what can you do to prevent yourself from having to feel bad about not doing everything that must be done within the day? The answer is time management. Sure, there is nothing wrong with slacking off or relaxing once in a while. When you feel overwhelmed with stress, you deserve to just take it easy instead of keep pushing forward. But at the same time, you must always have your eye on your goal and not get distracted with working towards achieving it. Others may distract you, but the decision to allow yourself to be distracted is still up to you. Maintaining your focus does not have to be an impossible thing to do as long as you keep these things in mind.
1. Prioritize
There are probably dozens of things to be done throughout any given day in your life. It may be a combination of personal and professional tasks that can never wait for another day. Even so, you can make it possible to get everything done by prioritizing. Ranking things from the most to the least important will allow you to slowly check things off your list one by one. Stephen Covey shared his technique when it comes to organizing items to be done into different categories that include important and urgent, important and not urgent, urgent but not important, and not urgent/ not important. Sometimes, all we need is a list such as this one, so we can have a better idea at what must be accomplished right away, as well as items that can wait for a few hours or so.
But just the same, never overwhelm yourself with a long list. If you have 10 items for each category, you cannot blame yourself if you begin to feel anxious and worried about not meeting them all. Chances are, you will never accomplish such a very long list without growing insane first due to a nervous breakdown!
Just come up with a realistic list of things to do, slowly get them done one at a time, then take a break once in a while. The key is to check items off your list, but not subjecting yourself to burnouts.
2. Make good use of your time
Let’s go back to the topic on having 24 hours and feeling as though it is never enough. One of the main reasons why you never get everything done is your lack of time management. Being unaware of how to spend your time well makes you inefficient, and this prevents you from accomplishing what must be done.
How exactly do you spend your time upon waking up? Do you just stay in bed for a while, go on Facebook, and then chat for a good length of time even when things just keep on building up with your list accumulating with more tasks to be accomplished? When you wake up, do things that are relaxing for you – meditate, drink your smoothie, stretch and exercise, and condition your mind to feel more positive.
Your morning is the most crucial time of your day. If you start it well, you will be more inspired to finish every task to be done instead of just letting time pass. At the same time, you may consider doing something during your idle moments. This is not to say that you should multi-task. Just avoid lingering too much on your phone or going on social media for hours while things are waiting to be done at the workplace. You will thank yourself for having more free time once you have completed all items on your to-do list. The goal is to put work before play – all the time.
3. Get rid of unnecessary things
At this time, where are you really supposed to be? Perhaps, you need to be somewhere else, but because you said yes to someone and agreed to do things for him or her, you are now stuck with an ever-growing list of things to do for the day.
While there is nothing wrong with being nice, sometimes you just have to be more particular about managing your time well as you prioritize your tasks. Taking on a number of commitments that you are not even confident about completing can be hazardous to your mental and physical health. In the same way, if you promise someone to do a task for them and end up failing in doing so, you will only disappoint them. Thus, conflicts between you and the person may occur. This is why to avoid this situation from happening, it is important to keep track of the time you have in a day for extra activities and consider this before agreeing to do one thing.
There is nothing wrong about saying no. You should feel free to refuse even the friendliest request from someone when you are certain that there is not enough time for you to accomplish it. As long as you are aware of your own schedule, you should be able to feel more comfortable about refusing a request and sticking to your schedule. In case your schedule frees up and you want to help others, then this is the time you can take on extra tasks.
4. Think about the future
It is true that you should focus more in the now. Being in the present eases our anxieties and makes us more aware of where we are at the moment. But at the same time, it may be beneficial to set a plan for the future. It could be as simple as thinking about what to be done in 2 to 3 days, or having a monthly or even annual plan. A timeline can serve as your guide for your everyday life, so you do not end up wasting each day as it comes.
At the end of each day, you may devote as little as 10 minutes in determining what your tasks will be tomorrow or a particular time in the future. Then, this should help you put things into perspective and have a better plan each day, so no time is wasted.
Don’t waste your time, because Time is Money. You have to make full use of your time and make money. In Singapore, money is very important and people who said “money can’t buy you happiness” are lying. What happens if you encounter emergency moments when you need money and people around you couldn’t afford to help? Nobody likes to borrow money but what if you really at your wits end and that is your only option left? Licensed moneylenders in Singapore aren’t as bad as what you think. Often people have a misconception between licensed money lenders and what they called “loan sharks”. Licensed money lenders are authorised by the government and they have a license to operate legal business and have their own physical and registered office, unlike the loan sharks who do not have all these. Be sure that you know the difference between these two! Of course, you can approach banks as well. But the thing about banks, they take really long to get back to you and your personal loan application might not get approval. (You may read up on: Debunking Myths of Licensed Money Lenders In Singapore)
Conclusion
Time management is indeed very important in allowing us to accomplish every single thing in our life. This helps us to be more away of the present to prevent any anxiety in the future. As long as we remain focused on what must be done, we can check all items off our list without any problem. At the same time, this prevents us from feeling inefficient, which can also impact our productivity and confidence level.
By performing these techniques, we can become highly efficient and effective in our daily life. No matter where we are, we can complete everything in our list and not accumulate more tasks for tomorrow. Managing our time well is all that needs to be done to create more room for growth while making sure we are able to do things we truly love and enjoy for our personal development.
