Kim Kubsch
Trying to fit too many activities into too little time? Are you over-scheduling yourself considering your physical stamina, or do you suffer from poor time-management skills?
When we shift how we think about time, everything changes. Not because we magically get more hours in the day, but because we start making different choices about how we use the hours we do have.
Your calendar doesn’t lie. It shows you what you actually prioritize, not what you wish you prioritized.
The problem isn’t that we don’t care about the important things. It is that we don’t intentionally choose how to spend our time on these important things.
Instead, we let our schedules fill themselves with whatever feels urgent, whatever others ask of us, whatever seems like we “should” do. We respond instead of choosing. We react instead of creating.
But what happens when we flip this and we start with what matters most and build our schedule around that? Everything changes!
Living intentionally reflects your values, and your schedule supports what matters most to you.
4 Tips for Conquering Calendar Clutter:
Time Block: Time blocking forces you to account for every waking minute of your day, from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. Once you write it all down, you can see how you are really spending your time. It also indicates which activities take the most time and which can creep up on you.
Prioritize the Top Three Tasks: Identify the non-negotiable part of your daily responsibilities. The tasks may be to prepare healthy meals between 5 and 7 a.m. or exercise for 30 minutes between 7 and 9 a.m. or spend 15 minutes before 8 p.m. to clear your desk and prepare for the following day. Once you begin to focus on your top three tasks, you should notice an increase in your efficiency and productivity.
Relinquish Control: Until you learn to delegate and let go, you are limiting what you are capable of accomplishing. The more you empower others to take things off your plate, the more time you have to focus on what you need to do. The benefit is that you should feel less overwhelmed.
Use Timesaving Tools and Apps: My favorite productivity apps that I have found most fruitful are Wunderlist, Todoist, and Evernote. Instead of having one long to-do list, these apps allow you to create separate lists for home, family, work, volunteering, shopping, and so on. You can share them with others as you wish.
Evernote is a virtual notebook that allows you to easily create, share, and search notes, allowing you to eliminate paper clutter and save time.
The bottom line is we need to make time and space in our schedule for what matters. Are you balancing time for the mundane tasks with enjoyable activities? Or are you trying to please others, and in the end, you clutter your calendar and fail to please yourself and manage your health?
Stay tuned for monthly articles about decluttering, downsizing, organizing, making transitions, and clearing of estates. Call me at 480-720-8566 to learn about my free 30-minute consultation or to speak to your group.
To purchase my books Getting Your Life Together Organizer and Joy of Downsizing, visit Amazon.com or www.JoyfulDOWNSIZING.com.