Seems like no matter who I talk to, everyone is pressed for time. You can begin any conversation with, hey how are you? And it seems there is a consistent thread in the response – Oh, I am ‘swamped’. I am crazy busy. I have no time to pee. It seems all I do is go from one meeting to another. I’m lucky I can find 10-15 minutes to eat and so it goes. We’re all fighting the clock. I consider myself good at time management and despite it, I often fall into one of these responses. I try often to figure out why this happens and look for solutions to minimize the ‘BUSY’ in my life. I’m not talking about leisure time – I am talking about work time. My week, like most of us is 40 hours but somehow, I push it to 50 or more.
I recognize I bring some of this on myself, as I am always looking to accommodate everybody. Maybe I should just learn to say NO more often. But my success has always been rooted in YES and because of that, I have achieved a lot to be proud of and I do coach my students and clients to leverage YES as well. Most people show gratitude for that. I don’t worry about the ones that don’t.
But how can we manage more ‘me’ time? Maybe we re-think our routine. Maybe we redefine our schedules. Maybe we work on ‘time consolidation’. Juggling can be challenging, so identify the ‘time wasters’ and look at the essentials and priorities. Consider all the external noise and distractions and try to disconnect from time to time. Feels good when you do.
We all have the same 24 hours in the day. Don’t allow the day-to-day pressures and demands manage you – Learn to manage it. Learn how to convert BUSY to EASY.
