Time Management: How to Make Time for Everything You Want to do

Time management is not something that has ever come naturally to me. I view it as a skill that I constantly need to work on in order to not plateau. Think of it like a muscle. It also doesn't help that I am a naturally curious person, so I find that I develop hobbies fairly quickly and then I end up having 432935 hobbies without enough time for all of them. That is why I decided to create a post on a few tips to help make time for the things you truly prioritize and want to do in life.

1. Writing down your goals & your daily to-do list

I know I sound like a broken record by now, but writing down your priorities for the day/week/month/year really holds you accountable towards accomplishing them. This is where you need to be as specific as possible when it comes down to outlining your goals. For arguments sake, lets say your overarching goal is to save money. You need to break that down into micro goals so that you can meet that overarching goal. Now if you are not specific, you will never know if you failed because you never outlined a given target. I can easily say I am going to save more money and then somehow rationalize my spending behaviour if I don't have an exact threshold or measure. By writing down the goal itself along with the specifics on how you intend on completing that goal- it encourages you to think about your goals into manageable micro processes and is a constant reminder to work towards it.

A part of this process includes making a list of things you are willing to compromise in the pursuit of attaining those goals along with the absolute non-negotiables. Nothing in life is easy to come by and this is no different. You have to be willing to compromise certain things (e.g. like having to commute to get to the place you need to be or perhaps that is a non-negotiable for you and you would prefer to move closer to your job). By writing down what you are and are not willing to negotiate helps you when prioritizing certain tasks and also gives you a bit more perspective when outlining your longer-term goals.

2. Making use of time that would otherwise be "wasted"

For the mundane tasks like showering, brushing your teeth, putting on your makeup, waiting in line, waiting in traffic, on the subway - this could be seen as wasted time added to our day. Or perhaps you thoroughly enjoy doing those things- then all the power to you. If you take the "dead time" within your day and use this time by multi-tasking: reading, listening to a podcast or finding a way to educate yourself on something new, those mundane tasks can actually become a lot more bearable, and if you are lucky, even enjoyable. For instance, whenever I shower, brush my teeth, take off my makeup, I put on a podcast and feel like I am able to make good use with that time.

3. Make an inspiration board to fuel your creativity and to stay inspired

I am a very visual person, so I like to have a visual representation of my life goals. It can be a digital board like on Pinterest where you can seek inspiration and re-pin peoples pictures, or it can be some sort of portfolio you can create yourself.

Fun anecdote: when I was in high school, from grades 9-12 I took drama/theatre courses. In drama, we were required to create portfolios, and I would just add more and more to the portfolio each year. It was genuinely one of the best outlets for me to express my creativity. I love being able to look back on it and see how much progress I made over a short span of time. This gave me the inspiration to create my own portfolio for life when it came to how I view my life goals in a visual format. It also gives you a chance to get pretty crafty too! You will be surprised how inspired you can get within the process.

4. Limit your use of social media throughout the day

I am super guilty of this. I am constantly updating my social media, whether it is Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook. It takes up a lot of precious time and it adds up, trust me. As I have stated earlier, if you designate a specific time to browsing social media, and limit your usage otherwise you should be alright. It helps to disable notifications that bombard your attention. Even if your job requires you to be on-top of social media, if you designate or chunk out a block of time for that within your day, you can start tracking what other distractions may be interfering with your productivity.

5. Take a look at how you spend your "leisure time"

I know people who love to spend their "free time" binge-watching Netflix. I also know people who love to go to chapters and read a book for hours, and I also know people who like to spend their leisure time practicing for marathons. It really depends on what your goals are and what you ultimately value. If you genuinely enjoy watching 8 seasons of a show on Netflix within a period 4 days, then all the power to you. But if you are going to criticize yourself afterwards, it doesn't really work in your favour. If you are complaining that you don't have time for anything, but meanwhile you are watching seasons of the Office on repeat, surely you can find time for the other things you have always wanted to do. I am super guilty of this. But once you bring it to your awareness, try your best to incrementally change those habits. But a good starting point is to track how you spend your leisure time in order to make any further changes.