Have you ever noticed this? You are with someone whose company you don’t like and you feel each minute passes by like an hour but when you are with someone who you love so much; each hour passes by like a minute.

Take an example of tasks that you don’t like doing, like paperwork, cleaning or organizing and tasks you love doing like surfing the net, social media or watching web series. Time passes by so quickly, isn’t it?

I believe that TIME is elastic and stretches as per our subjective experience. If you search the internet you’ll find many articles on Time Management that talk about managing your tasks and time. However, what if we embrace a lifestyle that allows time to manage itself?

In today’s post I’ll be sharing few ways in with you can manage your mind-set and build a lifestyle in a way that you are able to create more time for the things that you always wanted to do.

Self-Talk:

I got married at 21 and every day I had the responsibility to cook for 7 people in the house. The previous night my inner talk would go on-

‘Why did you get married? See what you have signed up for. You are just 21, you ruined your life. You are stupid. In the name of love you sacrificed your entire life.’

I’d set the alarm for 5am and the next day morning snooze it and wake up at 6.30am, rush to the kitchen and the entire day would be a rush. Now if you notice I got tired not because of the action of cooking but because of the inner talk. Our self-talk tires us and takes away so much of our precious time. The next time the maid doesn’t turn up or there’s an urgent deadline at work, pause for a moment and focus on your self-talk.

Decode and Rewrite that inner narrative.

Value:

What is it that you value the most? When you say you don’t have time, what you really mean is- it is not important. So instead of saying I don’t have time to read a book or workout try saying, I choose not to read because It’s not something that I value. I choose not to exercise because I don’t value health or fitness is not my priority.

When you make this shift, you’ll immediately rearrange your priorities.

List down your VALUES today in most important areas of your life like career, personal and relationships and observe how you find more time for the things that you value the most.

Planning:

This is highly important when it comes to managing yourself. I block out 30 minutes every Saturday to plan my week ahead. I am a freelancer so I’ve to ensure that my appointments are managed and handled efficiently. I do meal planning; write down the appointments with my clients, scheduled client visits, calls and my daughter’s school related stuff. When things are written down it becomes easier to handle them. So spend time in planning your week and day ahead.

Mindful:

Multitasking is something that most people are proud of. They think it gives them more time however it reduces their productivity and exhausts them. It creates mental fatigue and reduces efficiency. So do one task at a time. Don’t talk on the phone and cut vegetables. This is tough especially for women, as they are conditioned to be multitaskers. However let me tell you, your energy levels will boost up when you do one task at a time.

Create Time:

You don’t have time, you’ve to create it. When you are waiting for one task to get done, check if you can do something else in that time. The strategy that you use to get things done will allow you to create more time. The first thing I do in the morning is load the washing machine. So the clothes get done. Then set up the cooker and boil milk. During this time I stretch, have my warm water and do my breathing exercises. This way I don’t have to schedule a different time for my breathing exercises.  Think of ways in which you can create more time.

Schedule Time:

If you have a deadline coming up and if you give yourself 4 hours to complete it, your brain will stretch and finish the task by 4 hours. However if you give yourself half the time, that’s 2 hours, your brain has the capacity to think quickly and it will get the task done in 2 hours. So the idea is to schedule your time. If you know a certain task will take an hour, give yourself 30 minutes and watch it get done in 30 minutes. This is also helpful in increasing your thinking speed and creates more time.

Polish your skills:

Sometimes it’s not about time but about your skills. When I started out cooking at 21, I took 2 to 3 hours to cook however now in just an hour I can cook for 10 people. That’s the skill that’s polished. Also have the right equipment or systems in place. Check the knives, are they sharp enough, are there vessels ready to cook, if you’ve delegated work to others ensure a follow-up. Give yourself that time to upgrade and learn new skills.

So these were some of the strategies that I use to manage my life and create more time, always and in all ways. Feel free to try all or some of them and share your feedback with me.

What are some of the techniques that you use to manage and create more time? Like me, do you also believe that time management is more of mind management? I’m eager to hear your views on this. Let the conversation begin in the comments.

Love & Light,

Gayu