Being committed to our careers and family lives, we totally understand when you say “I’ve got no time“, including the guilt trips and feeling like a failure that comes along with not having enough time for family and friends or doing the things you love.

We promise this is not another drill on “time management”, as we’re sure that you’ve heard it all before. Instead, we want to let you know that there are many ways to claim back your time. 

Yes! You CAN have your cake and eat it too.  Here are our top tips to help you get back minutes, hours and hopefully days of your life to do all the things you love.

Map it out

Set yourself a TIME goal – start small, like an hour each week to play with the kids at the park, or visit your parents.

Be prepared and prioritise. Sort out the urgent from the not important and set yourself some deadlines. Make sure you make TIME a priority, as having a work-life balance and taking a break is vital for your health.

Set Boundaries – Say No! 

Be honest with yourself about your limits. You simply can’t do it all.  When you say YES to everyone, you spend TIME on things that are not important to you.  We get it -saying NO is not always easy.  A great tip is to say, “let me get back to you”.

Share the love

Whenever you can, delegate and outsource your to-do list.  Think of it as sharing the ‘love’ of housework, laundry, grocery shopping, gardening, cooking, gift shopping and walking the dog, to name a few. 

There are so many great outsourcing options available that will give you back TIME. A must have service to add to your list is GimmeNow. Perfect for the times when you can’t run out and get the ‘things’ you need when you really need it, like a last-minute gift or if you’ve just run out of nappies. GimmeNow is an online store that brings you almost anything, almost anywhere, within two hours. Picked, tracked and delivered to your door. GimmeNow let’s you get back to the things that matter most.

Time-wasters

Be time-sensitive and mindful of the time-wasting activities that consume your day.  Things such as social media – time for a digital detox!  Or you may need to work on your procrastination.  

Another time-waster is multitasking. It’s so easy to get sucked into trying to juggle several things at once, but in reality, not getting anything done.  It’s much more efficient to focus on one thing at a time and finish it.

De-Clutter

Research reveals that clutter has adverse effects on our well-being, including stress, feelings of inadequacy that can lead to depression, and distraction from the focus that kills our productivity and wastes precious TIME.

So in the words of Marie Kondo:

“Choose what sparks joy!”

— Marie Kondo

This method of tidying means you are not choosing what to discard but rather choosing to keep only the items that speak to your heart. 

Know your energy

Do you know the best time of day for you to get things done?  The best time for downtime?  The best time for exercise? Taking notice of your energy levels is vital to becoming more time-efficient.   

A typical time for a drop in people’s energy is after lunch, around 2 to 3 pm. This is linked to the brain’s circadian rhythm and is ‘hard wired’ into the human body. A siesta would be ideal but is mostly not practical. To get through this slump, eat a healthy lunch including carbs for energy and protein to keep your brain alert.  Also, take a brisk walk to improve blood flow and boost your energy.