How do you create more time margin in your week – with an already packed schedule?
Isn’t this a great question?
How do you create more margin – to do the things you want to do and the things you need to do?
Here are a 7 tips to help create more time margin:
Start your day with God.
Of course a pastor would say this, but it is amazing if I start the day talking to God how much it helps me all day. Something about pausing long enough to center my day helps me start in a more productive way.
Prioritize your life.
What do you value most? Without knowing this we find ourselves chasing after many things that have lesser value.
Work smarter.
Most of us form bad habits or have unorganized methods of doing something that waste bulks of our time. Make a list of what you spend the most time doing and see if there are places you can cut.
Schedule times to organize.
Spending an hour or two planning the week will make the whole week more productive. Develop some system of calendaring your week. Usually for me this is the first part of my week. As a result I know where I’m headed and my work space is organized for efficiency. That makes it much easier to handle distractions, which are sure to come.
Don’t say yes to everything and carefully use your no.
Be picky with your time allotment based again on your end priorities and goals. And no is not a bad word.
Schedule down time.
Especially when my boys were younger, I would write time on my calendar for them. This allows you to be there and keeps things and others from filling up your schedule. (I still schedule this time with Cheryl – and, it sounds counterproductive, but we get away even more frequently during busier seasons.)
Evaluate your schedule often.
Plans should not be implemented and then ignored. Develop your plan to create margin in your life, then periodically review the plan to see how you are doing and what needs to be changed.
For some people just reading this is laborsome. I especially encourage those of you geared this way to push through the difficult part of this and give it a try. You will be surprised what a positive difference it will have on your life.
