How often do you use the excuse “I don’t have time for that” when you want to do something that you like or something that will make you more money?

If you are an average person, you often think you are short of time because of work, college or family obligations. However, the truth of the matter is that you can make time by incorporating some time management skills into your life. Let’s explore how you can better manage your time and allow yourself the freedom to do the things you like.

You Own All Your Time

We live under this illusion that we don’t have control over our time. Somewhere along the journey of life, we blindly accept this notion and hopelessly live our days stuck in office jobs.

This is a false notion that we need to do away with. At any given moment, you are always doing what you want the most. It is as simple as that. You choose to do the things you want although you don’t realize it.

If you come home from work and zone out in front of the TV for a couple of hours, you chose to do that. You are the arbitrator of how you choose to spend your time.

Doing away with this false narrative has given me much more freedom in life, and I don’t feel paralyzed anymore. We need to admit to ourselves that we control our time and choose to spend it how we choose to spend it. That’s it.

Hell Yeah or No

“Hell Yeah or No” is a time management book by Derek Sivers in which he explores the idea of what’s worth doing and what’s not. The idea goes that whenever you are presented with an opportunity, your response should either be “hell yes” or “no” and nothing in between.

Why?

Because if you say yes to the things that aren’t important, you won’t have time for the “hell yeah” stuff that is more important.

Hence, say no to the things that don’t elicit a resounding yes from you. It should either be that you want to do that thing 100% or not do it at all.

This philosophy, when used consistently, will free up your schedule, and you will have more time for the things that matter.

Set a daily Highlight

This is simple. You need to have something in advance that you know you will dedicate the entire day to.

The idea goes that if you don’t have a clear understanding of what the next day is for, you are less likely to get anything done. You might have experienced this already when you have a cluttered mind and no real plan on what you want to achieve on any given day.

The indecisiveness brought on by the myriad of options makes you anxious, and you find yourself demotivated.

Instead, when you have something that you know is urgent, dedicate the next day to it with the understanding that it is the only thing you will focus on. This way, you won’t waste any time planning on the day of.

To-do Lists Are a GameChanger

This one may seem obvious, but when was the last time you actually made a to-do list?

To-do lists are so overlooked and underrated in recent times that people have had to write books explaining why you need to use them.

The reason to-do lists work so flawlessly is because they organize the tasks you need to do in written form.

Now instead of those ideas taking up space in your head and causing anxiety, they are on a piece of paper, and you can do something about it. Hence, you end up saving time because you already know what you need to do on a given day.

Moreover, to-do lists also help with overcoming procrastination by allowing you to do the mundane and easier tasks before the main ones. This way you build up momentum.

An interesting thing about motivation is that once you get started on something, it becomes easier and easier to stay focused on that.

The starting part is the hardest for most people. To fix this with a to-do list simply, start with listing easy-to-do everyday stuff like making your bed in the morning and watering the plants and then tick them off as you do them.

This will build up momentum, and you will feel more productive and ready for the challenging tasks on the list further down.

Time Blocking

Time blocking is the concept of clearly demarcating a task that you need to do on a calendar. Think of putting a “block” on your calendar for something that requires your time and effort. This is something that many successful and productive people do such as Elon Musk.

However, you don’t need to do this for every little task as that would take more time in planning than actually doing that thing. Instead, use this method for things that are very important, and those that you don’t want to forget.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a physical calendar either. If you use a calendar app on your phone, then all the better. Set in a reminder on your calendar app for things in advance so that when the day arrives, you know what you have to do.

Parkinson’s Law

This law dictates that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

In other words, if you want to complete a task and you allot, say, 10 hours to it, then you are likely to spend those 10 hours doing that one thing.

However, if you had allotted 5 hours instead of 10, then you would have likely achieved the same result in half the time. This is, of course, just an arbitrary example, but I hope you get the point. Hence, it is important to set deadlines that don’t allow you more time than practically needed.

Protect Your Time

If you are an entrepenuer or business owner, you basically get to make your own schedule.

However, this can be detrimental in a way if you don’t “protect” your time by allowing yourself “me” time.

For example, if you are a content creator, you will notice that most of your time is consumed by networking with people for collaborations and interviews. However, if you don’t protect your time by clearly assigning specific hours to, say, emailing and networking, your whole day will get consumed by it.

Similarly, you can also protect time by assigning a set amount of hours in the morning to do the stuff that isn’t work-related. For example, you can set aside 3 hours in the morning, right after you wake up, to read books and not do anything else.

Outsourcing

You don’t have to do everything on your own. This is especially important for people who are just starting out a business. Thanks to the internet, there are so many avenues to find freelancers who will happily do work for you for a small sum.

You may think that you cannot shell out the money required for hiring people. However, in some instances, the time you purchase by delegating work may reap you more benefits than otherwise possible.

Start out by determining what your time is worth per hour is. Let’s say you figure out that your time is worth $20 per hour. Then if you can find someone to do time-consuming stuff for cheaper over the internet, you end up saving money.

Automated Scheduling

Our lives are growing more and more dependent on zoom calls and virtual meetings, and scheduling those can take up a lot of our time. To counter this, you can use an app called Calendly, which allow you to send out your schedule to the people you want to schedule a meeting with.

You do this by sending them a link, and the other person can open it and choose a time slot without worrying about time zones.

At the end of the day Choose to be Satisfied 

Lastly, if you are someone who pursues time efficiency and productivity, it can be very easy to fall into the void of “I should have done more” at the end of the day.

You can use all the time management tips and skills there are, but if you don’t appreciate what you have accomplished, you will forever feel unsatisfied. Hence, choose to be satisfied instead. Whenever you think that you didn’t achieve enough, simply remind yourself that you have done substantial work and set aside the worry.