As I begin this post, I fully acknowledge I’ve spent a lot of time on the subject of time management this year. i guess that’s a pretty good clue to how important it is to me. Since this is a Friday post, and they’re supposed to be about my journey to fitness, this one has a little different spin.
When I had that epiphany a little over a month ago that I needed to make a change in my life, I was already stretched way too thin with my time. My support roles of wife and mother and obligations I’d chosen to be responsible for were eating up most waking hours of my day. I knew that if I was really going to get serious about getting healthy, it would require a chunk of time out of my day–A large chunk of time out of my day.
The logical thing to do would be to trim some fat (I mean in the schedule!) right? I really needed to eliminate some unnecessary obligations to find those two or more hours a day I now needed to devote to my physical health.
I know I’m not the only one out there with this specific issue. It’s commonplace for woman to juggle several hats, these days. So, I don’t need to tell you, that a jam-packed schedule doesn’t mean there are extras to be trimmed. I keep my appointments on an electronic calendar, so I thought if I set my schedule visually that I’d see some ways to make up the time. Mapping it out on paper with little colored boxes to mark the time something else held my hostage only made me want to go to bed for a week.
Not a viable option.
So, what’s a person to do? Or better yet, what did I do?
Prioritize. Yes, no surprise to you that read this blog regularly, I set loose the obsessive list maker inside me.
Everyday I look at what absolutely needs to be done–making sure there is time for the wants as well as the needs and I make a game plan. That doesn’t necessarily mean things get done in the order of importance. Picking up a gallon of milk might be high on the need list, but if I do it when I drive the kid to a class that is in the same part of town as the store I like to shop at, it saves time.
If when I make dinner tonight, I cut up enough vegetables to make three days worth of salad, I’m saving a little time the next two night. (Word of warning: I’ve found prepping vegetables for further out than three days, actually wastes time as by that fourth day they’re not as enticing as they were fresh.)
So, is it working for me?
Generally: Yes. Sure I have days when I want to pull my hair out, and other days when I’m nodding off in the chair at about 8:30.
How do you trim the excess and make time for what’s really important in your life?
