5 Ways to Find More Time in Your Day
Often, we are told to get up an hour earlier or stay up an hour later to find more time in our day. While that might be sound advice if you`re in the habit of sleeping 9 hours a night, it isn`t always the best advice for work at home moms. Most mothers I know get very little sleep and they need every minute they do get. So, apart from cutting back to virtually nothing, how can you add more hours to your day? Here are some suggestions.
1. Go Audio
How often during the day do you find yourself sitting and waiting for something? Or working on a dull, hands only task that leaves your brain disconnected? These are perfect times to listen to something like an audio book or podcast that you can learn from. If you`ve been waiting to get around to reading that book that`s been sitting on your desk for months, get it in audio form instead.
2. Always Have Little Tasks
We all have times when we are somewhere with nothing to do, like the doctor`s office or your son`s soccer game. If you have small things that can be done during these times, you`ll be far more productive. I like to carry a notebook with me and take these times to write outlines for my ebooks, jot ideas for blog posts or plan out my agenda.
3. Plan the Big Stuff First
By making sure you get the biggest tasks scheduled first, you`ll be able to fit in the smaller items around them. It is usually best to work on the biggest tasks early on and you`ll be able to breeze through the smaller tasks later in the day.
4. Outsource
This is something I`ve dabbled in before, but at the time, I didn`t have a lot for an assistant to do. These days, I`m outsourcing writing some articles to my sisters (who write in a similar style to mine), and my accountability partner, Marina, and I have been looking for a VA to share some of the more menial tasks in our businesses. Outsourcing essentially gives you a whole other workday every day, depending on how long you hire an assistant or helper for. All the drudge work goes to someone else and you get busy with the more complex tasks that require your specific attention. I`ll be writing more on outsourcing in an upcoming post.
5. Rest
It might not sound like the best way to get more time, but it is. I take a nap with my youngest son in the afternoon when I can, for example. That extra hour or two of sleep lets me stay awake and refreshed later into the night, when I`m more productive (since no toddlers are distracting me!). It might seem like a waste of an hour, but if I get another four hours of work out of it, then it is very much worth it.
What is your favorite method to add more time to your day? Have you tried any of these methods?
Great tips! One other way to add more time to your day is to just let some things go. The laundry doesn’t have to be perfectly folded, dinner doesn’t have to be a big production every night, and beds don’t necessarily have to get made every single day (obviously I’m not the neatest mom in the world)! Sometimes just going easier on ourselves and remembering what’s most important is the best way to add quality time to our days.
So true, Traci! We have actually hired a housekeeper so I don`t even think about beds and laundry anymore, but dinner is sometimes just scrambled eggs and toast.
Number 1 is a great idea and yet I always forget to have my iPod loaded and ready to go.
I like to get up early before the kids. That is usually a very quiet and productive time.
Carrie, you might want to just take some time each week to preload your iPod with podcasts you`d like to listen to. I rarely leave the house, so mostly I just listen on my computer while doing other things.
No. 5 is indeed overlooked by a lot of people. but just resting when you need it can actually help you get a lot more done than pushing yourself to stay awake and work at a much slower pace.
I usually do my reading when I’m waiting somewhere. When I didn’t drive to work, I also read in the tram. But that can get a bit tricky when there’s hardly room to breathe, let alone open a book and read
Yup, I find that a nap in the afternoon refreshes me to work for many more hours in the evening and late into the night!
Outsourcing is a great way to delegate the daily tasks associated with your business. I even have my own Virtual Assistant. The beauty of hiring a Virtual Assistant is you only pay for time on task. When you are a small business owner, for many, it is not in the budget to pay for lunch or benefits.
VAs are really an affordable option for startups or anyone with a small budget, that’s why I love having one.
Outsourcing (step 4) is the first step to secure time which will help to rest (step 5) and sped quality time with family. Some people have difficulty in delegating some routine tasks and they end up working very long hours and being worn out after some years in their business. I really appreciate this article.