When life pulls you in so many different directions you can start to feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. Work, your family life, your hobbies, your studies and everything else becomes one massive juggling act where you’re just waiting to drop the ball and fail in one area. But there are things you can do to help, ways to make sure that you manage to keep all your balls in the air, regardless of how many directions life pulls you in.
Here are some handy tips to help you survive in all areas of life.
1) Establish daily routine
This might not seem like much but a daily routine is the easiest and most effective way to manage all areas of your life. By creating a routine for yourself you create a schedule, and in doing that you maximise your time, by which we mean you stop wasting time thinking about what you need to do. This doesn’t mean you have to start waking at 5am to get everything done, your routine can be a morning one, it can be an evening one, or it can be a whole day routine if that works for you.
2) Use time blocking
Time blocking is a fantastic time management tool to use and one we find very effective. It’s simple to do, you literally just schedule in set times for each of the activities you have to do. When you do this you optimise your productivity and you focus your time on the activities that are most important or are a priority. You can add this into your list, once you have made a list of everything you need to do, break down the day and allocate each day a time frame for the day.
3) Focus on what matters to you.
There are so many hours in the day and it isn’t always possible to get everything done. In these cases you need to focus on what matters most to you. Prioritise your jobs and start with the most urgent, the most pressing and the most important. Not only will this help you to make sure you get everything done that HAS to be done, but it also helps to prevent you from wasting your time on things that just aren’t worth it. There is a great book on this subject; “Essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less” by Greg McKeown
4) There’s always tomorrow
The old saying goes “don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today” and this is true. However, if (because of time limits) you know you can’t get everything done in one day, it is perfectly acceptable to leave an unimportant task for the following day. The more stress you place on yourself to get everything done today, the more you are going to start rushing and making errors.
5) Avoid distractions
When you have a lot to get through it can feel overwhelming and in these moments, it can be very easy to start procrastinating or become easily distracted. It is also easy to complete a task or two and think to yourself, “I deserve a treat, I’ll spend five minutes on social media or watching TV” and before you know it you’ve lost an hour, or more. Resist the urge to take unnecessary breaks and try to avoid things that you know will distract you from your work.