How to Find More Time in Your Day

Each of us gets a total of 168 hours in a week. Within that you must work (60); eat, shower, dress (25); sleep (50); and do what you do for the remainder (33). You can’t go full out every day, but it’s important to reflect on the 33 hours that are somewhat negotiable.

It is within these hours that we can share some tips on how you can go from couch potato to productivity guru. Don’t try to reschedule your entire life. Instead, focus on small, manageable actions to boost your ability to manage your commitments and time.

Shortcut#1

GET UP EARLIER
“But wait! I love to sleep-in. I’m just not a morning person.” Well, you probably didn’t like broccoli as a kid, but now appreciate its superhero stature in the vegetable arena (it’s seriously great for you!). If you can commit to getting up 30 or 60 minutes earlier for the next month, you’ll build a habit that will change your life. In The Greatness Guide, Robin Sharma espouses getting up early as the greatest gift you can give yourself. With this ‘found’ time you can exercise, eat a proper breakfast, journal or think about your life goals, ultimately freeing up even more time to spend on the things you love.

Shortcut#2
START EVERY DAY ON PURPOSE
We can’t all start our days doing the one thing we were born to do. But we can always wake with a purpose. This means spending some time each night planning the things you are going to do in the morning. Perhaps it’s 25 pushups, a great cup of coffee, quickly writing down the dreams you remember, or having a refreshing shower. Don’t get up arbitrarily because it was written in a book. Instead, get up early because you have something to do that gives you the energy to propel your day.

Shortcut#3
RECORD YOUR ACTIONS
Author and management guru Peter Drucker once wrote: “What gets measured gets done.” So don’t think you can change your ways without some measurement. Try this exercise: Create a document with two columns. List the time in one column in 15-minute increments and leave a blank space in the second column. Then print it out. For one week (two if you can manage it), record all the things you do in your day. It’s important to be as specific and accurate as possible, so that at the end of the week you can look back precisely on where you’ve invested your time. This might confirm some hunches or reveal some enlightening data on your habits. Try to spot trends and patterns that you’d like to change, continue or stop.

Excerpt from “Hitting Stryde: A Gen Y Career Survival Guide” by Daneal Charney and David James Singh. Now available in an e-book format.

Photo: Above photograph used under CC license