Creating more time — my five personal tips.
I’m a full time overnight employee, who schools, gyms, and so many other things.
For the past year I’ve had many people tell me that they are amazed at how much I fit into my schedule. When it comes down to it, it’s all about time management and having systems in place.
Disclaimer — I’m not a mom. I figured I should get that out of the way in case you believe that the reason why I can accomplish so many things throughout my day is because I am not a mother. It’s true I’m not a mother.
But I do have two fur babies. And I work full time — overnight.
Working overnight messes with your internal clock. Not to mention places aren’t open when you’re awake and there’s this perpetual small feeling of sleepy that follows you around, even on your days off.
I also work part time during the day. On top of that I take two courses a semester at my university. And I go to the gym 5 days a week. Yet I still make time to date, do my homework, visit friends, and work on my side hustles.
Trust me when I say that I understand that your life might be a hundred times more complicated than mine. And I know that adding children or a whole zoo (for my friends with multi-pet homes) makes finding time even more difficult. But I hope that the tips I use to save time in my life may somehow save you some time in yours.
A typical day.
At 8 p.m. my third alarm goes off. Yes, I’m just like everyone else and need five alarms to wake up. It’s usually the third one that does the trick.
Within two hours I have to shower, dress, walk my dog, feed my pets, prepare my lunch, eat breakfast, and prepare my gym bag.
I also brew my coffee, drink my coffee, clean the litter box, bag up the wee wee pad, brush my dog, and socialize with my cat.
Once I’m at work it’s pretty much a smooth ride for seven or eight hours.
Pro tip — On my lunch break I try to fit in a 10 min task then enjoy my lunch. If I only have a 15 minute break, I separate 5 minutes to write down what I’ll need to get done for the day/week then take a 10 minute power nap.
I’ll usually leave my full time job between 6 and 7 a.m. From there it’s on to the gym. I’ll leave the gym around 9 a.m. unless I’ve planned to work on my writing or school assignments there. In which case I’ll leave around 11.
Once I’m home again I say hello to my animals, let my dog out to pee, refresh their water bowl, and prepare my lunch. Then I sit down to a movie or YouTube.
In order to have a successful nights sleep I have to be in bed no later than 1 p.m. Sometimes that works and other times it doesn’t.
You see another normal thing that happens is I have days where I’m too energized or I’m not sleepy enough. And even other times in order to make a deadline I’ll sacrifice an hour or two of sleep to finish some work. But on most days I’m in bed by 1 pm even if I’m unfinished with something.
Putting projects aside and being okay with leaving some things unfinished in order to get a full nights sleep is necessary. Good sleep is essential to an easy schedule. It might seem like you’re losing time by sleeping it away but you’re not. On a full night’s sleep you function quicker, you make better decisions, and you think clearly. All of which save you time.
On most days my window to fit in projects, errands, chores, and leisure is from 10 to 12. Two hours. Within those two hours I write, draw, respond to emails, eat a snack, call someone I know, stalk social media, or just live in my feelings.
How I find the time.
Before I go into my list of tips of things I do to create time, I need to mention that for all the strategies you learn here or elsewhere on the internet, they will not work unless they are applied. But more importantly they won’t work unless you’ve adapted them to your life.
1. I make a large batch of food for the week.
This should be a no brainer for many. Cooking ahead saves me so much time from having to guess at what I’m packing for lunch or eating for dinner. A similar tip would be to buy no hassle fruits when you go grocery shopping — apples, bananas, and nectarines are a few. They require no cutting and minimal cleanup. I would suggest prepackaged snacks but that can get pricey quick.
If you’re struggling to find the time to even prep cook, try purchasing a crock pot, a rice cooker, or any other appliance that will cook as you work. If the prices are too high ask a friend if they have one available that they don’t use. One of my coworkers picked his up at a goodwill.
2. Don’t leave (all) your chores until your day off.
You are only punishing yourself this way by filling in what should have been a day to relax and recharge with things you’d rather not do.
Not cramming all your chores on your day off might seem counterproductive but you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much more free time you’ll have if you scatter these chores throughout your work week.
I will note that many people do utilize a batching (grouping) method to get a lot done in a short amount of time. But I don’t recommend this for beginners because it takes a lot of discipline to start and continue.
3. Create a weekly schedule.
This might seem too difficult if you have a work schedule that changes constantly, usually anyone in retail. But it isn’t impossible. Everyone on earth receives their schedule with some sort of notice. Trust me when I say an hour or two spent creating a schedule will save you so much time and give you peace of mind during the week.
I’d like to note that some of you might not know where to start in creating a schedule. (Keep scrolling) My suggestion for y’all would be to work on figuring that out a little bit at a time. Say to yourself that you don’t have an ideal schedule now but by next month you will because you’ll tackle meal prepping first, or you’ll decide when and where to fit in 30 minutes of fitness. Don’t try to create a new organized life by tomorrow.
Others might find the schedule making too hard or too boring. For those who may find the task hard or boring try a reward system. Tell yourself if you completely schedule one thing you’ll treat yourself with x. Or as I’ve told many of my friends — I am sure you know someone who would love to make a schedule for you.
Beginning a schedule is easy. You can decide to print out a weekly calendar from the internet or create one with pen and paper. (When I first started I made one with pencil and paper so that I could erase. I started the week with Sunday and went from beginning of the day to the end of day, by the hour.)
I once had a friend who created a schedule with their phone but then never used it. The problem with the phone is that you can’t view an entire week’s tasks at once. You are usually limited to small print and have to select a day. With paper I can make the print as large as I want. If I need it bigger I use more paper.
Another friend of mine didn’t know how to fill their calendar once they created one. Easiest trick is to start with a typical week. Then create a new calendar with your ideal week.
The point of creating a calendar of your typical day is to find the unused or poorly used time. Sometimes the time is hidden in the week and so a weekly calendar will work better than a daily calendar at finding it.
Now that you know where you have the unused time the next step is to group this time into chunks. This will be difficult at first because there are just some things that cannot be moved. For instance, my day job revolves around my days off from my full time overnight job. There is no other way around it. So I control what I can control. I group my night hours together on those off nights. And group my weekly hours, as I mentioned above, from 10 to 12 p.m.
It won’t help you if you have 3 hours in your day free if they are all 30 minute intervals at random times. People forget that time is lost going here and there. If you can move some things around start working on that slowly. Aim for at least one hour blocks.
How I find the time (continued).
4. Know your living space. Make it efficient.
Note — the following tip can be applied to wherever you spend most of your time.
Think of your room or home as a trip from A to B. The quickest way is a straight line. You probably already know this but you’d be surprised how many times people walk into rooms to grab one thing and then another room to grab another thing just to end up in a third room to use all those things. How much time did you lose doing all that? Is there a way you can increase your efficiency?
Simplify your home. If you’re taking too much time in the bathroom getting ready in the morning, is it because you’re trying to locate a blow dryer, a brush, a cream? Is your medicine cabinet disorganized? Ask yourself the same thing about your kitchen. Give the items that you use the most a home near each other.
How your home is structured will dictate how much time you lose or save in your day. It might seem like only a few minutes here and there but when you add them up and chunk the time, you might discover a half hour was lost in your morning/bedtime routine.
5. Don’t be perfect.
That doesn’t mean don’t be disciplined.
This has got to be one of my best time savers. I can’t tell you how much time I lost in the past obsessing over the things I was working on because I needed them to be perfect.
If I was packing my lunch, all the Tupperware needed to fit in perfectly. If I was folding my laundry it needed to be sorted and hung in the “correct” way.
If I filled my pets’ water bowls it needed to be at a certain line. All this need to be perfect just led to many do-overs and plenty of lost time. It was unnecessary.
Aim instead for a percentage of perfect. Then, as you find more time in your schedule you can gradually increase your perfect percentage.
6. Be Flexible. Not hard on yourself.
I know I said this list contained only five tips but I believe this tip to be integral to the others. So many of my friends stop before they even start. To them planning seems a mountain of a task. That’s okay. Pick just one thing you’d like to make time for and start with that.
You see the reason why we want to learn to find time isn’t because we want to learn time management (i.e. more work). We want to find more time because we want to pick up a hobby, or have more time for family, or for dating, or for school assignments.
As I’ve said before, don’t try to create a new life for yourself by tomorrow. Choose one thing. Just one thing to start with.
Listen, there are plenty of listed tips on the web for finding time or time management. Lists structured for homemakers, for students, for entrepreneurs, for those who struggle with mental health and it goes on and on. But as I’ve stated in the beginning, for all the strategies and tips you learn, none of them will work unless you apply them. Discipline is necessary. But more importantly time saving tips need to be adapted to your life. Don’t like calendar apps? Then ditch them for pen and paper or an erase board. Find what will work for you and know that it will take trial and error.
Bye friends! :)
