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Last updated on September 15th, 2023 at 01:48 pm
When I started thinking about homeschooling, my greatest fear was how in the world I was going to make enough time to do that and everything else. Over the years, I’ve put a lot on my plate …being a stay at home mom to a toddler, having a corporate career, and running a side business all at the same time. I’ve done my fair share of researching how to manage my time and actually get things done.
After spending several years doing all of these things, I can narrow down managing my time into 3 steps.
Since we’re coming up on a new year, I want to give you these tools so you too can manage your time well and achieve the things you’ve been wanting to do.
Let’s dive into these 3 steps to manage your time.
Step 01. Set goals.
How can you decide what’s most important if you don’t know where you’re going? I think of goals like a destination I’d set in Google Maps. If I know my destination, I can make better decisions about which turn to take, or tasks to prioritize.
Since I started getting serious about setting goals, it’s been much easier to prioritize my time. Here’s why:
Neuroscience explains that writing down your goals encodes them into your brain, making you more likely to remember them and prioritize them. (Plus, science says writing down your goals makes you 42% more likely to achieve them.)
For instance, if I made a goal to organize my home and wrote each of my smaller action items down, I’d be more likely to set time aside to do it.
If you’ve never set goals before, my goal-setting go-to is the PowerSheets from Cultivate What Matters. This is my third year using them, and it’s been a game-changer.
Step 02. Plan out your week.
I never understood how I could plan my week ahead of time. But since I started setting goals, it makes more sense.
Now I know what I should be doing during my days because I’ve set a destination (a goal).
Over the past couple of years, I’ve developed a planning practice to help narrow down what I’m doing during the week. By listing everything I could possibly do, I can cross out and cut down the things that don’t need to get done that week, then plan accordingly.
I use the flagship planner from Day Designer. The layout works best for my needs. Check them out here to see if it will help you manage your time.
Another great resource to use for choosing what’s important is the Covey Time Management Matrix that you can check out here.
Step 03. Leave space for rest!
There’s a reason one of the Ten Commandments is to honor the Sabbath day —we need rest in order to come at our goals with energy and passion.
Whenever I put a million things on my schedule I never feel like doing anything! By leaving space for rest every day, I give myself the ability to work better when it is time to get down to business.
I’m able to give more of myself when I take time for myself.
Use these 3 steps to manage your time:
- Set goals.
- Plan out your week.
- Leave space for rest
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