I just don't have the time. Ever feel this way? Time is more precious than money in my opinion because you cannot simply "make more". It is finite.
When I decided to go back to school to get my Ph.D. while raising a young family and working full-time at a Fortune 100 company, most people looked at me like I was crazy. 'How could you possibly have the time for that?' Many projected that I would quit. 'It is impossible, blah blah blah.' I heard it all.
The truth is that I put my time and energy toward the things that mattered most to me - NOT what mattered most to other people. This is easier said than done, because if you hadn't noticed many people have opinions about how you should run your life, how clean your house should be, what your lawn should look like, what type of fruit basket you should carve out of a watermelon and bring to your kids school to impress everyone, etc.
I couldn't do all of that, and I didn't care regardless of what everyone else thought. The house was a mess, the lawn was either too long, too short, too brown, too full of biodiversity, etc.
I wish I had a magical device that froze time so I could study and sleep and go to work and have family time and time for myself, but I didn't. So I had to create the next best thing with a pen and paper. Just like any budget it begins first by looking at where you are currently spending your time. Think of it as a time inventory. Take a couple typical days and document everything you do and how long it takes you to do it. Tedious, yes. Insightful, YES! It is worth your time to do this.
Next, put your activities into categories and tally the total time. How much time do you spend eating, checking e-mail, sleeping, cleaning up after other people, and so on. The purpose of this is for you to appreciate the magnitude of your time you are spending on certain things. You may be surprised. But just like spending money on little stuff here and there adds up, so do your actions in a day.
Once you have your categories tallied, confront the reality. Are you spending time on the stuff you value most? Are these things that are contributing to your goals, the future life you want to create? Only you know the answer to this. If you value your health, are you spending more time being physically active than scrolling social media? If your family time matters, are you spending more time with them than you are cleaning the kitchen?
If where you are spending your time doesn't align with what matters, it's time for you to change that. I like to schedule my top priorities at the front end of my day or put a time block on my calendar later in the day to make sure they happen. Most people can't roll out of bed and just be awesome. It takes a script, a plan, a schedule that tells them what they need to do next. It is too easy to get distracted by what may seem urgent at the time.
This is a great start to mastering your time. If you like the way this sounds and want to learn more, check out my Time Master Course on my website. I show you the complete system I use to take charge of my time and accomplish what matters most to me.