One of the biggest excuses I hear from listeners, prospective clients, people who want to do my courses, in my one-on-one mentorships or even the people I’m actively Coaching…

“Yeah, but I don’t have enough time.”

In this episode, we are rethinking how we look at the time we do have, we are time hacking the hours in the day and breaking down ways to save time, create time and let go of the narrative that stops most people before they even begin!

Trust me when I tell you I get this time struggle… I always have.

I have memories as a kid when I was in school, playing on multiple sports teams, a part of different clubs, volunteering, had homework, friends and family – and my mother would ask me to put my dishes in the dishwasher and I’d emphatically exclaim – MOM, I DON’T HAVE TIME!!!

I had written a narrative on my life that I simply didn’t have the capacity for more. I viewed a busy, full life as a right to say “I can’t” and convinced myself that I didn’t HAVE time the same way people convince themselves that they don’t HAVE money when it really comes down to how they USE their money.

But here’s the kicker… at that same stage of my life I watched TV, played with my friends, slept in, went to the movies, and did all of the other things that kids do.

Anything wrong with that? No, of course not. But the point is, I HAD TIME. It was just about how I was choosing to use it. We all have the same 24 hours in a day and we have to start to breakdown how we utilize that time we do have.

So the first big kick in the pants when it came to going from acting like a victim to taking ownership over my day and the clock was when a mentor of mine challenged me to do something…

He said – I want you to replace the phrase…

“I don’t have time”

with

“I’m choosing not to prioritize that.”

I HATED the challenge. Because every time I’d go to fall back on my trust excuse that I had become to accustom to using, I’d have to choke out this awful new truth –“I’m choosing not to prioritize that.”

But after a few times of having to cough it up, I started to actually hear what I was saying and it took effect. I got it. I had to get intentional and clear about what I wanted and use my time accordingly. So my goal today is to give you some practical, actionable tips that have worked for me in regards to saving and finding time, but like with all things we need to lay the foundation for…

1. Believing it’s possible and 2. Wrapping our minds around what’s required to get there.

There have been a few things I’ve done that have helped this process –

1. Journaling.

When you start your day with a simple practice of getting intentional. If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t know how to spend your time. You won’t know what deserves your time. So if you sit down and set your intentions for the day, become more self-aware about how you feel, what you want to feel, you will know where to aim. This should be short and sweet. Set aside 5 minutes and don’t go beyond that.

2. Slow down to speed up.

When you wing it, when you live in a reactive state, when you try and do too many things at once, you sacrifice time. Do two things at once and you’re really doing none. Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.

You might think you’re doing things quickly and effectively, but you’re putting out fires that usually aren’t yours instead of stoking the ones you want lit. So slow down, map out your day, week, month, year… know what deserves your time and what deserves a no from you. Be strategic in your process, and know that being proactive, planning ahead, seeing into the future are not time sucks but both time and energy savers.

Let’s get into action…

Here’s my process, some of the tools I’ve used, and what I’ve applied over the last few years that have made a huge impact in my squeezing more time out of my days.

1. Shut off all notifications (pop ups) on my phone

-Instead, set reminders in your phone or on my schedule to tell me when to go dedicated allotted time to those specific tasks

-I run my biz on social, but instead of going in there or getting notifications, I put 30 mins on my schedule to reply to messages

(This was so freeing!!! We have no idea how much time we are wasting)

2. On that note, I use the moment app

-This was very humbling and eye opening

-You can set goals with the app!

-This creates self-awareness which is KEY

3. Create a morning ritual and routine that puts you ahead

- This might involve waking up a little earlier, but when you craft it the right way it can be something you look forward to

-Maybe you crush your workout before your day starts and that’s one thing you used to say “I don’t have time for” that you now have made a non-negotiable in your day to day. It will also boost your energy, too!

-Maybe this is when you get your research, reading, writing, planning in

-I like to do mostly things I enjoy/I need and that start me and my energy off on the right foot (workout, meditate, journal, read, stretch, shower, podcast… but then I pick one thing that I would typically avoid and knock it out before the day even starts. Get back to all of my messages/emails, write a piece of content that’s been haunting me, meal prep

4. Using my planner to my advantage

-Either night before or morning of-before opening ANYTHING, plan out your day!

-THEN the bigger picture is already planned – calls, what I’m focusing on, but this allows me to fine tune and be aware of what is allowed into my day

-Schedule in white space

5. Batch work

-As I use my planner, I know ahead of time what days/time slots are dedicated to what

-Started batching!!

-Before it felt really reactive, but when I started batching my work it allowed me to set my focus on one thing and not jump around, which made me way more efficient

-Tuesdays are for my team (sometimes it’s by the day)

-Monday’s are broken down into bigger batching slots (email, messages, replies – calendar)

-Wednesdays are for recording podcast episodes