How to use your time to create the life you want
How you use your time is just one of the variables for success. I’m not talking about the passage of time because time just is. It’s what you do with the time you have that matters. One of the secrets to success is knowing how much time to spend on the right things at the right time and in the right order to get the results you want in your life.
We have so many distractions these days that it’s so easy to get sidetracked. So how do you know when you’re using your time effectively and when you’re not?
1. Get the balance right
It’s about balance. If you feel like you’re working too slowly, how can you speed up in such a way that you’re still fully present to the task at hand, you’re minimizing mistakes, and you’re in that alpha brainwave state (where you’re completely absorbed in what you’re doing). making)? If work arrives at a faster pace than your work pace, you know you need to slow down the time you spend on tasks or increase your pace.
If you’re in a rush in a state of unhealthy stress (yes, there is healthy stress…it’s called moderate pressure!), what do you need to do to slow down and regain a sense of calm and balance in your being?
If social media is taking you away from what you’re doing and time just ticks by, what strategies and stops do you need to put in place to ensure you minimize those distractions? It’s about finding that fine line between speed and rhythm, between stress and pressure, between distraction and rest.
How you see what you are doing at any given moment is key to how successfully you do what you do. It’s about gaining that clarity in your mind. For example, if you feel like your pace is too slow or too fast on a particular day and you have a long to-do list to get done that day, clarify why your pace is the way it is.
Look back at what you were doing yesterday. Did you have a full day yesterday, or was your day too easy? In which case should I have scheduled a lighter day today or a more active one? How did you sleep last night? If you spent the night tossing and turning and barely sleeping, that could be a clue that maybe your body just needs to rest today. If you slept soundly last night, this will contribute to an extra boost of energy for you.
Look at what you have been eating in the last few days. If it’s empty calories that make you feel full but lack nutrition, this will deplete your energy levels. However, if you’ve been eating and drinking full of E numbers, you may find yourself bouncing off the walls. All of these aspects will have an impact on the time you spend, so it’s crucial to plan your days effectively with your energy levels in mind.
2. Understand how you respond
Another indicator of whether your life is working out for you over time is how well you’re moving toward what you want in life. One measure of this is how you are responding at the end of each day to what you have accomplished…or not. If you feel disappointed because once again you didn’t achieve what you wanted to achieve, perhaps it’s because you once again unrealistically tried to fit too many tasks into one day.
By asking yourself certain questions about the activities you do, you will begin to understand how well you are using your time. Do you feel like your homework is too big, too small, too boring? You may not be clear on exactly what you need to do. Maybe you lack clarity on how you are going to do what you want to do.
3. Prioritize your activities
Perhaps what is needed is some time to clearly define your activity, why you are doing it, and come up with a simple strategy that will at least get you moving. Sometimes when you take a few minutes to take these simple steps, your energy levels begin to level off because the confusion, frustration, and uncertainty begin to subside.
Taking time to simply prioritize your tasks according to their level of importance, timing each one, and deciding when to tackle each one is an amazingly freeing activity on a mental level that will start to propel you forward. Taking this more hands-on approach will also help you learn more about how it naturally works and work accordingly.
4. Be clear on your results
The clearer you can be about desired accomplishments, the more constructively you will find yourself using your time. How to do this is relatively simple:
- Be really clear about exactly what you want to achieve
- Map out your strategy to get there
- Divide your project into phases and prioritized and timed tasks
- Get to work!
- Continuously evaluate what works and what doesn’t.
- Make any necessary adjustments along the way
- Stay open to what success will look like
- Continue until you reach where you want to go (or the closest version)
- Rinse and repeat
It’s a simple system, but not necessarily an easy one, and a key part of it is how you use the time at your disposal to arrive at your result. When you begin to use your time more effectively by following the strategies above, you can begin to achieve the exact results you want to manifest, and from there begin to forge the exact life you want to live.