7 Ways to Squeeze Out Extra Time Each Day

If you don’t think you have an extra 5 minutes to yourself each day let alone enough time to pursue your interests you are wrong. Here are a few daily tactics you can employ to put your time to better use and even carve out a few extra minutes, 30 minutes or even an hour or more each day to get yourself moving closer to your goals.


1. Make a time journal. Write down everything you did over the past two days making sure to jot down everything from the time you opened your eyes in the morning to the time you close them at night. Look it over and take notice of all the wasted time spent on unnecessary things. Can you see anything you can knock out? No? Let’s look a little closer at your list. Do you watch the 5pm news then again tune in at 7pm and yet again at 10 pm? Even if you switch stations for each viewing it’s pretty much the same news. If you cut out all but one viewing you could gain about an hour and not miss a thing. While we are still on television how much time do you spend staring blankly at it in the evening? Do you have it on out of habit? Do you spend hours surfing the channels because there is nothing on until the 10:00 news? Think of all of the wasted time you could gain by shutting it off and doing other things. There are only three nights a week where there are actual shows I like to watch. The other nights are channel surf nights. By turning it off on the nights I used to surf I gained valuable time to dedicate to my other goals.


2. Morning time! What time do you get up in the morning? Are you guilty of using the snooze alarm? Here are two more ways to add minutes to your day. By getting up the first time your alarm goes off you can gain an additional 10-20 minutes. Time better spent on planning your day. How about getting up a little earlier each morning? I know, you are thinking, “But Cheryl, I need my sleep.” By getting up even 30 minutes earlier gives you that much golden quiet time before the family, phone and other interruptions happen. You could pack in a quick workout, a 30-minute reading session, painting time or whatever else is on your “To Do” list for the day.


3. Speaking of “To Do” lists make one based on your Itinerary. Do you recall your Itinerary from the MPP series? Yes, that’s the one. Based on these interests you will need to have action items to move you forward to achieving them. Remember, a goal without action is nothing more than a dream that will never materialize. Create action items each day for each of your items on your itinerary. You may need to adjust your Itinerary based on the time needed to complete your action items. You may find that you may want to have more “low intensity” interests and only one “high intensity” interest on your list for better balance. You will need to play around with it until it feels right for you.


4. Focus on one task at a time. When you try to do more there is a tendency to get stressed and you will find yourself struggling to get the job done satisfactorily. You may also find that you fail to accomplish anything. Plan your tasks in time blocks of about 30 – 45 minutes each and then do nothing else for that time period except that task. That means not answering emails or chatting on the phone. These two time stealers can be given there own time block.


5. Delegate non-essential tasks to others to free up much needed time. Let the kids help with chores around the house. Have the hubby or wife pitch in as well.


6. Are you home with kids all day? Hire a babysitter, drop them off at “Camp Grandma’s” for an afternoon, schedule reciprocal play dates with friends to free up some much needed uninterrupted time to get some things accomplished.


7. Do you find yourself waiting? Waiting on lines, in cars or while your daughter is taking ballet? Put that time to good use. While in the car, pop in a positive learning cd or foreign language lesson. Pack a bag with pen and paper handy for taking notes on that book you are writing or reading material for a class you are taking. Keep the bag in your car for those “waiting” moments you find yourself in.