Do you ever find yourself wishing for more time in a day? How about wondering where the day went? Or how are you supposed to be able to get everything on your to-do list accomplished? Wishing the feeling of overwhelm would go away already? Do not worry you are not alone! These are some of the most popular feelings I hear on a regular basis from clients and friends alike. I regularly get asked how do you do all of that? Do you ever sleep? How do you have so much energy?
Time management plays a big role in how we manage our lives, including setting our priorities, handling mundane daily tasks, and planning and preparing for the future. If we let time take over and lose our control it is very easy to let a lot of other things go to the overwhelm and chaos.
Understanding your life from a time perspective is fairly simple, however, I will not promise that it is easy. Many people get to the first step and break down or give up. It is ok if this happens, just promise yourself you will keep coming back to it until you have completed it and can move on.
Why is step one so difficult you ask??
Well, much like other areas in our lives, if it difficult because we are forced to get absolutely, 100%, serious and honest with ourselves. We have to take a full inventory of our lives, our activities, responsibilities, and our desired for where we want to go.
Part one actually has multiple parts, so we are going to start with the basics and then, build upon it. I am going to put in my work, so feel free to copy and paste as you need to. I encourage you to do this over a few days because undoubtedly more things will pop into your head, be sure you carry a pad and pen with you this week to capture them as you go…
I am sure you are wondering what the heck I am babbling on about… so here it goes:
Everything I Do Challenge
Over the next week keep a running tally of everything you do! Every activity, responsibility, group, club, etc. Try to be as specific as possible. I personally like to break things down into the different parts, because I may not mind one part of a process of activity and really dislike another part of it. Example: Laundry — can be broken down into – sorting, washing, folding, putting away. Meals – shopping, prep, cooking, eating, clean up.
If you are going to do this on the computer consider doing this in excel with different tabs for the separate areas of your life… this may assist in keeping the overwhelm down a bit. WARNING: You may feel exasperation, dizziness, frustration, overwhelm, confusion, surprise, elation, or exhaustion looking at a complete list of all of the things you do.
Try to add in the things you would LIKE to do too. If you really want to join a bowling league, book clue, exercise, etc. put that into your list as well.
When you are writing down your activities consider the following categories:
- Family
- Career
- Financial
- Social
- Spiritual
- Physical
- Intellectual
I would love it if you would share you experiences with this and how it is making you feel. Please reach out if you are feeling overwhelmed, or like you need to give up. I am happily here to support you and keep you moving through the process. If you need to step away and come back that is perfectly ok, but make sure you come back!