Easy Ways to Make Time for Yourself

Today, most people follow a routine, such that they are caught in a cycle of running around the clock without getting any breathing space to enjoy a fulfilling and satisfying life. One deserves to lead a prosperous life filled with abundance.

Our daily routine can be made enjoyable if we know how to intersperse it with small, but enjoyable, periods of quality time with family and friends. This way, we can plan days, weeks, and even months ahead, instead of just doing catching-up work.

If you could only take a little pause and inspect your routine with a new outlook or perspective, you would find that it is actually easy to make some positive changes in life. Making time for yourself is one such positive change, and it holds the potential to make you happier.

According to David Allen, a productivity consultant, You can't win a game you haven't defined. Therefore, you'll have to first decide on how to go about the day. Planning the day ahead really helps. You may not be able to strictly follow your schedule, however, you'll at least have a rough idea of the tasks you need to handle in a day's time.

Waking up early gives you ample time to exercise, meditate, have your breakfast peacefully, look after your garden, and then get on with the rest of your day. Morning time can be effectively utilized for planning the day ahead.

In fact, early risers get a head-start, which gives them an advantage over others. As a result, you will get enough time to plan your schedule in a better manner.

Prioritizing work definitely helps when you want to save time. Without prioritizing the tasks/objectives at hand, you would never be able to find free time, no matter how hard or fast you work. Also, you cannot do everything you wish to do; which is why you should learn to prioritize your tasks.

First of all, make a list of the tasks that you need to complete in a day's time. Such a list should make it easy to focus on and schedule your work properly. By prioritizing your work, you get the much-needed time to de-stress and rejuvenate the mind.

As such, trivial and not-so-important tasks are thereby relegated to the bottom of the to-do list. It means important tasks are completed without delay, and you have more time left for yourself.

By maintaining a diary of daily tasks, you offer yourself enough time to prepare your schedule, besides not leaving out the important things that need to be done. When you are busy following your daily routine, not much attention is given to spending precious time carefully.

By writing down the daily activities at hand, you can make necessary changes to the next day's schedule effectively. This acts like a checklist, ensuring that you don't forget important things, and also that you get time for yourself in between or at the end.

You don't have to spend hours in a gym everyday to stay fit and healthy. In fact, even if you devote just around 20 to 30 minutes daily to exercises like stretching and brisk walking, it can work wonders.

It should not be difficult for even the busiest individual to spare a little time for an early morning exercise. The time will, in fact, be well-spent, and you will notice that there will be a spring in your step all day.

Well, the option of using public transport to save time, at first glance, may not seem to be a good idea. However, think of the spare time you get when you are sitting idle while traveling. By using public transit, you will get the time to read books, listen to music, and even make those important calls.

Once you get into the habit of reading while traveling, you would receive a 'daily dose' of some food for thought. You would be amazed to know how reading transforms your thought process and personality as a whole.

Instead of running errands the entire week/month, you should think of hiring a professional 'errand service'. By doing so, you can save a lot of time that is spent on shopping and traveling. If you don't wish to hire an errand service, you can at least think of buying in bulk.

Bulk shopping not only saves times, but also helps you to get some useful discounts. Similarly, laundry services can help save the time spent in washing and drying clothes. Someone who regularly does the washing and cleaning at home would know how much time and effort is spent on this activity.

Watching TV for recreation is different from watching it out of habit. When you get habitual to watching TV, you waste so much time doing nothing constructive. Many a time, you are not really interested in watching TV.

In such cases, you need to break free of this habit and, invest your precious time in something worthwhile. Paint something, read a good book, or play a game of chess with your kids. This way, you not only make quality time for yourselves, but also create a positive environment at home.

You don't have to answer each and every mail that comes into your inbox. Prioritize the mails and answer only the important ones. Sifting through a huge chunk of mails can take up a great amount of your time. Similarly, when you log onto a social media site, you tend to waste a lot of time on useless things.

Spending time on social networking sites can be justified when you have a lot of time to kill. However, when you are struggling to save each and every minute, you'll have to be alert and aware of the time spent on such activities.

This is really a good option to save time that is spent in long lines at that bank. For beginners, Internet banking can be a bit tricky to adjust to. However, it would only be a matter of time before you get used to it. In the end, you will realize that it saves you a lot of time in the long run.

Internet surfing, these days, is one of the top time-wasting activities around. Internet users, over time, get habitual to surfing the Internet purposelessly.

In fact, Internet surfing is a kind of an addiction which many of us find difficult to get rid of. Thus, reducing the amount of time you are on the Internet is one way to save time for yourself.

When you don't reserve enough time to look after yourself, it tends to show up in the form of impaired health, increased stress levels, poor levels of concentration, lack of optimism, depression, etc. A fast-paced life should not be an excuse that is used not to look after yourself.