Creative ways to give yourself more time
You’ve heard the phrase “we all have the same 24 hours in a day.”
Or “you have the same 24 hours as Beyonce.” (HA…okay.)
Technically, I guess this is true, but there are a lot of factors at play here.
Your 24 hours look different if you own a car, bike most places, do more walking, or take public transit.
Your 24 hours look different if you have to report to an office versus working from home.
Your 24 hours look different if you have a significant other that you live with. And they look wayyy different if you have kids.
It’s true that those of us who are privileged enough to have help—be it from family, friends, neighbors, or people we hire—have a way different 24 hours than those that do not.
Today, I want to challenge your assumptions around time.
When I started @Accelity, I was working full-time, running my vegan cookie company, and had a baby at home. Free time was hard to come by. In fact, ANY time was hard to come by.
I decided that I had to start outsourcing some common around-the-house tasks in order to survive.
I think a lot of us have the mentality that we absolutely cannot pay people to do the things we “should” do. Cooking, cleaning, caring for children—we should do everything ourselves and suffer in silence.
BTW, who determines what we “should” do anyway? This topic is especially nuanced for women that feel the heavy pressure of societal norms.
But we CAN get help. We deserve help. And sometimes it makes more sense to have someone else.
Here are 5 things to consider if you need more time:
First, do a time study. Track every minute of your day to see how you’re actually spending your time. I do these at least annually, with my last audit in January of this year. (Check out my most recent audit linked in the comments and make a copy for yourself!)
Get rid of your TV. I went without a television for about 2 years. I was fresh out of a divorce, soul searching, and re-evaluating how I wanted to use my time. Sure, I could still watch something on my computer here or there if I wanted, but going without a TV did something really simple: it removed the habit of plopping on the couch every night and turning on the TV. It makes ALL the difference. If this is too far for you, consider putting your TV on a vacation timer.
Hire someone to help you clean. Most people think that help in this department is extremely expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. We pay ~$100 every other week for someone to come and do the deep cleaning… the floors, the showers, etc. I started doing this immediately when I started a company, because I figured that if my time was worth even $50/hr. (hint: you’re worth more), and it saved me a couple of hours, or bonus—if I could bill a couple more hours, then this pays for itself.
Put a better schedule in place. I think working from home made a lot of us lazy with our schedules. Work and personal life just flow together now, and we don’t have good boundaries or systems in place. When is your most productive time of day? How can you ensure that 1-2 hours is YOURS and yours alone? No kids, no pets, no meetings, no distractions.
Simplify meal time. Maybe you’re one of those people that loves to meal plan, grocery shop, and cook every day—I am not. We have a few super-easy meals that we eat every week. We go out to eat less in favor of having locally-sourced meals delivered (similar on your wallet, better for your body). We have our groceries delivered. Yes, you have to give up a little bit of control and pay delivery fees, but the time saved is well worth it to me. What could you do to make eating less time-intensive?
What is ONE way that you can save yourself time, and take steps to implement it?