Don’t Waste Your Time (5 ways to get more time in your day)

Ahh, time. This terribly wonderful, stress inducing thing that helps us get so much done in our lives. 

Today’s post is going to talk about how you can get more time in your life – because no matter your situation, with hard work and good systems, you can get more time in your life. 

#1: Know That Your Time Is Valuable 

Ever heard the saying “Time is money” ? Time is valuable – we have a limited amount of it and quite a lot of things to squeeze into it. It can quite literally be money. Imagine how much money you could make working for an hour compared to how much money you make sitting in traffic for an hour. 

It’s important to know that your time is valuable so you don’t waste it. Of course, you want to make sure you give yourself breaks and leisure time. It’s tough to balance between working constantly and wasting time, but mastering that balancing act is important.

After you read this blog post, I want you to listen to THIS podcast (don’t worry, it’s short… because your time is valuable. 🙂 

#2: Track Your Screen Time 

I have a screen time tracker set up on my phone, and it has been really helpful to get a realistic idea of how much time I spend on my phone.

 If you asked me how much time I’m on my phone per week, I’d say probably an hour a day. But according to my screen time tracker, I’ve spent an average of 2.5 hours on my phone per day. Sometimes we can easily be biased by what we want our results to be rather than what they actually are. 

If you aren’t able to get a screen time tracker set up, you can also set up a spreadsheet and write down what you are doing at any given time of day. I did this for one week, having an alarm go off every half hour to remind me to write down what I was spending my time on. After doing that, I had a decent idea of what I was actually spending my time on. 

#2: Prioritize Your Time

Because your time is valuable, it’s important to prioritize what activities you spend it doing. 

Make a list of everything you can think of that you spend time doing. Ask yourself “Is this activity more important than this other activity?” and order the list from most important to least important. 

Next, try to cut out some of the less important priorities, or at least minimize how much time you spend on them. 

Some of these smaller priorities could be social media, watching movies, or shopping. Some items that could be high on the priority list could be family time, praying, writing, and fitness. 

Now that you have an idea of what you want your priorities to be, look at what they actually are. I had writing pretty high on my priority list, but I realized (thanks to my screen time tracker) that I spent more time on Instagram than writing.  

I’m on a mission to change that. I’ve been analyzing my screen time tracker more often and constantly telling myself “You can consistently check Instagram every day, but you can’t write every day??”.

#3: Take Control of Your Phone Before It Takes Control of You 

This might be turning into a massive hate post for phones and Instagram. 

But seriously, don’t let your phone take control of you. 

One thing I’m trying to do this year is to 1) minimize how much time I spend on my phone and 2) regularly take breaks from using it. I don’t want to rely on my phone every single moment of my life. 

I started this by setting my phone outside of my room when I went to bed. I realized that it was really hard to resist checking my phone right when I woke up, which wasted 15-20 minutes every morning. 

The only reason I had my phone nearby was for it to act like a clock. Now, I check the time on my Kindle, which doesn’t have as many distractions as my phone. I’ve kept setting alarms on my phone, but since it’s out in the hall I have to actually get up and go out of the room to turn it off. Simply getting out of bed and standing up has helped me get a headstart on the day. 

I’m starting to do this in other areas of my life too. In the mornings when I need to concentrate on school and writing, I put my phone outside of my room so I don’t get distracted. It’s a really simple and helpful strategy. 

Another thing you can do to take control of your phone is to turn off notifications. The constant buzzing of my phone distracted me and made it so that I couldn’t fully focus on work. I decided to turn off notifications to Instagram and other social media apps. I only have notifications turned on for text messages, because I know those will be more important than Instagram notifications. 

#4: Minimize Distractions on the Computer 

It may be harder to minimize distractions on your computer or laptop because you need to use it to, well, write. 

Just bite the bullet and install a website blocking app like Freedom or Cold Turkey. I thought I was disciplined enough to stay off of distracting sites without these apps, but after I installed them, I was so much less distracted. 

Just do it guys. 

#5: Shift Your Mindset 

Most of all, I think the secret to gaining more time is to switch your mindset. 

Instead of stressing about how you’re going to finish your to-do list, focus on getting it done in the most efficient way possible. When you get busy, instead of pushing important things like writing to the side, find new ways to incorporate them into your schedule. 

I usually did my workouts in the afternoons after finishing schoolwork and writing, but there was one week where I was bogged down with Christmas parties and activities. I wasn’t going to be able to workout at all that week, and when I told my dad about it, he said “If it’s important to you, you can find a way to do it.” 

Instead of floundering in my lack of time, I thought for a moment and decided to wake up earlier and do a workout in the morning, and lo and behold, I was still able to work out and write during that busy week. 

You don’t need to drown when life gets busy. Instead, keep swimming ahead and focus on what is truly important to you. 

***

I hope these tips can be helpful to you. Have a great rest of your day! 

-Hannah