Sometimes it feels like life is going at 100 miles per hour and you’re running as fast as you can trying to keep up. 

Whether you’ve a demanding job and trying to work on your side hustle in the evenings or you’re running your business whilst taking care of your newborn baby, it’s easy to feel like you never have enough time to do it all.

We’ve all been there.

We want to do so much, yet there’s so little time.

It’s exhausting and overwhelming, and can make us feel like we’re never in a million years going to be able to pull it off.

I see this often with the people I work with. They have these life changing dreams, these ambitious goals, but they don’t know how to make time for it.

Take one of my recent clients, let’s call her Amy.
Amy wants to leave her corporate job and start working for herself. She’s already got ta business idea and has figured out what steps she needs to take before she can hand in her notice.

The problem? She works long hours and has a family to take care off, so she struggled to find the time to work on her side business.

As we analysed her week and got a clearer picture on how she spends her time, she was able to make some changes and dedicate 1 hour per working day on her business and an additional 2 – 3 hours over the weekend. That’s 7 – 8 hours per week – not bad when you already work 50+ hours per week!

The thing is, what Amy did is possible for us all. We all have time. We just need to be relentlessly intentional about how we spend our time.

If whatever you’re working towards is important to you, you owe it to yourself to take it seriously and be super intentional with your time. Ultimately, you have the power to choose what you spend your time on.

I know all too well that life sometimes does take over, but there are a few good habits that really help you to stay in control and get more done.

They’re easy and super doable for anyone.

Here are my two favourites:

Know what you’re going to do before you open your laptop

Whenever you open your laptop or start your computer, know what you need to do and make sure you finish that before you do anything else.

Avoid opening your laptop, ‘just to do some work’.
With that mindset, it’s way too easy to get sucked in to emails, get distracted by a notification that pops up or get tempted to quickly check Facebook – and we all know how that ends!

I know I’ve been guilty of that far too often, so these days I always go through what I need to do before I even look at my trusted MacBook.

So, grab a notebook (or business planner) and do the following:

1. Write down your quarterly goals. Where would you like to be in 3 months’ time? What would you like to have achieved?

2. At the start of each week, write down what your focus areas are for the week ahead. What do you need to do or achieve to get closer to your quarterly goals?

3. At the start of each day, before you open up your laptop, write down the top 3 most important things that you need to complete today to help you achieve your weekly goals. Then, write down any other to dos for the day, such as urgent matters that need your attention and any administrative tasks or things that you need to check. Always complete your top 3 most important things before you get to the rest of your to dos.

Once you’ve done that, feel free to watch epic dog fails videos on youtube or read up on the latest celebrity gossip.

Harness the Power Hour

A few months ago, I went to a panel discussion where a health & fitness blogger called Adrienne spoke about the concept of the ‘power hour’ and I LOVED it so much that it changed the way I start my day.

The power hour is the first hour of your day and if used right, it can set you up for the day ahead. Wouldn’t it be great to start your day right, feeling calm, grounded or energised instead of frazzled, rushed and stressed out?

If your mornings feel like an eternal battle, listen up.

There’s HUGE power in making your first hour of the day your best one. Most of us don’t take the time to do what we need to do to feel ready for the day ahead.

That’ll mean something different to each and everyone of us. Maybe an early morning fitness class does the trick for you. Maybe it’s meditating for 30 minutes and making yourself breakfast and a green juice. Maybe it’s laundry or some urgent to chores that you know you won’t get to later in the day.

Making the Power Hour work probably means setting your alarm a little earlier than you’re used to. I know getting up earlier might sound crazy to some of you, especially if you’re not a morning person, but hear me out!

Let’s have a look at the night before the morning you intend to wake up earlier. If you’re anything like me, you’re not very productive at the end of the day. My brain is usually fried come 9pm, so I’ll spend my time watching tv, scrolling through social media or reading the dailymail.com (guilty as charged!). All really enjoyable, but anything but bright and productive.

There’s really no point in doing those things late into the evening, so instead of wasting my time on these enjoyable but – honestly – useless activities, I go to bed on time so I can be that early bird who catches the worm the next morning. To give you an idea, I’m often in bed between 9:30 – 10pm and get up between 6:00 – 6:30am.

It feels great to have that bit of extra time in the morning and start the day feeling relaxed and in control.

Try it out for a week and see how you feel!

You got this,

Iris