5 Tips to Add Time to Your Day

There needs to be more time in my day. Theoretically, daylight savings time is suppose to create it. For me it just means I have to get up during darker hours of the morning and that bedtime has to be pushed back (because what kid wants to go to be with the sun still up?). There has to be a way to squeeze one more hour out of my day.

1. Multi-task – since I’m still on dialup, I spend a good deal of time waiting for research pages to load. Instead of clicking on solitaire to pass the time, I need to have a non-computer project near by. I can work a bit on it while the page down loads and then return to the screen when it gets there. This is the best time to do bills!

2. Focus – my dad has a saying that he repeats to me (too) often, “Don’t put your dogs in that fight.” When I’m working, I have to remember that. It is easy to let issues or matters that have nothing to do with my life, my family or my work get me riled up. Focusing on issues and situations that actually matter will help me add time to my day.

3. Plan – make a list, a schedule or post-it-notes, what ever it takes to help you know what you need to do. Include everything – from taking the library books back to scrubbing the toilets to submitting your novel. Seeing it will help you keep from getting to the end of the day and remembering you didn’t do anything that you needed to do that day (although you may have gotten your Christmas list completed 😉 ).

4. Hide – if you have a place of your own to work then lock the door and stay in it. If you are fortunate enough to get to spend all of your time right in the center of your family’s daily lives, then buy a laptop and run away for a few hours. You will be amazed at how much you can accomplish with uninterrupted time.

5. Unplug – the television is the time curse of the modern era. It eats more hours than any other single thing you have to deal with. Television can spark procrastination, gluttony, sloth and so much more. Turn off the television to guarantee more time in your day – or cut the cable all together!

There may be a limited amount of time that anyone person gets in one day, but there are ways to make it feel like so much more. Use what you have wisely and completely and you will feel like the day just goes on until you are done.