Busyness is its own unique kind of stress. Time management can only take you so far. If you are dashing from place to place all the time, it may seem like you are constantly under a looming deadline just to finish your day, even if you've narrowed your schedule to the bare necessities of work, family and church.
While canceling everything and staying home may be tempting, there are several things you can try to make your time more efficient. You aren't magically putting more hours into each day, but it may feel that way when you adopt these habits.
Cook in Bulk
If you are the primary manager of your household, the task of meal planning likely falls to you. Whether you plot your whole plan for the month all at once or play it by ear every day, that's a lot of labor. One way to save time is to cook in bulk.
There are many methods for batch cooking, but an easy way to do this is to make double when you cook. Then you have one meal for your family that evening and another to eat throughout the week. Even if you don't like leftovers now, give them a chance. You may find that they become surprisingly tasty when you see how much time they save you.
Give Yourself a Busy Task
How many hours of your week do you spend on hold? There are many places where you use time just waiting for your turn:
- Lines at the grocery store or retail shops
- Traffic jams or long red lights
- Waiting rooms at the doctor's office
Instead of getting frustrated by the idea of what you could be doing instead of waiting, have some small tasks already on hand. Download book apps on your phone or carry a book to read with you. Use recorded lessons in the car to learn a new language or skill. Catch up on the news. If social media steals a lot of your free time elsewhere, try limiting yourself to only checking it when you're waiting. Soon you may relish the opportunity to stand in a line!
Stick to a Schedule
When you are busy, it is easy to tackle what seems to be the most pressing task at the moment. Unfortunately, this is where a lot of the stress from an overloaded schedule comes from. Constantly feeling like you're putting out one fire after another does not leave much room for rest or relaxation. Instead, make an agenda and stick to it. It's fine to have a running to-do list, but set aside specific time to work on it. That way, you avoid getting to the end of the day only to discover that it's not quite finished.
Another perk of adding time limits to items on your to-do list is that it helps you work more efficiently. You may think that you're doing yourself a favor by setting aside an hour to work through the list in the afternoon, but you are just as likely to adjust the pace of your work to accommodate the time allotted, making you use more time to accomplish tasks than is really necessary. Instead, divide that same hour into four 15-minute increments and scatter them throughout the day. Assign specific tasks to the first three and leave the fourth open just in case you need it. Most days, you may find that you don't, giving you a little extra time in your day.
The best way to give yourself more time, of course, is to delegate or drop low-priority tasks from your schedule completely. If you've already done that and still are busy, though, these tips can help you feel less frazzled.