Maximizing Your Time, pay yourself with minutes.

 Have you abandoned all the new rules you made right after the pandemic, like only using social media on the weekends or no late evening business meetings or your goals of spending more time with your children and people who matter to you?

Did you wake up one morning, wondering why your life has returned to pre-pandemic scheduling? Or even worse, grown worse. Even before time stopped during the pandemic, people were trying to figure out how to maximize their time. Even before 2020, we all knew that time was a hot commodity. But, there are those that mistakenly think money is the most important thing. If used wisely, money is used to buy back your time.  Money allows you the time to do the things that are important to you. No one can tell you, what's important to you. Only you know what's a top priority in your life.

So how do we adjust our schedules, to get the most out of the time we have been given? What do you want to invest your time into? It's like a pie and we're trying to keep as many slices to ourselves, without being greedy or selfish. Don't forget being a little selfish is needful, you can't be there for others if you don't take care of  yourself. I love writing and making list. So of course, that's my suggestion to you. Make a list of your greatest returns, meaning when it comes to your time being spent.  Was it well spent? Write down all the activities that did not serve you well this past year. Remove activities that ended up being  distractions or unproductive tasks? Some examples of use of your time can include, family relationships(outings, household chores), self-development, self-care, work/home projects, and hobbies. 

Review your list over the next couple weeks? What are you seeing that needs adjusting? Ask yourself what activities were the most fulfilling and brought you the most happiness? What did the list teach you about how you use your time? We know we are more likely to change our spending habits, if we monitor where our money is being spent each month.  The same thing happens with our time, we need to monitor what we're doing with our time and make adjustments as needed. Maybe have a life coach or someone you trust to give honest and clear feedback to you, look at your list.  You can also consider journaling, how do you feel about your list, what did it teach you about, how you use your time?

We have the best intentions with our goals and action plans, but in reality we can live without a lot of the tasks that we have on our list. Doesn't it feel good when we can just cross something off? It's just not that important. Let go of time stealing activities and  prioritize your time. Say yes to things that bring you joy! Take time to  celebrate your progress and reward yourself, even if it's a quick pat on the back!