FEEL LESS BUSY, GET MORE DONE

Channel your future self, plan around your body clock, and don’t underestimate the potential of a productive Friday afternoon. Here are nine simple ways to claim back your time

Ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? Us, too. And it’s not just work: juggling the school run, meeting old friends and a neverending pile of laundry can make us feel like we’re in a constant battle against the clock. If you’re anything like us, the standard response to ‘How have you been?’ is ‘Really busy, you?’

We’re all trying to do a million things at once and, quite frankly, it’s exhausting. But Laura Vanderkam – productivity expert, author and speaker – says this feeling of being ‘too busy’ is simply a state of mind.

‘Time is not something to be feared – you are in control of it,’ she says. ‘Once you develop a mindset of time freedom, you’ll realise you can stretch time – and free it up – wherever you wish.’

In her new book, Off The Clock, she explains how becoming more mindful of your time can help you feel simultaneously less busy and more productive.

(Yes, it really is possible.) Here, she shares her top tips for feeling like you have all the time in the world. How you use that time is up to you…

1 KEEP A TIME DIARY FOR TWO WEEKS

Before you say you’re too busy to do this, hear me out. In order to feel like you have more time, you need a better understanding of where your time goes. It’s a strange paradox: time discipline enhances time freedom. Rather like a food diary to track diet habits, keep a log of what you’re doing and how long everything takes you for two weeks. For example: ‘woke up at 8am, ate breakfast at 8.15am, travelled to work at 9am, arrived at 9.52am’, etc. This will reveal more wasted time than you think, like the 20 minutes spent hunting for your keys, or the hour-long train journey where you stared into space. Once you identify your habits, it’s easier to create the life you want.

2 DECLUTTER YOUR CALENDAR

We tend to fill space in our calendars: it makes us feel productive. But we often prioritise events – like meetings – when they don’t deserve so much attention. You might say a day with only one meeting is ‘light’, when actually you’re doing your most productive work that day. Free space allows time for creative thought, so factor it in. Push back against schedule clutter: ask to stay out of a meeting that isn’t directly relevant, or give someone a spontaneous call when you have a free moment, rather than booking it in.

3 SCHEDULE CREATIVELY

If you’re unable to remove or shorten plans, try to put them in the same time window. It’s hard to use small gaps of time between events productively. Rather than scheduling meetings at 9am, 11am and 1pm, push these into one window of 1pm to 4pm et voila, you have a free morning. Do the same on weekends by condensing chores and errands into Saturday mornings, so the rest of the weekend is open.

4 WORK AROUND YOUR ENERGY

Strategising around your body clock boosts efficiency. Planning your hardest work for when you have more energy (maybe after your morning coffee) means a task may take one hour instead of two – then you’ve freed up an hour for something else. Planning breaks to clear your head also enhances focus, and could mean you won’t stay late to finish something because your addled brain keeps reading the same line over and over.

5 UTILISE THE ENDOF-WEEK SLUMP

As you slip towards the weekend, Friday afternoons can be unproductive. Use this opportunity to plan what you want to achieve next week. Figure out how to fit everything in by breaking tasks down into smaller parts, prioritising the most important. Planning opens up so much time. Even big things don’t take long when they’re broken down into steps.

6 MAKE EACH DAY AN ADVENTURE

Memories are key to feeling like you have all the time in the world. You don’t say, ‘Where did the time go?’ when you know where it went. Do something new each day to build memories, like trying a different lunch spot.

7 BE KIND TO FUTURE YOU

Think carefully before saying ‘yes’ to plans. We often overburden our future selves because we view them as different people. We think, ‘October me won’t mind. October me won’t be busy!’ But come October, life will be much the same as it is now. Instead, ask yourself, ‘Would I do this tomorrow?’ If it wouldn’t be worth changing tomorrow’s plans for, it’s probably not worth your future self’s time either.

8 CHANGE YOUR STORY

We all tell ourselves stories about what is required of us. ‘I need to be at my desk before my boss gets in,’ or ‘No one takes a lunch break, so I can’t.’ In reality, these are expectations we place on ourselves. We have convinced ourselves that people notice things more than they do, but they’re wrapped up in their own stories. I’ve sent email replies after what I thought was a long time only to get an email back saying, ‘Thank you for the swift response!’ If others aren’t counting the minutes, neither should you.

9 MAKE TIME INVESTMENTS

Do things that take time in the present but free up space in the future. For example, creating a spreadsheet of contacts could save time frantically hunting for an email address later on. When working on a task, think, ‘Will I ever do this again?’ If so, is there something I could do now that would make future instances faster and easier?