BALANCE TIME AND ACTIVITIES -5 actions to take

“I don’t have time” has become a more common saying than “I don’t have money.”
Sometimes, our days look like a short truce. We’re up from bed, and in no due time, we’re back again; after going through a series of activities.

There is a feeling of fulfilment that comes when you plan to go to work, write, call someone, go somewhere else, read, cook, and have a nap, and you do accomplish all of them when the day is done.
You sleep without expecting any form of nightmares.

This tells us how key it is to balance our time and our activities.
There is no exact formula to a fulfilled day, just a few tips and guidelines which I have highlighted below:

1. PLAN

Between the time you wake up, and when you stand from the bed, create a mental picture of what you want your day to look like, and the sequence you will expect it to follow.
Highlight your activities for the day in your mind, and begin to plan how you’ll accomplish them.
It’s okay to voice out some of these plans.

You can say to yourself – “I’ll visit my friend today after work, come home and cook, have a bath, read for a while, and go to bed”
Our minds have a way of registering these things and reminding us later.

2. TAKE COMMITTED STEPS

When you finally get up, put these plans down in a diary or a notebook if you have one.
You can use the notepad on your phone.
Keep to the timing you have set for yourself, and adjust your plans to still fit in if you had a spill.

For instance, if I plan to read for at least two hours in the day between 10 am and 3pm, and I’m only able to complete 90 out of 120 minutes at 3pm, the advisable thing to do is cut thirty minutes from another schedule, and input the reading there. This means that there must be a scale of preference in the activities you do.

3. MAKE FEASIBLE PLANS

While bogus plans may keep you on your feet and help you focus more, it may leave you feeling unfulfilled at the close of the day.
This is not good for your mental health, as it may even affect your sleep.
So make plans you can keep. It’s totally okay to say to yourself “I’m not sure I’ll be able to make this visit today, maybe some other time”

It’s okay to make a reading plan of just 2 hours every day if 4 hours is not feasible for you.

Learn to work and do things at your pace. Give enough time to sleep and leisure while making a schedule. Don’t assume you’ll sleep for 3 hours and be able to work perfectly well.

4. DISCIPLINE

This perhaps is the crux of time management. Learn to work with time and with your plan.
Be disciplined enough to resist an outing that you don’t have spare time for.
Learn to curtail sleep once you have had enough for the day.

When it’s time, do it at once and don’t procrastinate. Whenever we procrastinate, we find that at the end of the day, we are not able to highlight boldly, the things we have done.

5. TAKE A REVIEW

   When the day is almost up, take a review of the things you have been able to do and the ones you have not covered.
   If you have some time left, try to cover up for the day, otherwise, plan to do better in the days that follow.

Advantages of balancing our activities

1. It helps us to give time to everything that deserves it, no matter how trivial.
2. You will not be overwhelmed by one activity, and forget to do others. It will also help you avoid the stress and feeling of an unfulfilled day that comes with carrying over activities
3. It makes you open-minded and easily approachable. People know that you can hear them out and not be too busy to attend to them.

If you’re just beginning, you may make mistakes from the onset. This is only enough reason to continue and not stop totally.
Take an intentional step today. Strike the balance!