How to create that extra time you want

10 Sep How to create that extra time you want

Posted at 13:46h in Time management by

I was having an interesting chat with one of my clients the other day.

He’s applied for a place on a prestigious training scheme, and we were catching up on how the interview went.

Whilst he was updating me he mentioned how he told the interview panel some of the challenges he’d faced in the past year, such as struggling to find time for his own development and not being able to take a holiday.

One of the interviewers picked up on this and asked ‘So, if you’ve not been able to find the time to take a holiday, how are going to find the time to commit fully to this programme?’ His response? ‘I’ll make sure I find the time’.

And I believed him.

He was fully committed to getting a place on this programme. It meant a lot to him, and I know that if he gets it, he will find the time to commit to it.

This is somebody who is always struggling to get through their to-do list and find the time to work on their business, never mind taking a holiday and spending more time on areas outside of his business.

Do you get this?

If something is really important to us, we can always manage to find some extra time for it, no matter how busy we are.

There’s no magic wand at work, conjuring up another couple of hours in the day, it’s all about priorities.

Can you relate to this? Have you had times when you’ve been so busy, but then something else came along that you somehow managed to fit in?

So, I want you to take a list of all those things that you’re not currently doing under the excuse of ‘I have no time’ and do the following:

1. Give each item a ‘benefit’ rating out of 10

For each item figure out how much benefit it will give to your life or business if you did have the time to do it. Anything that comes out less than 6 out of 10 can be crossed off the list for now. You are never going to get round to it because it doesn’t deliver enough benefit, so what’s the point of getting stressed that you’re not doing it? Take it out.

2. Give each item an ‘ease’ rating out of 10

For everything still left on your left, how easy is it for you to do? Assess this in terms of simplicity and how much time it will take, and come up with a score out of 10.

3. Pick the one with the highest ease and benefit score, and do it!

Now you’ve identified which of the things you’re not currently doing, that will give you the most benefit in the easiest way, go and make it happen! Make this your priority.

Not hugely scientific I know, but don’t spend too long coming up with the scores on this. You will have a good enough idea to identify the one task that you need to start doing, and also what you can stop worrying about.

Once you’ve mastered the first task, then simply work your way through the next highest scores on the list.

The trick is to keep your focus on how important it is and the benefit it will deliver, and you will manage to create the time to get it done.

What do you think? Do you have any experiences of managing to fit something into your already tight workload because it was really important? Leave a comment to let me know 🙂

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Alison Bradford

Alison Bradford is a business coach who works with smart, ambitious business owners to get clarity about how they can grow their business and increase profit. Sign up here to learn 6 easy ways you can boost profit in your business today.
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