7 steps to creating more time in your day

As we grow older we may think that our time is not our own. While we can't control every demand on our time, we may have more choices about how we use some of it than we realise. I find with my coaching clients that time is something that most of us want more of. But where does all our time go? What do we spend our days doing? Here are seven steps for taking control and gaining some of your time back.

Seven steps for taking control and gaining your time back.

1. Keep a time diary

Keep a time diary for a week. Be honest with yourself: how much time do you really spend on social media, scrolling online or watching television when you would rather be doing something else?

Write down what you do and when you do it. Start from the time that you get up in the morning to the time that you go to bed. Log all your activities and note down how long you spend on each task. It’s a bit like an old-fashioned time and motion study but on you.

2. Analyse where your time goes

Analyse your time diary to find out what you really spend your time doing. What does this tell you about yourself and how you manage your time? What activities or demands tend to take more of your time than you'd like?

Do you spend your time endlessly checking your emails, or are there certain demands that take up your time? What is it that you do that takes up your precious time?

Once you have established what it is that takes your time, you can decide what you want to do about it. Sometimes it’s a case of a simple ‘no’ to someone you always say ‘yes’ to, or having a simple to-do list each day.

3. Work out your goals

Work out what your goals are and when you want to achieve them by. Know what it is that you want to achieve.

4. Develop an action plan

Develop an action plan based on your goals and identify your timescale for achieving them.

5. Prioritise your to-do list

Writing a to-do list can be a good idea and, if you prioritise your list with a simple 1, 2 or 3, with number 1 being the most important task that day, this can help you focus on the things you've decided matter most.

It may be that you are not being realistic about how much you can fit into your day.

6. Create a weekly plan

Having a weekly plan can really help to get things done. This is in addition to your calendar and to-do list. It is a timetable in which you not only write your tasks but also when you are going to do them and allocate how much time you want to spend on each task.

7. Use a timer to get started

Use a timer to help get important things completed. Set the timer for 20 minutes or whatever amount of time you want to spend on a task.

This can be a good strategy for the things that we perhaps want to do and keep putting off, e.g. the ironing or writing an article. Knowing you're only committing to a set period of time can sometimes make it easier to get started.

So now that you have more time, what are you going to do with it?

Coaching can provide space to explore your priorities and longer-term goals, and consider how you want to use the time that is available to you.