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My diary, like many others, always seems to be filled week after week between work and personal commitments.
After lockdown my workload has changed but I was still filling my weekly schedule up very easily.
I decided to sit down and really focus on how I was making use of my time and putting the things that matter most ahead of everything else.
If you are like me and have struggled to find time to spend with family, friends or even take a bit of time to yourself, then maybe it’s time you wiped your diary clean and start all over again.
I found it to be a very difficult task but here are a few pointers on how to use your diary to live the life you want rather than your diary dictating the life you live.
Schedule time to reschedule
If you don’t set aside some time to reschedule our diary because you are too busy, then nothing will change; you are always going to be busy.
I would suggest that you schedule a few hours one morning to really focus on how you want your weekly, monthly and yearly diary to look like.
If this sounds like too much of a workload, then just focus on your weekly diary.
Wipe it clean
This is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. Take everything that you need or think you need to do weekly and place it all to one side.
Put you first
The first thing that should go into your diary is some time for you. For me, this is usually in the morning during my morning routine.
Time to yourself could mean a number of things. Sitting quietly with a cup of tea, going for a jog, hitting the gym, meditating or watching mind-numbing TV if you need some time to switch off (but don’t schedule in too much of this throughout your week).
Even scheduling when you are going to eat can be something so small but it means you have a better chance of sticking to eating habits.
What’s really important to you?
Is it spending time with family and friends? Building stronger relationships? Just because it’s important doesn’t mean that it will just happen. You still have to schedule that in.
Leave room for things to change
If you want to grow personally and/or professionally then you have to leave some space for this change to happen. If you want to work less hours, then don’t fill your whole day with work.
This may be hard when you have set hours but speak with your boss and see if you can come up with some arrangement – it could be working from home saving you time on travel or review your quality of work over less hours while still getting the same pay.
If you want to be in a relationship, leave space in your week for this to happen and once it does happen the time is already there.
Fill in the gaps but leave space
Now is the time to add in your work commitments. It may have you thinking twice about how much time you spend on things that aren’t that important to you and how much it takes you away from the things that are.
Stick to it
You may have thought that scheduling your new diary was hard, now you have to stick to it.
This can be very hard and it can be tempting to slip into your old habits.
It’s ok to get it wrong
You may have set out an amazing diary but life doesn’t always go to plan and that’s OK. It only becomes a problem if you keep letting it happen and don’t review and rewrite the new plan. I have changed my diary many times and as life goes on I’ll have to make changes that suit me and for those that are most important in my life.
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