As a women with ADHD, we all have 24 hours in our days – so let’s make the most of what we have, and stop wasting it!. After all, if you can clearly see where you are spending your time on what doesn’t matter, then you can actually do something about it – rather than just carry on as you are and wonder where the days go. Hopefully these tips will help you create a more streamlined and productive day, so let’s go through them right now, and look at ways to avoid the time wasting trap, once and for all.
Doing Things At The Wrong Time –Imagine the situation.You have a long list of things to do one day. You haven’t planned out when the best time to do them is, and are just working through the list. You get to the end of the list at the end of the day and its something that has to be done urgently by the following day but needs you to speak to someone else for some information first. That person has now left the office for the day. Grrrrr. It’s totally your fault, but with a little planning this could have easily been avoided.
How To Avoid -It pays dividends to check your day the day before and see that everything you need to do is done at the best time. If you need to post something then you know that the worst times are first thing in the morning and at lunchtime when queues are long, so simply avoiding these times will give you back time that can be spent better elsewhere. If you need some information before you can actually do anything else, as in the example above, then schedule talking to that person at the start of the day even if you don’t do your part of the job until nearer the end. As long as you schedule things for a time when you know you will have everything you need to complete the job, then you should be fine!
New Habit – Go over your day the day before and check that you have scheduled the right things for the right times (as much as you can).
Things That Take You Away From Your Goals–Your goals are what you will look back on and feel a sense of pride in if you have achieved them, but feel deflated it not. Therefore it makes sense that anything that takes you directly away from your goals is wasting your time. Things such as hobbies that you don’t really enjoy anymore, groups that you are a member of that have a lot of time commitment but don’t relate to your goals, friends who make you feel low when you are with them, and working all the hours you have in a dead end job when you would rather start your own business….
How To Avoid -Really look at how you spend your time, and what proportion of what you do is helping your towards your goals in life. You may be surprised at the results. With those things that you really should drop, get out of them confidently and learn to say NO more to things that don’t help you. There will of course be some things that you can’t avoid in life – but if you can manage things better then you will have more time to get to where you want to be in life, and ultimately this will make you happier.
New Habit – Learn to say NO more to things that you don’t want or need to do. Saying NO to these things means you are saying YES to those things that actually do matter.
Grouping Similar Tasks Together –As with organizing your home where it is best to keep like with like in terms of items – when it comes to time it is always best to group like tasks with like. If you don’t do similar tasks together, you are bound to waste more time on doing each one as they come up.
How To Avoid -Phone calls one after the other work better as you are in that mode, business meetings are best one after the other as you will be dressed suitably, errands to a certain location are best done at the same time to avoid multiple journeys etc….Even time spent with friends can be halved while still enjoying their company by going out with 2 or 3 at the same time rather than separately. This means you may well be able to fit in socializing more easily when there are less evenings available. It’s just about being smart with your time!
New Habit – Checking your TO DO list when you know you are going to be in a certain area on day will ensure that you can get anything else that needs doing in that area done at the same time.
Social Media And Email–These should all come with a warning – once you have signed into Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, your email, etc… then time will pass by double quick. People often say to me that they hadn’t realized how long they spent on these things until they were asked to time how much of a day they spent on it – and most were horrified!
How To Avoid– It’s impossible to not spend time on social media and email nowadays, most people use it in one way or another – but it’s important not to let it take over.Spending a set time 2 or three times a day works best – usually first thing in the morning, at lunchtime, and last thing at night. It’s also worth remembering that everyone can wait – and a few hours won’t hurt!
New Habit – Look at social media at set times in your day – times that work best for you, and when you don’t have other things to be doing.
Unimportant TV– I have clarified in the title that it’s not just TV that’s a time waster. On the contrary. There are some TV programmers that can be useful, relaxing, and entertaining. What I am talking about is watching things just for the sake of it Flicking through the endless channels available and not really watching much of anything – or simply the habit of watching TV every night and not doing something else that would make you happier. All of the above are a complete waste of time.
How To Avoid– One very easy way to do this is to invest in TV systems that allow you to record. You can record programmes and series and watch them when you want to and not be dictated to by the schedule. Another big bonus is that you can fast forward through the breaks, and you can watch more of what you want to watch at a time that suits you. The other option is of course to simply limit how much TV you allow yourself each day, and see how much more you get done!
New Habit – Record everything you want to watch, and stop being dictated by their schedule. Watch when you have time and you will soon start to see what you really want to watch!