Making more time in a day is not easy. Making your day run smoother while getting more things done is even more challenging. Following are a few tips to help you make your day more productive and more peaceful at the same time.
First, always get up just when you had planned to. If you are still tired, do not talk yourself into sleeping longer. The worst thing you can do to start off your day is sleep in. It kills your momentum. Many of us think that we just do not have enough time to complete all that we need to get done, so it is necessary to stay up late and finish it. I used to do that too, but I found out that we always sleep in the next morning. While it would be okay to work late, it is not okay to sleep in. However, very few of us have that much self discipline. The better way to handle this is to rise very early in the morning to do your work. The most important reason to do this is mindset. You are forced to become a planner rather than a procrastinator. An example of this is that instead of staying up late the night before your report is due, early rising habits will have changed your mindset so that you rise early several day before, getting it all ready ahead of time.
You will want to form a morning and evening routine. Most of us usually have this in some form or another. You check to paper and drink coffee in the morning, water plants or walk the dog in the evening. Every night before bed, lay out your clothes. (This way you avoid rushing around for an iron in the morning, and not being able to find anything that matches.) Every night, balance your checkbook, pick up the living room, and plan your major goals for the next day.
Make a list every night of your objectives for the next day. When you have a regular plan for your day, it runs so much smoother and keeps you energized. This does not have to be a highly detailed schedule, but just a basic plan. Think of it as the skeleton the flesh and muscle of your day is supported by. You need to plan the general time you want to complete each goal, but you do not have to write that down. The next day, you will just have the basic order you want to do everything, but your day will flow around your work, school or kids. Making daily goals is a very important habit to establish. You will get so much more done, and will feel much satisfaction from completing your list.
A very important ingredient to having a happy and successful day is to give yourself extra pockets of time between activities. If you plan on leaving a store around 9:30, and want to run by the bank before going somewhere else, do not plan that next activity at 10:00. Although it is highly likely you can get there at that time, you should not put crunch time on yourself. This only causes stress, and makes you beat yourself up if you are late. I like to always be early, because I think it will give me the unexpected opportunity to see someone or do something along the way that I would not get to do when I am in a hurry and do not have time to stop. This is also good to remember when talking to other people about your plans as well. Always tell them what you know you can do and when you know you can be there. If you get more done, or are early, they will be surprised. This always works so much better than telling them the things you might be able to get done and then running out of time and disappointing them.
Get up, make your goals, check them off, and enjoy some fun time each day now that you can be both productive and at peace!
