Making extra time

What would you do if you could have an extra hour a day? How would you spend this gift? would you take time to read a book or write a letter, go for a walk or have a bath? Or would you choose to have an extra hour of sleep?

As you and I know, finding an extra hour during the week in amongst our busy schedules can be impossible, imagine trying to find an extra hour a day !! yes something's are almost too hard to imagine aren't they!!

But the reality is - we can find an extra hour or two, if we know how we spend our time already, and know what we would use the extra time for. We may be able to gain an extra hour in 5 or 10 minute blocks, and those few minutes several times a day can make a massive difference to the amount of work that we can get done, the amount of exercise we can do, the number of pages we can write or number of drawers we can clean out.

But first you need to know what you are finding extra time for:

Assuming you do know, you will be wondering of course how -

Well the first and most obvious way to gain more time is to switch off your email, the internet and if necessary the computer. Technology has helped us so much, but it can also hinder us even more. You do not need to keep your email open every minute of the day, have an appropriate auto-responder on - if you run your own business, and answer all your emails in one go. That serves many purposes, but in particular - how much time you can save by not checking your email every time the message window pops up on your screen.

Get up when the alarm goes off. But set it for 15 minutes earlier than you would normally do. As you are getting ready, spend a few minutes planning your day. This is also the time you need to write down all those nasty thoughts that are running through your head. Write them down, transfer anything on to today's to-do list and then chuck the rest away. A goal, an idea, a to do item stands more chance of being accomplished once it's written down. Carry a notebook with you and add things to it as you go through your day. Don't trust your memory - it's got holes in it. And you save lots of time throughout the day because you won't wonder about what you need to do, you know what you need to do and you can then do it.

Do two things at the same time. I use walking and shower time as my thinking time. Plot lines, thoughts for the daily dose, if your mind is always on the go thinking about rubbish (see point above) how are you going to find time to think creatively?

You can also clean a part of the house whilst dinner is cooking, or write a chapter of your book, do 20 minutes on the stepper, re-connect with your family, write a letter. In fact you can move your stepper in front of the television and watch your favourite tv shows whilst keeping fit. I;ve just had to do this - as you know I am decorating my spare room at the moment, and the only space we had to put the rather large piece of torture equipment was in the lounge room....next to the television...now I just have to get on it.

Be selective in your television viewing habits. If you have a tendency to sit down at 7 and the only time you get up again is when you go to bed, I'd suggest that you need to work out what you really want from life, because obviously reading this is a complete waste of time for you. Remember, reading is not doing.

How can you make extra time during the day?

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