There aren’t enough hours in the day – a few tips to get a little more time

Hey there everyone!! I hope you’re all doing well this fine Saturday, wherever you may be in the world. 

Have you ever just wished that there were a few more hours in the day? Have you hypothesised how useful it would be if you never had to sleep again so you could use those extra 6-8 hours to get work done, clean your house or even just have an hour of peace and quiet? Have you wished that there was a way for you to grow an extra arm, or clone yourself just so that you had a little bit more time? 

I hope I’m not the only one who’s had those thoughts because I don’t know about you, but sometimes it really just doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day, especially when you have to factor in things like sleeping, eating, cooking, cleaning and all the other important things. 

There are times when we feel like we’re on a roll because time doesn’t feel too stretched out, we know that we’re going to get everything done and it doesn’t feel like we’re constantly trying to catch up with ourselves. Then there are the other times when there is just so much to do and not enough time that we want to crawl into a tiny little ball and pretend that nothing else exists. 

Well, as much as I have pondered and hoped, I don’t think there’s going to be away any time soon for us to magically increase the numbers of hours in the day. You may suggest giving up a few hours of sleep, but I’ve tried that … and let’s just say that the monster I become isn’t worth those extra hours of productivity because I need at least a day or two to recover, so the whole thing is essentially an exercise in futility. So how on earth can we get just a little extra time in our day? Is it too much to ask? Well, it can be difficult, but there are a few ways to get a little extra time in your day, and the answer is not magic. So … here we go! 

Wake up a little bit earlier

I can already hear cries of protests but hear me out first. Waking up an hour, or even half an hour earlier is a great way to squish more time into your day. In that extra 30 minutes, you can already tick off a couple of things on your list so that they don’t ooze into the rest of your day. After a week or two, you won’t even notice waking up that little bit earlier. For instance, I try to wake up at 7:30 every morning because by getting out of bed then instead of at 8am, I can do a short workout, shower, feed my pets, make my bed, have breakfast and start my laundry if I have to before I like to start university work at 9am. I promise you that extra thirty minutes, even if it’s just sorting your email, is thirty minutes that you can now save for doing something else later. 

Stop multitasking 

We think that multitasking is the key to getting more things done because duh! We’re doing more things at the same time, so we’re saving time, right? Well, I hate to be the one to say it, but multitasking can actually kill productivity and waste more time than just doing each task separately. When we try to multitask, we often get distracted on one task and so need to take more time on the other, or we forget about the other task entirely, so we have to somehow fit it in later on. So stop multitasking and instead focus on one thing at a time, then move onto the next. I guarantee you’ll get things done faster. 

Think ahead 

Planning ahead is a fantastic way to subconsciously give yourself more time. Have you ever noticed that when you do things last minute, it soaks up all of your time and you don’t have time to do anything else that you’d typically do? However, if you plan ahead, you can fit things into your regular daily routine and get them done with time to spare. This is how I love to do my assessments because the very idea of leaving things last minute gives me heart palpitations. By thinking ahead, you can divvy up your time by deciding what needs to be done when, and that way you won’t have to worry about squashing things in last minute, and you’ll be more likely to finish multiple things early, giving you extra time to relax or do other things. 

Ditch the distractions 

How many times do you get a notification on your phone and suddenly you’ve spent 15 minutes scrolling through Instagram? Or you stop to get a cup of tea, which suddenly turns into an early lunch? Or you decide you’ll take a two-minute break and watch the last few minutes of an episode and suddenly you’re running late because you’ve watched 3 episodes? Distractions happen – I get you, and they are evil. Distractions like that soak up so much time, and when you take them away, you actually realise how much extra time you have in the day. So, ditch the distractions. Put your phone on flight mode when you work, set up scheduled break times with alarms for when you need to start working again. That way, you don’t waste working time on distractions, and you truly get to enjoy your break time. 

Use your time creatively 

Okay so remember how I said that multitasking is bad? Well trying to do a hundred things at the same time is bad, but using your time creatively is like a little multitasking loophole that, if done correctly, can actually save you time, so you have those few extra minutes. For instance, meal prepping is a great way to use your time creatively. If you add up how much time you spend every day prepping and sorting food, I guarantee you can cut off at least an hour with good meal prepping. Or, something that I do is I do things that don’t require 100% of my attention at the same time. For instance, while the kettle is boiling for my morning cup of tea, I have enough time to feed my pets, make my bed and put my laundry in the washing machine. Then, while the laundry is going, I can exercise. So it’s not quite multitasking, but it sort of is because you’re using your time creatively to get multiple things done that would have used up more time if you’d done them separately. 

So yes, all of these things do take a bit of effort to do, and they can be a bit of a pain, but once they become a habit, they end up saving so much time that you won’t know how you lived your life without them. Sometimes we all just need a few extra minutes in the day to get things done, so I really hope that these tips help if you’re like me and are still holding out for the magical time stopper or a way to live without sleep that doesn’t have you turn into a monster. Are there any tips that you have that help you save time, or any magical time-extending methods you have that you’d care to share? If you do, I would love to hear them as I’m always looking for ways to try and save a bit more time! But other than that, I really hope that you enjoyed today’s blog post – I will see you all soon! 

Lots of Love

Blondey on a Mission xxx