Yes, You Do Have Time

September can become Stress-Tember, and if you don't watch out, it can turn October into Shocktober. For us to make certain that Shocktober doesn't happen, it's really important that we understand the one reason why September is so stressful, and that reason is pretty universal for everyone.

We focus on the symptoms of the problem rather than root of it all. Everything is coming at us at once. We are getting acclimated to the new students, new initiatives, new routines, and lots of meetings about the new things. Slowly and steadily, all the things snowball to make September hectic, and when you look up, your time has run out, and you're left with the oldest exasperated phrase of all time.

I don't have time!!!

Let's be honest. You have a lot to do, but one thing is true. You do have the time because everyone is allocated the same amount of minutes to them everyday. The reality is not that we don't have time. It's that our task-driven, initiative rich environment tempts us to allocate time without dedicating time to prioritizing our tasks as if we have the time in the world. You don't have time when you give it away to everything and everyone.

You Have Time, So What Do You Really Need?

We have the time, but what we don't always have is the proper allocation of it. To ensure the appropriate and effective budgeting of time, we need to make decisions over what tasks are worthy of our time and which ones aren't. In other words, we don't find time. We make time for the most important things in our life.

Think of it this way. We are awake 16 hours of the day and work somewhere between eight and 10 hours per day. Within those hours what do you put in them? More importantly, what time-stealers are robbing precious minutes from your day? Chances are that excessive conversations, unnecessary tasks, and unproductive habits steal many minutes within each of those hours.

Eradicate these Time-Stealers

1. Phone - Looking at your phone every time a notification goes off is a time-stealer. Go into your settings and turn off every notification except for critical ones like the phone and text. Everything else can wait.

2. Email - Check email three or four times a day instead of all throughout the day. Each time you check email, you lose valuable minutes that could be dedicated to something more productive in your work.

3. Social Media - Limit your social media consumption. If you only have 16 hours in the day of which of those hour are for work and half are for self, social media can quickly take 1 to 3 hours of your day. Scrolling is one of the biggest time-stealers of all.

4. Unfocus - Put purpose in your hours. If you have an hour to work independently without interruption, each day, have a set list of tasks that you will accomplish each week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, etc. Focus optimizes time.

5. Lack of Urgency - Set a deadline or timer to complete tasks and a deadline to leave work. By having a deadline, you are optimizing your minutes and you will see yourself get more things done in less time.

6. Chitchat- Idle chitchat is good for building relationships, but it is also a huge time stealer if you don't watch it. If you find that you are always caught in unnecessary or off task conversations, set a deadline to quickly complete the conversation, so you can get on with your work.

7. Randomness - Lack of routine in your personal life and professional life is the ultimate time stealer. When you have a routine for how you take care of your physical health, spiritual health, and family relationships, you make every minute a minute to win it.

Time is Money!

We have all heard the phrase, time is money, but if we marinate on that thought for a minute, we realize that time is the currency of our lives. Everyone of us is allocated a set amount of minutes to spend. If you want to find the ultimate success in life, don't measure your life by the results. Measure your life by the intentional and deliberate allocation of every minute and how those minutes benefit yourself, but more importantly every person you interact with . You have the time. Now make the time work better for you.