Life is rushing by at a breakneck speed and it’s all we can do but what it pass us by. When we try to slow down, we are reminded of just how many things there are on our to-do lists and instead of feeling better, we end up feeling overwhelmed. When it comes to trying to slow down in a way that doesn’t leave you wishing you had just kept your foot on the gas, we’ve got you covered. Here are our best tips to help you slow down and get more out of life.
Check Your Calendar
If you ever hope to get control over your life and have more time to enjoy it, you need to sit down and be ruthless with your calendar. Start by reviewing all of the events or tasks that you deem necessary and ask yourself, “are they really necessary?” And then ask yourself, “how do I define necessary?” Then ask yourself this one final question to help you be ruthless in your approach to taking back your time: “what would happen if I didn’t do this?” You might find that if you didn’t do a lot of things, nothing would happen. Humans are very good at making up stories about how the sky will fall if we don’t get all of our tasks done in a single day. That’s just now how it works.
Tag in a Friend or Family Member
When reviewing your calendar and your to-do list, feel free to enlist the help of someone else. Nobody said you had to do all these things on your own. Nobody said you had to hold down the fort on your own. Get some help. Whether you manage an online headshop and need to get product out the door, or you run a household and need to get the kids out the door, you can ask for help. Review your calendar with your new-found buddy and see what they can take off your plate. And remember, don’t feel guilty about asking. The worst that could happen is someone says no.
Choose a Cut-off Time
When you review your calendar and have to set boundaries on your tasks, consider what time of day you want to be done working on those tasks. For example, if you would like to have 2-3 hours in the evening for yourself after work, you need to leave your workload at work. It’s a simple concept but many people carry work – and work-related stress – home with them and the responsibilities just continue into the night. Choosing a cut-off time for your work each day, or your to-do list will give you something to work toward and then you don’t have to feel guilty when you close the laptop and turn your attention to your family or yourself, your dog or your favourite book.
Practice Taking Back Your Time
When you decide that you want to start enjoying more of your own time, a funny thing is going to happen: you are going to suddenly find a million things that need to be done. It’s going to distract you from taking the time you not only deserve, but need, to recharge and refocus your life away from work and mundane tasks. So when you set out to make these changes, give yourself a runway of time to get used to cutting off work or to-do lists at the knees. If you are someone who spends a lot of time working and struggles to draw the line in the sand that sticks, you might need to try to do this over and over again before you finally find the balance you are seeking. It’s not magic and it’s not a problem that is going to fix itself. It takes conscious effort to take back your time and enjoy more of your own life again.
If you find yourself struggling to enjoy the time you have, it’s probably because you are not paying enough attention to what your priorities are. It’s easy to say that work is a priority because you need to pay bills and care for your family, but at the end of the day, if you have no time left for that family, something’s gotta give. Take the time to go through your calendar, enlist help, and cut off work when you get to a certain point in the day and don’t feel badly about it. You’ll find that you can make the most of the time you have if you take control of your calendar for good.
