Latest / Impact Ready / 104. Take Back Your Time

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104. Take Back Your Time · Impact Ready

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  Welcome to Impact Ready, a show dedicated to helping you elevate
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  your impact in the world. I'm Steph Safra, your host.
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  Let's explore the power of showing up with.
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  Intention and energy. Each day, this is for those who
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  seek to make life truly meaningful.
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  Get ready for impact. Hello.
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  Hello, everyone. Welcome to the show.
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  Thanks for listening today. In this episode, we're actually
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  going to be a little bit more strategic than some of our other
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  conversations that we've had. This episode is really going to
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  be about beating distraction and the noise of the world.
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  It's also going to be about creating a day-to-day life that
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  you enjoy and one that works for you.
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  And our focus is really going to be around time time management,
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  because one of the biggest problems for people is time
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  management. It seems fairly simple, but it
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  truly takes people down when they don't have this under
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  control in their lives. And before we get into this
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  conversation, when I'm first going to acknowledge is that we
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  live in a time where we are busier than ever.
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  We sleep less than we ever have as a humanity.
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  We are more inundated with information than we ever have
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  been before by an exponential amount.
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  And the demands on people are high.
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  They really are. We have to acknowledge that this
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  is a time in history where we are facing technology and
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  circumstances that have changed the landscape of being a human
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  on this earth. There's so much that we are
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  contending with. So how do we create a life and a
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  schedule for ourselves that actually works in our life where
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  we can function, where we can fulfill our responsibilities,
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  but we can also build our dreams and connect with people and have
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  fun and truly live a life that feels meaningful to us?
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  Because at the end of the day, that's what it's about.
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  Humans want to feel like there is meaning and significance to
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  this life and we want to feel like we are purposeful.
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  So it has to be more than just work or just play.
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  We have to find a balance and be able to manage our time so that
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  we can truly be the creators of our lives.
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  And again, something else to acknowledge, there are just
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  going to be some seasons of life where it's more difficult and
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  things are a little more more out of control.
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  For example, new parents with infants, that's A season.
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  That's A season where time management looks a lot different
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  than somebody who doesn't have a newborn or doesn't have young
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  kids. People who are in a new
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  business, they're starting a new business as an entrepreneur, or
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  they are in some kind of a transition in their life.
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  I'm thinking about what they call the sandwich generation,
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  which is this generation of people right now who are dealing
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  with aging parents and also kids.
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  I'm also thinking about people who don't have basic needs met
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  right now or don't have enough resources.
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  All of these situations are seasons of life where it's going
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  to be more difficult, Things are going to feel a little bit more
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  challenging around time. Because there's just.
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  So many variables, and it is a little harder to fight for the
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  essentials. We can acknowledge that.
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  But for the purposes of this conversation, let's assume
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  that's not who we're talking to and that in general, we're
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  talking about the American population where basic needs are
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  met and you have some resources, you have your safety, etcetera.
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  In general, people waste a lot of time, and I share this
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  example in my leadership workshops that I do for Teams,
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  but it really gets people every time.
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  We'll take scrolling and screen time for an example.
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  It's a pretty innocent activity in most people's minds, even
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  just reading news or shopping online.
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  It doesn't have to be scrolling social media.
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  It's just being on your screen. And if you look at your screen
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  time, you'll probably be surprised, maybe a little
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  shocked. But say someone is online for
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  two hours a day doing one of those things, scrolling,
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  shopping, reading news, just spending time staring at their
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  screen. 2 hours a day is 14 hours a week, which adds up to
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  be 56 hours a month. That's about 2.3 days a month,
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  which is 28 days a year, a full month out of the year that has
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  gone to the Internet. Here's the thing that actually
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  scares me a little bit. The daily average of screen time
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  for adults between 16 and 64 is over six hours.
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  It's actually around six hours and 40 minutes, depending on
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  which research study you're looking at.
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  This is phone and TV. This is not necessarily work
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  related screen time. That's separate.
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  So six hours and 40 minutes a day.
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  That's 45 hours a week, which is 7.5 days a month, a little over
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  a week, 91 days a year, which is over three months, over three
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  months of the year being devoted to entertainment related screen
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  time. Holy crap, it's so crazy to me.
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  And it speaks to this idea that on average people are feeling
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  overwhelmed and like they don't have enough time, but truly they
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  do. They're spending one to three
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  months out of the year on devices and entertainment that
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  might not be giving them much back.
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  And it's certainly not time that's being spent being the
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  creator of our own lives. So now that we're all freaked
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  out, let's talk about how to take control back, how to take
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  control of your time back so that you feel like you can
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  manage your time well and that you've created a schedule for
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  your life that works for your life that allows for you to have
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  the balance between relationships, connections,
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  play, work, pursuing goals, etcetera.
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  So there's a few things that I think we have to highlight here
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  when we're thinking about time management.
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  The first one is ownership. You have to take ownership of
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  your schedule because it's your schedule, it's your time, and at
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  the end of the day, you are the one controlling your calendar.
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  Most of what's on your calendar is a result of your yeses, the
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  things that you say yes to. The pushback that I get from
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  clients is, well, what if a boss puts a meeting on there or
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  there's always emergencies popping up in my business or in
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  my home life that I have to deal with?
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  Yes, I understand that. But again, this is your
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  calendar. You have to own it.
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  And if it's not working for you, you have to get curious about
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  why it's not working and start to take steps to remedy that.
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  If meetings are always being thrown on your schedule last
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  minute, how can you remedy that so that you can be functional in
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  your day-to-day? If emergencies or crises or
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  chaos is always popping up in your home life, what can you do
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  about that? How you how can you create a
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  different structure so you're not living in chaos?
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  The second thing to think about is boundaries, and this is
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  related to the ownership of your calendar, but it really is about
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  the yeses that you give to people.
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  So many people overextend themselves, and there's so many
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  reasons for that. But the bottom line is you have
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  to make sure that the yes that you're giving is one that you
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  want to give. And if you feel like you are
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  overextended or overwhelmed, take a look at the stuff that's
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  on your plate. Do a little audit of what you
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  are doing in your day-to-day. Is there stuff that you can
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  delegate? Is there stuff you can delete?
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  Or is there? Stuff that you can automate,
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  make it automatic so you don't have to think so much.
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  Or maybe there's just things that you have to prioritize
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  differently. But being boundaried around your
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  schedule is one of the most freeing things that you can do
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  because it allows for you to take control of your time and
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  not be giving away all of your bandwidth to other people's
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  agendas. Which is what happens so often,
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  especially when we're jumping on our devices right when we step
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  out of bed and we start answering texts and emails and
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  work stuff and dealing with other people's agendas.
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  The third thing to think about is something that I call magic
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  hour. And a coach shared this term
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  with me years ago. But magic hour is basically, you
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  have a time in the day when your brain works best.
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  SO my magic hours in the morning, and I know that I have
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  a window of about 3 hours when I feel like my brain's on fire.
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  And what I've learned is that I have to schedule my deepest work
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  during that time or my hardest projects.
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  Does it always work out that way?
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  No, of course not. But the more that I can practice
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  it, plan for it, the more I do it, the easier it is.
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  What's happening is that so many people put off the hard stuff
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  and the deep work, the stuff that takes the most brainpower.
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  They put it off until like 3 or 4 in the afternoon and they're
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  doing sort of menial tasks and checking off things on their To
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  Do List. Things like answering emails,
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  reading the news, even doing chores around the house.
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  Trust me, you can empty the dishwasher in the evening.
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  Don't waste your precious magic hour brainpower on stuff like
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  that. Stuff that can be done when
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  you're a little bit more fatigued in the brain or
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  physically fatigued. Stuff that you can do on
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  autopilot. Don't prioritize that stuff.
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  Take advantage of your magic hour and protect it.
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  Create some boundaries around it.
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  Make sure it's distraction free. I promise you, you will feel so
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  much more efficient if you can capitalize on that time.
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  Another important part of time management is, of course,
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  planning ahead. Good God, this is one of the
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  most important ones. Just three minutes of planning
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  ahead the night before your day can save you so much time the
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  next day. Just get the document up that
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  you need to be working on the next day.
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  Get it ready to go on your computer, make a list of your
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  three main projects, put your workout clothes out ahead of
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  time, prep your meals the night before.
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  Schedule a couple of emails or texts to go out the next day.
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  And then also think about what might derail you and have a plan
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  for that build in the time to do the stuff that you love also
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  like seeing your friends and your family, going on hikes,
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  being outside, listening to music, reading all of that stuff
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  that brings you joy. You can plan for it.
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  And when you've planned ahead, you'll be amazed at how much
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  time you actually have to do the things that you care about.
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  The next one is what I call just do it.
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  And really, this is where the rubber meets the road.
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  Just do. The work that you say that
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  you're going to do, if you plan it, if you prepare it, if you
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  put it in your calendar, just do it.
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  Stop letting yourself get so distracted.
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  Turn off your phone, Turn off the notifications.
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  Create a setting where you can think.
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  Put a brain foods playlist on Spotify.
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  Listen to music that inspires you.
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  I love listening to Above and Beyond.
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  Their meditation album is amazing.
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  You can light a candle. You can make your space amenable
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  to being productive. Whatever it takes for you, but
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  just do it. If you say that you were going
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  to do something, follow through with it.
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  Keep those promises to yourself so that you can be in integrity
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  and you can build some trust around how you manage your time.
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  And then finally, the last one is to honor your time.
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  And what I mean by that is your time is your most precious
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  commodity. You want to be the designer of
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  your life. You're really talking about
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  being the designer of your time because we think we have endless
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  amounts of time and then a few years go by and people are
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  coming to me so frustrated by the fact that they didn't do
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  what they wanted to do. They say despite the fact that I
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  have all these great intentions, I'm having the same six months
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  over and over again. I haven't made the progress that
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  I was hoping to make or I haven't achieved that milestone
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  that I've been working so hard for.
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  Honor your time. It truly is our most precious
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  commodity. I know that some of these things
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  can seem like reminders, but we all need reminders.
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  And I know that this episode, this conversation is a little
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  more strategy centric. But what I see is that when
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  people truly get control of this part of their lives, they are
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  lighter, they are less stressed, they are more peaceful.
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  They're not as reactive. They don't feel like their life
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  is as chaotic. They feel less like the victim
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  and more like the captain of their own ship.
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  And that's a really exciting way to feel.
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  I want that for you. So my challenge to you this week
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  is to take your time back. This is not about being perfect
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  and it's not about being some kind of rigid robot that has
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  everything planned out and ultimate discipline.
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  And it's not about that. This is about having agency in
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  your life and truly being the creator of your time and your
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  schedule. There's so much power in that.
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  And I guarantee if you can really claim this and take
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  ownership of of this element, this time element, your impact
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  will become so much more exponential.
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  You will be able to accomplish so much more, but you'll also
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  just raise your frequency. You'll be higher energy, and you
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  will see that you will have a more profound, powerful impact
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  on the people around you. So I hope this helps.
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  I hope this spurs on some insights for you.
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  Take back your time this week, really claim it, be the owner of
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  it and see what happens as you navigate through this week.
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  I hope you have a fantastic week.
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  Thank you for being here and as always, thank you for being
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  ready to impact. Thanks for listening to Impact
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  Ready. I hope today's episode inspired
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  you to own your impact and recognize that you.
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  Are powerful. By elevating our energy and
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  awareness, we can create exponential change in this life.
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  If you enjoyed today's insights, share them with a friend and
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  subscribe. To the show for more.
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  I truly appreciate you. Thanks again for being here.