5 Ways to Maximize Your Time

The first thing you can do is schedule your time. If you want to maximize your time, it is best to schedule out everything you want to do. By creating a schedule, you can lay out your entire day and be able to devote the time you need to the things you want or need to do. If you don’t schedule things, you can end up wasting your time and doing things that aren’t productive or helping you in any way. Having a schedule helps to keep you focused on doing the things that you want to get done in the day. If you would like some help, get the Work, Life, Passion Balance Worksheet I created just for you. It’s about nine pages long, and it will help you figure out what your priorities are and will help you make a schedule for your day. Click HERE for the WORK, LIFE, PASSION BALANCE WORKSHEET.

A second way you can maximize your time is called habit stacking. An example of this is when I do my daily JAGER’s, which is my journaling, affirmations, gratitude’s, exercise, and reflection. I wake up, head downstairs and crush my work out and then do my journaling, affirmations, and gratitude’s. All of that leads into each other, I do one after another. Find ways where you can stack the things you do on top of each other so that they all become one large thing that you do at a specific time rather than a bunch of different small things that you scatter throughout the day. This will help you focus and allow you to spend more energy on each thing.

The third way to maximize your time is focus on a single task at a time. Do not multitask. It is scientifically shown that nobody can truly focus on a million different things at once. What happens is the brain shifts its focus back and forth between the things you are doing. It takes time for the brain to switch tracks from what it’s doing to something else. When you switch focuses you don’t really get in the groove of it right away. Focus on a single task at a time and complete what you need to do before switching to the next task. This way you will end up getting the task done even better because you are dedicating your full focus on it. Once the task is completed you won’t need to worry about it anymore, and you can take a short break or switch your focus to the next task that needs to be done. Making a schedule also helps you know what task you need to focus on and will stop you from needing to multitask in order to get everything done.

My fourth way to maximize your time comes from the book Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. This was the first personal development book I’ve ever listened to, (I wasn’t really a reader at the time), and it really changed my life and views on personal development. This book taught me to go after the biggest task first. Don’t do all the small, more tolerable tasks before you do the thing that you really don’t want to do. I have done this many times. I procrastinate doing the big thing that I really need to do. This just makes the task feel like a bigger, more daunting thing that you need to do. Go after the things that are going to give you a struggle first. Then you’re done with the thing you don’t want to do, and you don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day and you can move onto more fun, or easier things!

The final thing you can do to maximize your time is make use of “dead time”. Dead time is the time when you don’t have anything planned and are just mowing the lawn or driving to work. Listen to a podcast or an audio book! If you’re sitting at home, read a book or go after a task! Use the time when you aren’t really doing anything to better yourself. For example, I used to have a half hour drive to work every day and I would use the time to listen to personal development audio books or podcasts. Scheduling out your day can also help you see all of the dead time that you really have in your day and you can find something to do during that time and schedule it in. We all do need free time in our day to think or just chill out, and that’s ok. You can take time to relax and let your mind wander. Get rid of the dead time that you didn’t realize was there and remember you don’t need to get rid of all your free time. When you schedule out your day, make sure you put in at least a little bit of time to relax, but make use of some of your dead time as well.

One bonus tip is watch out for the “social media vampire”. Social media can really suck time away without you realizing that your day is fading away. I have struggled with this before, and now I schedule my time on social media. I’m not saying that social media is a horrible thing that you shouldn’t use, I’m just saying you should watch out and be aware of it to make sure that you don’t waste your whole day on it.

I would love to hear what you think about these 5 Ways to Maximize Your Time! Please send me a message on social media at @Jonesinfor or email me at spencer@spencermjones.com. Thanks!