And how to take it back!

Do you ever feel like you just don’t have “enough” time? Like you’re constantly running after you to-do list, wanting to do all these things, but never completing it all? That can get super frustrating as well, when you feel like you’re doing so much, yet there is always more to do. My goal is to help you live your life on your terms, and that means having time to do the things that are truly important to you. Here are three reasons why you are giving away your time, and how you can start to take it back.

Time is your most powerful currency, yet most of us just give it away without much thought.

1st Reason Why You’re Giving Away Your Time:

You are not clear on what you want to be spending your time on.

If you want to bring more balance into your life and have more time to relax, you need to get clear on what is actually important. When you to-do list is miles long, you will never feel like you’re finished, and most of us always feel like there is more we could be doing.

If you are one of those people who wants to be doing it all, ask yourself if you feel balanced in your life? Do you have time for resting and recharging? If you don’t feel like you have enough time, chances are you are giving it away too easily.

Your Next Step to Taking Back your Time

The first step to taking back your time is getting clear on how you want to be spending your time.

What is actually important to you to be spending time on? Who are your top people you want to be spending quality time with? What hobbies and non-work activities do you want to be doing? What is your top business or work related priority that will move the needle towards your goals. 

Having this clarity surrounding what your top priorities are will help you identify how you want to be spending your time. If you are unclear on what your top focus should be, check out this ultimate formula for taking back your time!

Another way to gain clarity around what’s truly important to you is to create what I like to call your "happiness vision," where you write out exactly how you want your life to look and feel. This includes what you are doing, who you are doing it with, and how you spend your time. 

Once you know what your top priorities are and how your needle moving to-do’s fall into each of those, you can free up time from all the other things you were doing because they “seemed” important.

2nd Reason Why You’re Giving Away Your Time:

You have trouble saying “no”.

We tend to let external things and people fill up our calendars and then we try to plan our life in the leftover gaps; really it should be the other way around. 

You are in control of your time and that means being in charge of your calendar. You have permission to say “no” to things that are not worth your time or that you do not want to do. Especially as women, growing up we are taught to show up for other people and be of service, and that can lead a lot of us to become people pleasers and putting everyone else first. 

Your Next Step to Taking Back your Time

Chances are, you have a hard time saying “no” because you have trouble setting boundaries or you do not have clear boundaries.

Go back to reason number one and really lay out your priorities. You should have full clarity on what areas of your life are most important to you. This does not mean you need to have clarity on exactly how your entire life should look, but you simply know what tasks, people, and commitments are most important to you. 

Therefore, you prioritize those things and say no to the rest if it does not add value to your life and only takes up more of your finite time. 

3rd Reason Why You’re Giving Away Your Time:

You feel like you need to constantly be busy in order to get results

The final reason that you may be giving away your time is due to societal conditioning.

I say this all the time and I’ll say it again; in our society we equate being productive with being busy. We idolise being busy because we believe someone who is busy is someone who is successful.

Let me ask you this: is working around the clock true success to you? Yes, it’s important to love what you do so that it doesn’t really feel like work; however, part of working in your dream career or running your own business is to allow yourself to create the rest of your life exactly as you want it to be. 

Life is not just work; it’s also the social experiences, and weekends off, and vacations, and adventures, and family time, and exploring nature, and so much more.

We want to enjoy our work but we want to work in order to live a full life, am I right?! What if I told you, you could have more time to do the things you love without sacrificing money? (Cause money is really where the concern lies, right?).

Your Next Step to Taking Back your Time

It’s time to redefine your idea of success. 

If you think that you can only be successful if you’re doing the most, working 24/7 and nearing burnout, not only will you not enjoy your work, you also won’t be living your life and you most likely won’t be making the money you want to be making either.

You have permission to design your life the way you want it to be. It’s time to release the guilt of not feeling like you are doing “enough”. That is a limiting belief tied to your own concept of self-worth.

Also, you actually make more money when you show up with an excited mindset. Business and work can be easy and you can have balance and time for other things. 

So, what does success mean to you?

Some ideas:

• Fully taking weekends off
• Being present with your kids (get specific here, what does that look like)
• Travelling and being able to work from anywhere
• Feeling at ease in your business and feeling happy with where you are now
• Knowing that what you are doing is “enough” to move the needle
• Spending time with family 
• Having “open” time where you have nothing booked
• Not needing to do the tasks you don’t like – it’s time to delegate and outsource! 

Create your own list!

Once you redefine success in your own life, you can shift your mindset and release the guilt tied of needing to be busy and productive all the time.