What you and me usually mean by this sentence is : « I don’t have enough free time »

First, what’s free time ?

When I refer to free time I mean the time left once you have done your paid work (substitute that for attending classes if you’re a student though you’re not paid to do so haha), unpaid work (eg : household chores) and personal care time (eating, sleeping, everything that comes with being a human being)

So free time is what’s left when you remove life’s necessities out of the equation.

I think the first step to take back control of your time is to reduce the frequency of saying  « I don’t have enough time ». Why ? Think about how you feel after pronouncing it. Personally, I feel stuck. I feel like this time scarcity mentality stops me from searching solutions. 

Shift that sentence for « Where do I put my time ? » What I suggest you to do is to actively track in a calendar/notebook where you use time.  Are you so time-poor that you don’t even have 15 minutes somewhere ?  It is probably not the case. 

Now that you have recovered 15 precious minutes from your time, let’s think about why you feel so time-pressured. 

The downsides of multitasking or mental load

Sometimes, we have to  juggle between so many things that we find ourselves bouncing back and forth between various tasks. As a consequence, your mind will silently start processing unfinished tasks in the background. It is like a background permanent noise ruining your ability to be present when you finally get your free time. It is so ironic because we tend to multitask to gain time but we overlook how much mental energy is needed when we have to switch between tasks. Indeed, you need to shut down the cognitives rules from the old task to be successful in the other task.

To some extent, this waltz you dance with all your tasks could be called mental load. 

Maybe you feel like always running out of time because of that. 

My general advice would be to focus on one task at a time.

• Allocate a delimited amount of time to do x-activity only. Put the timer on, block a moment to finish that task. Sometimes, it is humanly or technically impossible to finish a task. Certain projects build on time. In this case, decompose the task in several steps. You should be focused on steps and not on the final product. 

• Reminder : your brain is lazy.  The best way to get rid of procrastination is to allow your brain to procrastinate AFTER you finish your task. But the lazy brain is not easily tricked. You have to convince yourself that you will just have to work for a certain period of time and then you could do whatever you want. 

Why putting a timer is essential ?

Do you remember a time you had to give an assignment which due was literally the next day ? Do you remember how stressed you felt ? And how you successfully turned in your assignment before the deadline ? 

Well, it happened to me. I had a paper to submit and I was procrastination into doing it because I feel it would take a tremendous amount of time. 

I assure you I did the work in half the expected time when I got fire to my a**. 

And I am sure you can think of similar experiences.

Advantages of a timer : to create stress -> boost productivity and more importantly efficiency! 

Nonetheless, sometimes we cannot do so. For instance, you may have some group projects that require everyone to do his job so that you could do yours. In another words, your ability to finish the task depends on external factors. 

How to avoid accumulating mental load ?

• Once more : write that down. The fear of forgetting something sucks your energy out of you and produces stress. 

• How setting priorities helps me overcome time-pressure illusion

You might think « what’s the link between having more free time and setting priorities ? ». 

Let’s dive into two scenarii :

1. You have no time management skills nor discipline. You always delay what you have to do until you’re about to reach the deadline. When the exam period approaches, you find yourself cramming like hell. Anxious. Nauseous. After exam period is over, you find your old-self. The one who lets procrastination dictates his life. At one point you get tired of how miserable your life seems to you. You want to take back control. But how to do it when you lack structure ? You feel overwhelmed. You may abandon. Anyways, even you have that eagerness to change your situation, other urgent tasks interrupts you. You think « I’ll do it tomorrow when I have more free time. But tomorrow comes with other urgent tasks to do. Finally, tomorrow never came. 

2. You understood how important it was to have time management and focus management skills. So whenever life throws a new must-to-do list to finish, you set priorities on what really matters. You never get yourself get trapped by deadlines. You plan ahead of time. You follow that plan religiously. 

In the first scenario, you made time your enemy when it was not in the first place. In the second one, you play with time. You plan. You schedule your time. You make time both for your tasks and for yourself. The problem when you don’t prioritise is that you get caught up by deadlines and you cannot use time to do what matters to you. Your values, passions don’t align with the use you make out of time. And that’s precisely why you feel a slave to your time. Not prioritising your tasks also mean you forget to prioritise yourself when tasks accumulate. That’s why you feel so drained. 

Note that it is prioritising your work that will prevent you from multitasking. 

Things you can do NOW : Spot areas of weakness

Blink twice if you find yourself doing that : 

1. First thing in the morning : I reach out for my phone… 
2. Sometimes I catch myself mindlessly scrolling
3. I can say « yes » to someone when I actually felt like saying « no » to his/her proposition

If you didn’t blink, congrats. I am not sure I can bring any value to your life..For the others, you are not alone. Don’t worry, we can still save you. 

Solutions :

• For those who use their phones directly in the morning, buying a real alarm clock could make a difference. 
• Once you do that, the second stage would be to give yourself two mini-goals you want to achieve in the morning. For me, it is to stretch for 5 minutes + read for 10 minutes while drinking tea

If you can find yourself doing that, I assure you that you’ll feel so proud of yourself for taking control back of your time. Plus, I always feel that it sets the right tone for the day.

• Whenever you catch yourself scrolling, take a deep breath, count down to 5 and put your phone out of sight to avoid future temptations. Ask yourself : « For what reasons did I scroll ? » For me, it happens when I am waiting for something to happen. For instance, I am waiting for a friend somewhere. Now, I look around, at nature (if there is), and I try to connect to the environment. Smiling to people, looking at trees is oddly refreshing. You should try.. 

To seize control back of your time less can be more. Stop having infinite hobbies. Focus on one or two of them (depends on how efficient you are in scheduling).

Finally, I want you to understand that when it comes to possess your time, norms, standards, others’ expectations will probably make you lose time more than anything.

Remind yourself your values, what matters and where time should flow like a serene river instead of dying in a turbulent storm of anxiety.