The following is a guest post from Yvonne Root.
How in the world do they do it? How do some people find time to flit from one event to the next, from one solved problem to the next, from one meeting to the next and still have time to greet the family and pet the dog?
Even if you believe that you can acquire a new skill in “only” 10,000 hours, where in the world are you going to find those hours?
Tried and True
There are the tried and true maxims you can follow
Turn off the TV. Reduce your online game time. Check your email only once a day. Stop twittering all day long.
Get Organized
There are a few more bits of wisdom from the “get organized” crowd.
Have a place for everything and put everything in its place. Reduce clutter. Handle each piece of mail only once. Make it easy to get the things you use most often.
Pay to Get It Done
I hate sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming, so I have a wonderful lady come in just to take care of my floors. Another thing that made me crazy was paying bills and balancing my checkbook. I don’t do either of those things anymore because I pay someone to eliminate that grinding headache.
No, I’m not wealthy. And it did take a bit of looking about to find just the two capable people who would do the floors and the books at a price I could afford. But for over six years now I haven’t worried about dirty floors or misplaced bills.
The Key to It All
I have found a tool which allows me to sort the days, analyze my ways, determine strategies, and follow up on plans. I’ve grown much better at making time to find time.
It’s ridiculously easy. So easy in fact that many misunderstand its value and determine there must be a better (more difficult) way.
Are you ready for this?
I write in my journal.
No, I don’t write every day. Yes, I do write by hand.
What to Journal?
When you determine to take a few minutes a day, several times a week to join your eyes, hands and mind through the flow of ink to paper you:
- figure out what is really important to you
- determine that you aren’t the perfect person you wish you were
- learn about the good, bad, and ugly of relationships
- question your values
- check to see if you are improving
- seek ways to move toward your goals
- train your brain to be on the lookout
And, most importantly, you find ways to take time to make time.
- My journal led me to ask the local high school if there was a student who could clean floors well.
- In the peace that followed my outburst on the pages of my journal, I determined to ask someone I knew to take care of accounting issues for me.
- My journal showed me how many hours I wasted (everyday) playing digital games.
- Through my journal I’ve discovered what really matters to me.
As you write about how you spend your day you may notice TV, hand held games, and other time wasters are what you need to eliminate from your schedule.
Use your journal to help you stay on track when you decide to change a habit.
Try It
If you already own a journal, begin writing about ways you can gain time to do what you really want to do.
If you don’t own a journal, take a piece of paper and hand write on it that you need to purchase a journal. Handwriting helps you remember better. 🙂
Do You Journal?
About Yvonne Root: The irreverent attitude toward many journal writing “rules” taken by Yvonne Root of Journal in a BoxTM is turning heads – and the minds inside them. Through years of study and practice applying journal writing ideas, strategies and techniques Yvonne has recognized journal writing as an amazing self improvement tool. You can visit the Journal in a BoxTM blog here or subscribe to the newsletter here.
Photo Credit: Joel Montes de Oca (Creative Commons)
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