WELLBEING - My Top Tips For Finding Time To Achieve Your Goals

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Summary - 

I’m no Beyonce but I think I’ve worked out how she is able to squeeze a ridiculous to-do list into a 24HR period. I’ve been testing this theory myself for a few years now and it’s safe to say, I’m onto a winner. If you struggle to find the time to prioritise you and your goals, this episode is for you! 

Things I Mention - 

  • Why mornings play a crucial part in any goal-achievers daily routine.

  • How having kids has actually made me more time-savvy, despite having less time for myself during the day.

  • The one thing overachievers do (myself included) most nights before they go to bed.

PLUS, I share a life-changing visualisation that will help you time manage goals to ensure you actually achieve them. 

Links & Helpful Resources - 

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on any of my practical tips & tricks and if you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a rating and a review? Thanks! 

Pardon the pun but I get asked all the time about how I find the time to achieve all the things that I’ve achieved and you know what, after giving this some thought, there probably is a bit of a method to my madness and I want to share that with you today. 

We all have 24 hours in a day, but some people manage their time so well that it seems as though, they never go to sleep. In this episode, I thought it might be useful to share all of the tools that I have used in the past and continue to use which help me achieve my goals whilst also juggling my kids, work, fitness, nutrition, life and everything else in between.

Before I get into my tips though, I do want to refer you back to the one thing that Emma Isaacs taught me about balance (Emma Isaacs is the founder and Global CEO of Business Chicks + Mum of 6). I shared this back in Episode #15. So definitely listen to that episode if you’re yet too because it’s full of thought-provoking wisdom bombs from some of the world’s most influential women. 

Ok, I’m certainly no Global CEO and I’m only juggling 2 kids but nonetheless, I can squeeze a hell of a lot into 24 hours so here goes - 

Become A Morning Person

I've always been a morning person so fortunately, this does come naturally to me however since having my kids, I do get up earlier than I once would have liked, just so I can squeeze everything in. For the last, let’s say 7 years, I've been working on consistently waking up at roughly the same time each day (except Sundays). Not only is this great for your internal body clock which will help you sleep better and more deeply during the night but it also gives you the opportunity to tackle a number of things before the rest of the world wakes up (kids included).  I currently wake up at 5.30am and my kids wake at 7am so this gives me roughly 1.5 hours each morning to get shit done. It always surprises me how much I can do in the shortest amount of time since having kids. Pre-kids I thought I was busy but give me just 30mins now and I’ll tick off an unbelievable to-do list in that time. 

And Speaking of Lists … My Next Tip Is To Write Lists

I'm a big list writer and most nights, I'll spend a few minutes before bed jotting down what needs to be done the following day. This is so good for clearing your mind too before bed! Once I’ve got everything written down, I also like to make a note of the things on my to-do list that are either the most important or that don’t excite me and I’ll make sure I knock those off FIRST before I move through the rest of the list. This stops procrastination in its tracks. 

Prioritise ‘Me’ Time

Depending on the day and as I just mentioned, I'll usually use the ‘me’ time that I create in the morning to either self-care or for completing any urgent work. 5 out of 6 days though, I'll dedicate this time to self-care which does mean different things to different people. For me, this means exercising with my FEEL BE LOOK members but it could also mean stretching, practicing being more mindful, reading a book or just taking a few minutes to breathe before the chaos of the day begins. You'll be amazed at just how much you can accomplish if you're working from a glass that is half full rather than half empty!

Time Manage Your Goals

Life is full and these days, it's very easy to forget about our own goals with so much going on throughout the day. Often it's those small, mundane tasks or errands though that get in the way of us achieving our bigger goals. Being aware of this is what matters the most and actually allocating and penciling in time each day to work towards those bigger goals is crucial and I make a conscious effort to do this as much as possible.

Here's a quick visualisation that I love to use that helps me time manage my goals -

  • Picture a bowl of almonds. Now those almonds represent the small daily tasks you have going on in your life (walking the dog, catching-up with family/ friends, cleaning the house, taking the kids to school or sport, work meetings etc.)

  • Next, picture a handful of kiwifruits. The kiwifruits represent the major goals in your life that you want to accomplish (buy a house, study, travel to Europe, own your own business).

  • Now picture a glass jar. This glass jar represents your life and the time you have to accomplish your goals. From here, things can go 1 of 2 ways. You can - 

  1. Pour the almonds into the glass jar whilst putting in a kiwifruit sporadically and the result - not everything fits. The jar fills up and there isn't enough room in your life to accomplish what you want to accomplish.

  2. Or this time, you can put all the kiwifruits into the jar first. You can then pour in the almonds and the result - everything fits!

As you can see, it's really important to firstly identify what your top four or five big goals are. What do you want to achieve in the next 5 or so years? Before doing anything else, focus on doing something that brings you slightly closer to these goals every single day, no matter what. Plan out your day/ week with these goals in mind and keep going. The rest of your to-do list will squeeze in effortlessly and without force around your bigger goals! 

Elisha CasagrandeFEEL BE LOOK, Brisbane Health Coach, Womens Confidence, Goal Setting, Time Management, Self Care, Emma Isaacs, Finding Time