Even though this was my final semester and I was about to graduate my workload did not get much lighter. After Spring Break I had a 30 page economic research paper to finish and big group projects in my marketing and entrepreneurship classes. I was also working on the consulting project we did for the IU football program as well as making sure the Intramural Champion T-Shirt Design contest for the Intramural Sports Council. Essentially, I had quite a bit on my plate, and during this time I didn't do anything with my blog. The problem was that I had a hard time justifying time spent on my blog when I knew there was a lot more time sensitive work that I should be getting done. Previously, I've had this problem when it come to going to the gym as well. I have a hard time deciding that it's a good idea to wake up early to work out when I was up until 1am or 2am working on projects the night before.
Obviously, I haven't found a perfect solution for this problem yet since this habit of pushing aside activities related to my goals in favor of time sensitive tasks that I had to get done has happened quite frequently. I do have a few ideas on how I can prevent this problem in the future.
How to Make Time for Your Goals When You're Busy
1. Pre-schedule the time you're going to spend on "Have-To" projects
A "Have-To" project is something that you must get done for your job or for class if you're a student. A "Want-To" activity is something like updating your blog, researching a business idea, or doing a workout. It's helpful for me to set aside time each day for my "Have-To" projects and leave some additional time to do whatever I want. When crunch-time comes for a "Have-To" project it's much harder to set aside additonal time, but it's important not to let it take up your whole day. Once I have these projects pre-scheduled it helps me feel like it's ok to spend an hour writing a new blog post because I already planned to have that time available to do whatever I wanted.
2. Avoid distractions during "Have-To" projects
In order to actually get your "Have-To" projects done in the pre-scheduled time, it's important to be productive when you're working on the project. Two major distractions for me have been television and the internet. I found that I must turn off the TV during times when I'm working on something important because it's to difficult for me to stay focused. The internet is also difficult to stay away from so I've cut back on reading articles and also started tracking my time spent on various websites. A great application to do that is RescueTime. It automatically logs how long you spent at each website throughout the day so you can see what sites are taking up too much of your time and adjust your habits accordingly.
3. Set aside time in the morning for "Want-To" projects or before you start on "Have-To" projects
I've found that setting aside time in the evening to read a book, do a workout, or write a blog post is pretty difficult because I often work longer than expected on a "How-To" project and then when I try to get started on another activity I'm too tired to get much done. This is why I've tried to focus on working out and reading in the morning and then setting aside some additonal time right as I get home from work/class for other projects. This way I already have my "Want-To" activities done before I get into the grind of the "Have-To" projects.
4. Enforce a bedtime for yourself so you don't ruin tomorrow's plans
This has been a rule that I haven't followed very well. I think this could be one of the most important ways for me to improve and to create more time for myself to reach my goals. Too often I continue working on projects or reading articles until 2 or 3am. If I have a workout planned for the next morning it's going to be a major struggle to wake up early and complete it. Setting a defined bedtime is important because it forces you to stay on schedule with tomorrow's plans and tomorrow is just as important as today.
5. Establish confidence in yourself to complete "Have-To" projects in the allotted time so the pressure of finishing them is gone when you're not working on them
The concept of "guilt-free play" is a big part of The Now Habit and it is defined as being able to enjoy your leisure time without thinking about work or feeling guilty that you're not doing work. This is important because often I get into the mindset that I have so much work to do that I need to be spending every minute I have to finish it. However, once I finish a few of my projects in the time that I scheduled I begin having confidence in myself that I'm going to complete the work no matter what. So if I hang out with my friends tonight or I spend an hour writing a new blog post I don't feel bad about not working on my "Have-To" projects because I know they will be completed in the scheduled time.
This is an area where I'm still looking to make improvements. What other ideas do you have to stay on track with your goals when life gets in the way and makes you too busy?
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