We are all busy!! Literally everyone. But today I am busting the myth of time scarcity with seven simple tips to make time, no matter how busy you are.
I used to wear my busyness like a badge of honor.
People would ask me how I was doing and I would tell them, ‘Busy. Good, but busy.” like there was a gold star waiting for me.
Hint: There is no gold star for being the busiest.
But there is stress…a ton of it. And it’s not good for you! Stress increases cortisol in your body, which makes you gain weight, feel yucky, and it suppresses your immune system. Ugh!
I was caught in a trap of trying to cram 48-hours of living into every 24-hour day, burning the candle at both ends until the wax ran out and I was BURNED OUT.
But I didn’t know how to change things. I had responsibilities to take care of, kids that needed me, and a spouse that was less than helpful.
When I went back to school to finish my accounting degree, I leaned heavily into time management and came away with some really solid strategies to ensure I had time for all the things I needed to do.
As I started down a path of being more conscious of my mental and emotional health, I learned more strategies for prioritization and focus.
What has emerged from years of working to build a life I love is a combination of these strategies that work together beautifully to place focus on creating time for things that matter and maximizing the use of time to accomplish more in a shorter period of time.
Let’s face it, life isn’t going to move any slower, so we may as well rise to the challenge of figuring out how to live our best lives amongst the busyness, without sacrificing ourselves in the process.
So, let’s dig in.
1. Put it on your calendar
I am always surprised to find out there are still people out there that don’t use a calendar.
A calendar is the most basic and fundamental way to keep track of schedules, appointments, and events. And good news! If you own a smartphone, you carry a calendar around with you all day, every day.
Rather than expending energy and brain power trying to remember everything, bust out your calendar and record all the things you carry in your brain.
Now, you no longer have to worry about forgetting something, or overbooking yourself.
Once you have everything in your calendar, pull up the next week and see where you have gaps in your day. Then, set an appointment with yourself to do something you love, like crochet.
This can be a recurring appointment that happens at the same time every day, or it can be once a week when you have downtime between meetings.
But the premise is that we schedule the things we value.
So rather than trying to squeeze in time to care for yourself through crochet, show the universe that you prioritize self-care by putting it on your calendar.
Then, don’t reschedule. Keep your appointment!
2. Set an alarm
Building new habits is challenging because of the obstacles that naturally stand in our way.
One of those obstacles is remembering a new step in our routines or the goal we set last week.
I started implementing the use of alarms on my phone a couple of years ago. This strategy effectively removes forgetting from the equation. No more excuses!
For 90 days at the beginning of a new timebound routine or habit, my alarm will go off to remind me.
For instance, when I was trying to start walking after work each evening, I knew I struggled with low energy at that time of day. So my brain would go on auto-pilot and I would park my car, change my clothes, and crash on my bed to mindlessly scroll on social media for an hour.
This was not how I wanted to spend my evenings. So I set an alarm on my phone for 5:30 pm that said, “Change into your workout clothes!”
This reminder came every day as I was walking in the door of my house. It snapped my brain out of auto-pilot and rather than changing into lounging clothes, I put on workout clothes and strapped tennis shoes on my feet. Since I was already dressed for a walk, it was easy to walk back out the door and prioritize exercise over mindless entertainment.
This same strategy can be used to remember your crochet project sitting in the corner waiting for you.
If you plan to crochet in the evenings when you sit down to relax, you can set an alarm that says, “Grab your crochet project before you sit on the couch.”
These types of automated reminders are an efficient and effective at taking away your excuses and setting you up for success.
3. Use a Timer
One of my biggest downfalls as a new crocheter was getting so involved with my project that I would get started and not want to stop. I would spend days over Christmas break buried in a crochet project.
By the time I came up for air, I was burned out. I would look at all the time I spent on crocheting, realize I couldn’t do that forever, and then walk away from the yarn for months.
But as I grew as a crocheter, I found a better way.
If I am working on a project that I’m obsessed with, I set my timer.
This strategy allows me to spend time on my project but helps me avoid burnout. It also makes it so my family doesn’t resent the projects I work on. They know that I am going to crochet for a little while each day, but I’m not going to disappear for a week while I make an afghan…except on rare occasions like deciding my daughter needs an afghan for her birthday next week and I haven’t started it yet. Yep, that happened.
This is a winning strategy for everyone.
So if you’re like me and you tend to go all or nothing into your projects, give this time-making strategy a try.
4. Turn off distractions
It never fails, if I get on the phone with someone, one of my children appears and needs my attention. Every. Single. Time.
Or if I sit down to do some work on the computer, my phone starts going off with texts and phone calls. Before I know it, 30 minutes of work turns into two hours.
Distractions are neverending in this busy world we live in.
But we don’t have to allow the outside world into our space without permission.
One of the most effective ways to ensure I have the time and space I need to focus on my self-care is to put my phone on silent. Especially if I have things to think about.
If you are trying to make progress on a project, or you like to use this time to work through a problem, or for creative inspiration and idea generation, turn off your phone and remove yourself from distractions.
If I turn everything off, I can accomplish ten times more than when my attention is divided.
So use this strategy to maximize what you can get done during the limited time you have to crochet.
5. Efficient use of your energy
Productivity gurus like Tim Ferris and James Clear recommend doing tasks that require a lot of energy when your energy levels are the highest.
You can use time in the day more efficiently by applying this strategy to your life.
Do high-energy tasks when your energy is the highest, usually in the morning. This will allow you to accomplish more in a shorter period of time, leaving more time for low-energy activities, like crochet.
For me, doing tasks I don’t enjoy requires more energy. So I do those things during my high-energy time in the morning. I can get them done quickly so by the time I have decision fatigue, I no longer have to decide whether or not to do the things I don’t enjoy. I can relax and dive into the more pleasant parts of my day. Crochet time!
Give it a try and see if this works for you.
6. Einstein Time
Ok, it’s time to delve into Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. Just kidding!
But in all seriousness, if you hang around me for very long you will discover I am a huge science nerd and I love piecing together the science behind psychology…I’m a bit of a fanatic.
So here is Einstein’s theory on time in a nutshell:
“The rate at which time passes depends on your frame of reference. Time is not absolute. In other words, despite our common perception that a second is always a second everywhere in the universe, the rate at which time flows depends upon where you are and how fast you are traveling.”
I first learned about the concept of Einstein Time in the book The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks.
He uses this example from Einstein to explain:
“An hour with your beloved feels like a minute; a minute on a hot stove feels like an hour!”
This is true because if you sat on a hot stove, you would be keenly aware of the space around you and consciously work to contract from that space, slowing down time. Whereas when you are with your beloved, you feel so good you want to spread out and take up as much of that space as possible. ” As your consciousness expands into space, hours can pass in a second.”
“When you’re willing to occupy all space, time disappears and you have all the time you need.”
So, the author explains, it’s not a problem of time, it’s about space. Being aware and present in your space, putting energy into being keenly aware of the space you are in, and then filling that space with your consciousness & energy.
So let’s step out of the hokey metaphors and philosophical rabbit holes and apply this to YOU and your everyday busy life.
Einstein time is very simple.
Take full ownership of your time.
This means you have to look at your “time personality” that was built on the examples set for you by your family growing up. You might have learned from your parents to be prompt and on time no matter what…or even early, always. You might have been raised by people who placed no priority on promptness and being 15 minutes late was no big deal. Those ideas were given to you by someone else, you were not born with them.
Adjusting to take ownership of your time means you will create the time you need and shift away from the idea that time is scarce and discard the time personality you were given.
To take ownership:
- Stop complaining about time- you are not a victim of time.
- No more using time as an excuse. Saying, “I don’t have time for…” is just a way of saying it’s not a priority, or that you don’t want to do it.
- Identify what time pressure feels like in your body. Where do you feel it? Identify what boredom feels like. Where do you feel it? Which feeling do you like more? If you’re like me, and you feel most alive when you feel the urgency of time, own it. You create more of what you enjoy…including feelings of being pressured and in a hurry.
- Get in harmony with the idea that you are the source of time so you can take control. Time is not “out there”, it is inside of you.
- Start making time for things that are important to you and saying ‘no’ to the things that aren’t.
7. Simplify
I can never say this enough, you need to simplify your life.
Sometimes when I am listening to someone tell me all the reasons why they don’t have time to crochet or to focus on their mental health, I just want to shout, “Stop making your life so complicated!”
I will give you the one piece of advice that changed my life.
It isn’t only ok to tell people ‘no’, it’s necessary.
If you have not invested the time to make a written list of things that are a priority to you and what your core values are, please take five minutes and make that list now.
Seriously, stop reading and make the list!
Hang it up where you can see it…your bathroom mirror is perfect. Read this list every day.
Then systematically start purging anything and everything that is not in line with your priorities and core values.
Two of my core values are creativity and freedom.
I worked really hard to create a financial foundation that allowed me to quit a perfectly good job because it was a massive border wall between me and those two core values.
Part of that financial foundation was simplifying my life financially, and physically. I had a huge house that I loved dearly. It was my dream house in almost every way. But it was massively expensive to care for and required hours and hours of my time to keep it beautiful and well cared for.
In order to reach my goals, I sold my beloved house and moved into a space one-quarter of the size. I have no yard to take care of, I am not responsible for anything that goes wrong with the property, and it takes me an hour to clean the whole thing.
But above and beyond all of the financial and physical aspects of this move, my life feels so much simpler and I have the freedom to create time for things that I feel passionate about. It’s like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and it fills me with joy every time I think about it.
I’m not in any way telling you to sell your house and move into an apartment. My situation is different than most people, being a widow with only one teenage daughter left at home.
But I am telling you to identify your core values and priorities so you can make decisions based solely on what moves you closer to living a life that is true to them and yourself.
This may mean:
- Dropping out of certain activities or groups
- Setting boundaries with your family and friends to create time and space for things that are important to you
- Clearing out clutter and making space in your home, i.e., get rid of the stuff you don’t need
- Saying ‘no’ to people asking for your money and time
- Figuring out how you can work fewer hours, or work remotely to remove time spent commuting
- Setting up a carpool schedule with other parents so you don’t have to drive your children to every activity
- Systemizing and automating- seriously, this is a whole article on its own. Basically, create a system, and use automated services wherever you can. For example, you can schedule bills to come out automatically every month so you never have to think about them again, or use a software system like Notion (it’s FREE!!) to create morning and evening routines, organize projects, keep a to-do list, and track progress on your goals all in one place. I don’t know how I lived before Notion…just saying.
Taking steps to simplify your life creates time and space for what’s important to YOU…like crocheting and caring for yourself mentally and emotionally.
Let’s wrap it up!
There you have it, my seven tips for making time in a busy world. Hope I didn’t lose you at Einstein, lol.
Using these tips will create the time and space you need for yourself, helping you to feel peace, calm, and happiness in your everyday life.
Pick one to start and let me know how it’s going down in the comments, or DM me on Instagram. I love to hear from you.
Happy Stitching!
xo —Lavena
P.S. Grab your copy of The Ultimate Guide to Crochet for Mental Health and tap into the benefits of creativity so that you can become one of many amazing women who have unlocked the secret to experiencing joy, peace, and calm in their everyday lives by becoming renewed and revitalized while having fun with crochet.
