Time Affluence

We are all familiar with the term financially affluent, however, the term gaining traction today is time affluence.  Time affluence Time Affluence Increases Happiness. So How Do You Achieve It? – MOJEH is when you feel like you have enough time to relax or pursue meaningful activities. Time poverty is when you feel stressed because you are constantly rushing and feel you never can catch up.  It becomes especially obvious during this time of year when many employees are off work for the holidays.  People slow down and start wondering whether the hamster wheel they are on is truly the best way to enjoy and bring real meaning to their lives. In fact, four out of five adults report Why You Never Seem to Have Enough Time (berkeley.edu) feeling that they have too much to do and not enough time to do it. People who experience less time affluence also experience less joy each day. They laugh less. They are less healthy, less productive, and more likely to divorce. In one study, stress related to time poverty produced a stronger negative effect on happiness than even unemployment.

Unlike money, where we have choices to either spend what we have more wisely or create/earn more, we cannot increase our time.  We all have the same 24 hours each day. So, the option that leaves us with is finding a way to use our time most wisely.  Below are some ways to get the most out of the time we have.

Meditate

Strangely enough, taking downtime, especially to meditate, How to Meditate – Mindful can make us more productive in the time we spend working or actively engaged.  Especially if you have a difficult problem to solve.  Our subconscious minds will often continue to work after we have taken a break, allowing us to come back and see new solutions.

New Experiences

Engaging in new experiences can alter our sense of time.  We have all had the experience of time moving more quickly or slowly depending on what we are doing and how engaged at the moment we are.  When we free our minds to try new things, we allow ourselves the gift of experiencing our daily life differently.

Funding Time

Research has shown that people that make the decision to “buy” their way out of unenjoyable activities frequently respond more favorably to being time affluent.  The peace of mind you receive by giving yourself 3 hours of housekeeping/cleaning services may pay big dividends in your life.

Block Time

Blocking out time What Is Time Blocking And How Does It Work? (2021 Guide) – Biz 3.0 (timedoctor.com) on your calendar to just think or catch up with someone you haven’t seen in a while starts to reframe how you think about time.  In our “always-on” society, there is an expectation that we will respond to e-mails within minutes, creating a vicious circle.  Blocking time for downtime and treating it as just as important as the next barrage of e-mails can keep you feeling more in control of your day.

Money and time have much in common.  They can both be measured, and we feel as if we never have enough of either, forcing us to constantly choose between the two. The choices that we make, every day, can powerfully shape our feelings of fulfillment and happiness from the moments, days, and years of our lives. Choose wisely to enjoy your definition of a life well-lived.

Time management

sherrie suski, time management

 

There have been copious articles written about time management and everyone no doubt has their favorite strategies. The below are a few that I have found to be helpful in the workplace and in life in general.

 

Know yourself

Part of being a good time manager is knowing what behaviors prevent you from managing your time effectively. The link below gives you a quick summary spreadsheet for determining what your behavior is to day and what your behavior should be in the future to maximize your time. It is helpful to know when your energy is at its peak- is that early morning, late night or somewhere in between. This will help you to plan critical activities for when your energy level is the highest.

 

Multi-task

I know this is contrary to many time management theories out there, but wherever possible, multi-task, especially when something does not require your full attention. When you give up the idea of doing only one thing at a time and look for ways to do two, you can get a whole lot more done. Some quick examples: If you’re on the West coast, schedule East Coast calls on your drive into work. Owe the Far East a call back, pop in your earbuds and make the call while you’re making dinner. 6:00pm pst is around 8:00am there.

 

Touch each e-mail or piece of paper once

This one is big. We all have a tendency to want to “think about” it for a bit and then answer which is likely the answer you would have given in the first place. Force yourself, unless there is truly research that is needed, to answer right away.

 

Start the night before

A big time saver is to lay out your next day the night before. This allows you to hit the ground running in the morning and not have to stop and get organized. Know what you need to accomplish that day, in terms of key deliverables and follow up items.

Get your follow up items out early so that it allows people time to work on them during the day.

 

Take a break

While this may sound counterintuitive, often times taking a quick 10 minute break will help you to re- focus and complete a task in a shorter amount of time than if you had stayed with it past your ability to really focus.

 

Determine what is urgent and what isn’t

Not every e-mail that comes in must be answered right away. Some of the best time managers only answer their e-mails 1-2 times/day. You would be amazed at how many strings of conversation there are where you are only peripherally involved and if you just let them play out, you can catch the last e-mail and be completely up to speed.

 

Everyone has strategies that work better for them than others. Don’t be afraid to try 20 or 3- and then pick the top 5 that really do save you time and increase efficiency.