Time Management:

Could You Use an Extra Hour Every Day?

How would you use an extra hour every day? During the holiday season we all seem to be more busy than usual: more cleaning, shopping, events, planning – all on top of a busy work schedule and still trying to take care of ourselves. Time management is a hot topic because so few of us know how to effectively manage our time, me included!

My husband and I were out for our morning walk yesterday and found ourselves talking about making more time for our creative outlets. We recently joined a writing group which of course means we need to be writing something we think worthy of sharing with our peers.

Like so many of our ideas, dreams and wishes, writing is something we tend to talk more about than actually do. We talk about managing our time better, exercising more, writing more, cleaning the house more.

We talked about ways to carve out time for writing in our already busy schedule. Neither of us are night owls so writing at night, after a full day of work is not our favorite option. At the beginning of the school year, we instituted family reading time after dinner. The kids are required to read for school and we wanted to support them, so we all sit in the living room and read together.

We talked about extending this time to our creative time, no strings attached. Brad might make music and I might play in my craft room. Or we might write. Our intention is to focus on bringing more creativity into our life, an hour at a time.

After we had this conversation, I saw a post this morning on Facebook about a free e-book on How to Accomplish Anything in a Hour a Day. Coincidence? Synchronicity? It’s an easy read full of some great ideas on how to find and use an extra hour every day.

I think what I appreciated most about this e-book was the emphasis that we already have an hour a day, we just have to decide to use it in a more constructive way. The author asks you to take a deep look at how you are currently spending your time. What can you cut out? Where can you spend lest time? Where are you wasting time?

I work hard but I also want to have time for life outside of work. For us, that means focusing on my various creative endeavors. When I ignore the creative urge, I am cutting off an important part of my self-care and ignoring what makes me who I am. While I enjoy my work, I have many other interests too. I spend way too much time ignoring what I really want to do in the name of busy work.

So, in spite of the craziness of the holidays, I am committed to finding an hour a day to be creative.

What can you commit to doing with an extra hour a day?

If writing is on your list but you don’t know where to start or are stuck for ideas, download my free e-book: 25 Effortless Ways to Start Writing.