Years ago, in a wellness workshop I was attending, the speaker declared, “You don’t get what you want. You get what you schedule.” It was a bold statement that stuck with me for decades, highlighting the importance of making time for the important things I want more of in my life. In fact, making sure your schedule reflects your values is one of the best ways to increase well-being and sense of meaning in everyday life! However, anyone who’s ever worked on “time management” knows it’s more complicated than just plugging activities into a calendar. There are even dozens of apps and techniques designed to help us do more in the time we have (but who has the time to learn a new technique or technology!?).

One barrier that can get in the way of time management is “time poverty,” the feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to do it in, and this chronic feeling is increasing in our society. Scarcity of any important resource creates stress and makes it hard to focus on anything else but the thing that’s lacking. This stress can get in the way of effective planning and problem solving, making time-related issues worse. A great first step in any time-management effort is to create and evaluate your time budget. What are you spending your time on? What’s time expensive versus “more bang for your buck?” And, where in your daily or weekly schedule do you have opportunity to make time for more of what you want? If you find you truly don’t have the time you need, it may be time to consider what you’re willing to let go of.

We sometimes think if we’re struggling to get everything done in a day, our time-management skills must be lacking. However, especially in those people who are truly time poor, most people have excellent scheduling and planning skills! They’re making life work with too little of a very important resource! What’s missing, often, is energy management and attention management, two resources we’re prone to neglect when we’re very busy. This means looking at schedules with both efficiency and resiliency in mind.

The best time-management approach is one designed for your specific energy levels, workflows, family, and lifestyle. If you’re looking for new ways to manage your time, energy, and attention to get of what you want to do done in a day, join Health Coach Amanda for a four-week Group Health Coaching Series, Making Time for Me. Offered Wednesdays starting March 22 at noon, participate in this informative and interactive 45-minute series to create your own personal plan for managing your time. To register, click here or visit Link to Health at linktohealth.osu.edu.

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