So you’re busy, you don’t have time to eat, you’re always running for a train or a bus, your kids take up your evening, you have to work after hours, you reach for quick easy food?! Does this sound like you?
If you’re anything like me your diary is busy, you work, you gym, you socialise, you clean, you want to cook, you want to keep healthy and you may even have fitness goals… How on earth are we meant to do everything and be good at it all?
Maybe we’re not. Ever thought about that? Maybe we’re meant to take a step back once in a while and prioritise what we want to achieve and when.
Here’s a few life hacks that may help you organise your life and ensure you get some much needed ‘you time’!
1) Time block – recently on a Sunday evening I started time blocking my week ahead. (Being self employed there’s so much to do to ensure I have an income every month). So I’d get my weekly planner out and I’d put in all my meetings, working hours, personal training clients, classes I’m teaching, personal gym time and study time.
This weekly planner stays on my bedside table and every morning I wake up and look at it and know exactly what I’m up to that day (without looking at my phone, which has made me less anxious too!). Some people go as far as blocking out phone time, social media time and email time… Personally for me that’s just a bit too far.
2) Book in classes – In this day and age, all gyms and studios have some kind of booking system. So once you’ve time blocked in your gym time, go forth and book those sessions in (if you can) this way, hopefully you won’t miss your session or cheat on yourself.
3) Mindfulness moments – every day take 10 minutes to sit and reflect. If you’ve never tried Mindfulness (I recommend you do) why not give the following a go:
Find a comfortable position and close your eyes.
Breathe deeply to calm your heart rate.
Then do a full body scan starting at your head, your eyes, cheeks, jaw, down to your chest, your arms and fingers all the way to your toes. If you feel any tension then let that go, relax and sink into your chair or bed or floor.
Then concentrate on your breath, keep your focus there.
Think about something that makes you happy.
If your mind wanders off subject bring it back to your breath.
Do this for 10 minutes or more and when ready slowly bring yourself back to your surroundings, wriggle your fingers and toes and open your eyes.
10 minutes will feel like bliss. Practice this every day.
4) Outsource – yes you heard that right, if you feel that there is too much on your plate and you simply can not manage everything then look at what you can outsource! Whether you outsource to family/friends or someone you can hire to complete the task for you… I promise you it will be worth it … after all darling ‘time is money’ if you can make more money than it takes to pay someone to complete a task for you… why would you not do it?!
I outsource my window cleaning, I outsource my car cleaning, I know people who outsource school drop offs, weekly house clean, weekly shop (click and collect is a godsend), gardening, ironing, meal prep… Imagine what you can do with the time you save through outsourcing!
And finally…
5) Meal Prep – with my new role at Nirvana Spa as a Wellness Coach, it’s the first time in my life since I was 18 that I’m doing shift work. Some mornings I’m in the spa by 6:30 am and some evenings I don’t finish until 10:30pm so I don’t have time to make breakfast or dinner! So, I’ve started meal prepping these meals. Personally, I like fresh food and I couldn’t do 5 day preps like a lot of people so I keep mine to 3 days. Egg cups are great for breakfast or a quick snack (find my recipe in my Facebookgroup) and for dinner… your best bet is to cook more portions the night before and box it up. Or get a slow cooker (and use it!). Easy peasy right!? Better than a take out every night or even a sandwich.
So there you have it, my 5 life hacks to make you more chilled, mindful, productive and give you more time to do the things you want to do whilst still getting your ‘must do’s’ done!
If you’ve got any life hacks that you’ve implemented, I’d love to hear them so, why not let me know and leave a comment below.
Love and hugs always
