Time

I’ve just finished re-reading the book titled “What the Most Successful people do before Breakfast” by Laura Vanderkam. As a Class A procrastinator I felt like I needed to read this book twice incase I missed something the first time I read it. Which I did. I’ll probably be reading it for a third time sometime soon. The gems I found in it speak right to me and I simply have to share. I’ve become increasingly busy this year, but at the same time I feel like I’m not actually getting any more work done. Work has suddenly taken up a large chunk of my time and I feel like when I manage to fit in a workout, time to blog, read something inspirational, work on and cultivate my friendships and relationships, watch a movie, mediate, work on ways to grow my website or my career… you know, anything I actually want to do, it is a miracle. My weekends have been consumed by work too, which has just left me disillusioned and feeling like I need to do something different. And soon. Luckily the end of the year has brought with it a little relief and some time to allow me to regroup and restrategize. There are so many things I’m trying to achieve but I’m not  finding the time to work on them. I’m not a CEO of a Fortune 500 company or the President of the United States so in comparison I know I’m not THAT busy, I’m simply not using my time effectively enough, and I’m not making the time to do what I want to do. We all have 168 hours in a week. Each and every one of us. The difference between successful people (whatever your vision of success is) and those that are struggling to get by, is successful people know how to optimise their time and focus that time on achieving their goals and doing things that matter to them.

Morning’s become an important factor in this equation. Early on in the book author Laura Vanderkam writes “If you wait until the end of the day to do meaningful but not important things like exercise, pray, read, ponder how to advance your career or grown your organisation or truly give your family the best, it probably won’t happen. If it has to happen, then it has to happen first.”. As someone who wakes up between 7.30 – 8 this is a shock to my system. But the truth is my day always starts off on a chaotic note and I feel like I’m constantly racing against the clock. There was a time in my life when I would be awake by 5am and be on my way to the gym at 5.15. I was the fittest and strongest (probably even sexiest) version of myself and I loved the feeling of getting it out of the way before work. Fitness has always been important to me so doing it first made me feel great. My days felt more relaxed and I felt like I was in control. There was no logical reason why I stopped this routine. Laziness is the only thing standing in my way.

The book also has a section that deals with weekends and how you need to plan them in order to enjoy them. Planned weekends? My first reaction was that simply takes away the essence of a weekend! After reading a little further it made more sense to me. The time between Friday evening and Monday morning is expansive but not as infinite as you think, so you need to think about what you want to do before hand to have a restorative weekend. I’ve never really planned my weekends unless I have an event to attend or I’ve already planned with friends to try out a restaurant or go for drinks. Other than that my weekends are filled with errands, unplanned excursions and then I slump on the couch with a glass of wine in one hand and the remote in another. When Sunday evening tv comes on I’m left wondering where all that time went and what exactly I did with my weekend. Then I’m grumpy because I feel like I’ve wasted precious time, and I’m already hating Monday before it even starts. The cycle needs to stop.

The book left me so inspired that I’ve started getting up earlier. I’ve started with baby steps, (30 minutes for now) and have started planning my time around things that I actually find useful for me. That extra 30 minutes in the morning got this post done. Some tips that stood out in the book for me are below. There are tons more in the book and real life examples of how people with busy schedules have reworked their mornings and subsequently remodelled their lives. So I suggest you get the book if you need help like me in the time management department.

  1. The truth can be tough, but it sets us free. If you have time to watch tv, you have time to read. If you have time to watch tv, you have time to exercise. If you have time to watch tv, you have time to get reacquainted with whatever hobbies you ditched when you decided life was too busy. Rather than making excuses, be honest with yourself.
  2. Start small. Build a habit, then scale up.
  3. Plan something fun everyday. Life is better if you’ve got a reason to get out of bed
  4. Realise you look great already. The difference between a forty-five minute personal care routine and a thirty minute one is more than an hour per work week.
  5. Match your most important task to your most productive time. For many of us that is mornings, but if your most productive time is 2:00 to 3:00pm, guard that hour carefully.
  6. Make time to practise. Few of us spend many hours actively trying to get better at the skills associated with our jobs. People who do have significant competitive advantage.
  7. Trying to take you career to the next level? Imagine that you have achieved a major goal and a magazine is writing a feature on you. What would you say? Envisioning the story of how your breakthrough happened can help you make it a reality.
  8. Being in the right job can give you amazing energy for the entirety of your 168 hours. The holy grail is finding something you love so much you’d do it for free. If that’s not realistic (and it’s unlikely anyone has magically designed the perfect job of you) then focus on small tweaks you can make to turn the job you have, over time, into the job you want.
  9. If someone suggests getting together and you both genuinely want to make it happen, don’t follow up with “How about sometime next week?”. Say for example “Let’s do 2:00pm on Tuesday at the Starbucks on 42nd between 3rd and Lex. If that doesn’t work please suggest another time and place.” That saves roughly four back and forth exchanges.
  10. Write it down. Trying to remember that great idea, or even that you planned to pick up the dry cleaning today wastes time – and you have much better things to spend your time on
What has helped you use your time more productively? I’d love to find out about it. Leave a comment in the comments in the section below

About the Look

Simple. Understated. Minimal lines. No fuss.
I’m back in my comfy uniform of black and white and I’ve never felt more at home. The subtle details and proportions make this look for me. It’s comfortable, it’s uncomplicated and it’s easy like Sunday morning.

Top – Country Road

Wide leg pants – Jo Borket

Pumps – ZARA

Watch – Michael Kors

Photography – Keagan Kingsley Green

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6 Comments

  1. Mateboho
    December 14, 2015 / 1:27 PM

    Time is such a challenge to me especially spending more than 3hrs on the road per day, so i would Gym in the morning which used to save me an hour from the traffic and get fit while at it, but i hit a slump and this post just what i needed to get me to look at ways to use my time wisely.

    • December 21, 2015 / 4:56 PM

      It’s all about how you can structure your day so you manage to achieve what you want to, and still have time to do everything you have to.
      Good luck!

  2. Noni
    December 15, 2015 / 11:19 AM

    On the phone with the book store right now. I want!

    • December 21, 2015 / 4:56 PM

      Let me know what you think of it after you have read it!

  3. Kimmoy Matthews
    July 16, 2016 / 7:08 AM

    Hey Keabe, just got reading the book. It was a very quick read and I’m inspired to get up earlier. There wasn’t any mention in the book about planning your weekends though. Is there another book you may have read that touched on this subject?

    • July 16, 2016 / 9:48 AM

      Hi Kimmoy! Laura actually has a book specifically aimed at “time management” (I hate that word!) over the weekends called What the Most Successful People Do On the Weekend. I haven’t read it yet but I imagine it has a few gems too.