When you never have enough time in your day...

Have you ever found that sometimes the hardest thing to do is to start a task? Or do you find that when you get into a project you find that the project takes you longer than expected and this leaves you feeling as if you never have enough time?  Each day we are creeping closer to the time of the year where us modern-day humans are equally jolly and always feeling as if we never have enough time. 

It is the creeping in low-grade holiday anxiety you have been dreading. The quiet voice and slowly entering  “do-it-all” thoughts that have found their way back to you. The struggle is real and you are not alone. 

As the holiday season approaches it can be helpful to consider using some time management tools to keep your expectations in check and you on time. We often overestimate the time it will take to complete a given task, this is known as the planning fallacy, to manage this try adding half the time in which you think the task will take you to the amount of time you are planning. If you are planning to spend an hour writing a blog post, next time plan an hour an half. This will not only account for any unpredictables, it accounts for the time it takes to start and end an activity. It leaves room for the transitions. 

Transitions are something we all go through though do not give enough air time for. We see where we are starting and we see where we want to go and the middle can be messy. These smaller transitions that occur every day from home to work, work to lunch, tasks to task. You might be switching from new mom tasks to being a manager task and all of these transitions require your brain to switch mentally, our focus needs to change and our fine motor skills are being used differently. It is ok to allow time for this to happen, some days you will need more time than others. So as you approach this holiday season try using one intentional breath when you are dashing from here to there.