7 PRACTICES TO USE YOUR TIME INTENTIONALLY

7 HELPFUL WAYS TO SPEND YOUR TIME INTENTIONALLY

Are you ready to get more done but you’re struggling to find your focus? Do you have a list of things to do but feel like you’re not getting through any of them?
I know when I chase the big goals, I need to find useful ways to be more aware of my time. Write to me in the comments and tell me why you’ve decided to start getting intentional with your time.

Since we can’t add more hours into our day, we have to be pretty strategic on how we’re filling up the time we do have.
The best thing I like to remember is that it’s always about PROGRESSING and not about perfecting.

I firmly believe that time is our most valuable resource and I’m sure when most of us sit and think about it, we can agree on that.
We all get the same 24 hours in a day, yet the amount of those days is unpromised and are vastly different from each other.
There’s no secret sauce to constant productivity with our time, but what’s important in my eyes, is the effort we put into how we choose to manage the hours in our day.
If we are positive about our efforts (in anything), spend our time aligned with our values and set attainable goals… the outcome is inevitable.

My feeling is that if we’re putting in the energy, then somehow and in some way, the universe will reward us.

So let’s dig into some ways that could encourage you to manage your time so you can start making those impactful moves happen in your life + business!
Remember, that, if we’re living then we’re choosing and I want to make choices that will influence passion into my life and business. What are you goals?

(I’ll have a simple list at the end of the post compiling it in an easy view.)

The first two hours of your day sets the tone for how the rest of it will go.

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1. WRITE DOWN YOUR DAILY SCHEDULE

Start planning your day the night before.

Preparing your day the night before sets you up to take actionable steps and have a clear path as you start your morning. To plan is to anchor yourself better than you were before and when we focus on creating good habits, a chain reaction starts to begin.

When you wake up knowing how you’re going to spend your time, it creates discipline and structure. Plus, we are more likely to do something once we write it down. Create that intention and write down your goals for the day.
You’ll find such great satisfaction when you look at the clock and it’s 11 am and you’ve done more than you typically would all because YOU had a PLAN!

2. BATCH WORK FOR BALANCE

As you look at your plans for the week, if you notice that you’re doing something related throughout the week, batch working those tasks may be just what you need to save time and mental energy in your career or life.
Now explaining how to batch work would make this too lengthy (and I chat a lot in this post), but essentially it’s grouping related tasks together and planning to focus on them for that day, or the time you can allot for it. Jenna Kutcher has a great podcast episode and post on batch working if you’d like to take a deep dive. Highly recommend!

BATCH WORKING CAN BE USEFUL TO YOUR BUSINESS + LIFE

EXAMPLE

Let’s say you’re a photographer and you schedule your editing on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays for two hours each day. Instead of editing those three days, add the editing process into an efficient batch working day. Choose one day where you specifically focus on editing, say Tuesdays. Tuesdays you now edit for a full 8 hours, leaving two days free for other tasks that can impact your business further.

Batch working allows you to structure many days into one block of time, organizing related tasks together so you’re not doing more work than is necessary, plus it increases your focus and provides a sense of satisfaction.

3. USE A TIMER TO KEEP FOCUSED

There’s a higher likelihood that we’ll be more productive when we assign less time to a specific task. So, I encourage you to start setting a 10-minute timer as an easy way to stay focused + actually complete things you’ve been holding off on. I believe that we’re more willing to complete a task if we’ve started the action.
If you find yourself procrastinating and the small tasks are piling up such as the laundry, tidying up a corner of your office or home, or writing that email… my tip is to set a timer for just 10-20 minutes and just do the thing you’ve been putting off or want to get done. Focus just on that ONE task until the timer is up, no other distractions.

I find this to be helpful when I’m just not feeling it. Like, those days where the lack of motivation is stronger than my ambition at the moment. But ultimately, I have ten minutes.
Set the timer on your phone or watch to go off for 10-20 minutes.
For those 15 minutes, focus only on your project. Be intentional.
When you push that timer, you’re going to work as efficiently for that block of time and nothing else.
I want you to dedicate this time strictly to the task at hand, such as setting up your email templates, register your business, dream about your business, stretch, put away the clothes, hang with your cat (hey, our furry friends need one-on-ones too), draw, go paint, write, bike, sing, read, everything and anything you want to, do that thing and that thing only.
So, play some music or listen to a podcast and press GO on that timer and get. to. wooooooork on your project. Immerse yourself into it.

Two things can happen when your timer goes off in 15 minutes.
One, either you get into a groove and keep going. (Heck yes!)
Or two, once your timer goes off, you stop. Were you expecting that answer? hah!
If you keep going, great and if you stop, great also. You centered your focus for 15 minutes, and the hardest part of doing something is to start… So, be stoked that you started!
Now you’re ready to move onto your next step! Yay!

4. MANAGE PHONE USAGE & NOTIFICATIONS

We all know that our phones are an easy sore spot when recognizing where we spend most of our time. You never want to admit that you spent two hours on Reddit today but chose that the laundry wasn’t important. Been there!

We often don’t realize the amount of time we consume on our cellphones and as much as we try to be productive, we are often scrolling mindlessly with no clear impact. I encourage you to check your numbers and see your phone’s usage. I picked up my phone 600 times last week… 600! And, that was actually a week I only spent 1 hour on social media.

CREATE BOUNDARIES FOR SCREEN TIME + APP ALERTS TO LIMIT DISTRACTION

First, check your numbers. See how much time you’re spending on your phone and which apps eat up most of your days.
(Guiding Tech has an article showing how to check your screen time on different devices.)
Once you know your screen time numbers, then I recommend adding app limits to start narrowing the number of distractions.
Set a limit that feels good to you.
You know yourself well enough to understand what would be a reachable goal you can stick too. Not sure what limit to set? Try a daily max of 30 minutes on a social media app.

Another helpful trick: Turn off or reduce your notifications to limit which apps you get notified. Do we really need to know when a celebrity posts a photo, or be alerted when we’re low on steps and need to walk (okay, maybe that one you choose to be notified about!).
I choose to have my messages on silent so I have less of a reason to look at my phone. Be intentional when deciding which apps can disrupt your life.

Think of all this more as a choice though, you’re choosing to be intentional with your app usage so you can spend your time doing things you love which creates an impact in your life and business.

HERE’S A CHALLENGE FOR YOURSELF: Go 10 days without your most used unproductive app. How does it make you feel? In what ways did it impact other aspects of your life?

5. SET ATTAINABLE GOALS

When you’re planning how you’re spending your time, it’s important that you’re setting realistic and attainable goals for yourself. When structuring your time out don’t block too little that you feel like you haven’t moved the needle forward or block too much to where unproductive habits start to creep in.

You want to know clearly what you’re working towards and set the intention that this IS a goal you’ll achieve.

6. COMMUNICATE YOUR GOALS WITH OTHERS

Communication is hard in any relationship, including ourselves. But once you start structuring your time efficiently, you may see areas where you’re focusing too much time on things that don’t really line up with your values. Or maybe your calendar is filled with passionless projects and you need to delegate these projects to other people.
Helping each other succeed is the most fulfilling way to reach our goals.
But people won’t know what we need unless we tell them. So I encourage you to be open in your relationships so they can serve as your foundation.

“If you believe you can change – if you make it a habit – the change becomes real.” Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit.

7. ROUTINES CREATE HABIT

When you think of routine, you probably sighed, huh? I get it. Routines get boring super quick because they’re mundane and predictable.

The more intentional we get with our time the higher the likelihood it produces powerful habits in our lives.

Doing something, even a single thing every single day sends a powerful message to ourselves. Whether it’s to wake up every day at 6:30 am, walk for 30 minutes in the morning, read 500 pages like Warren Buffet (okay more like 50), or to start your day off with tea and your notepad… those are the actions that will set the trajectory of your day and create impact in your life and business.

BONUS TIP: Reflection

Reflection can be such a useful tool. When we reflect on our day it’s a chance for us to see what we accomplished, the areas of focus still needed and what lessons we learned about ourselves.
Reflection can lead to empowerment when we write down everything we were able to do, but it also can lead to dissatisfaction if we’re unhappy with what we’ve done.

I find that reflecting can encourage the next day, week or month to have a greater purpose.

Grab some tea or a smoothie, get out your journal or laptop and either daily, weekly and/or monthly jot down the challenges, the wins, and the lessons. Get deep with yourself.
Write down what you need to do tomorrow or next week to combat unproductive habits, write down the small and bigs wins you’re experiencing, and how your new habits are making an impact. Not sure what to reflect about? Check out my list of questions to ask yourself in life and business, if you need some prompts!  

There you have it! 8 ways to practice getting intentional with your time and tips to start reaching that goal of yours! Which tip have you found useful, and do you have daily practices that help you achieve your goals? Let me know below!

Phew, that was long! Here’s a complete list for you so you can recap what we talked about.

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THE COMPLETE LIST OF 7 PRACTICES TO GET INTENTIONAL WITH YOUR TIME

1. WRITE DOWN YOUR SCHEDULE TO PLAN AHEAD
2. BATCH WORKING FOR BALANCE
3. USE A TIMER TO STAY FOCUSED
4. MANAGE PHONE ALERTS & SCREEN TIMES TO LIMIT DISTRACTIONS
5. SET ATTAINABLE GOALS 
6. COMMUNICATE YOUR GOALS WITH OTHERS
7. ROUTINE CREATES HABIT
   Bonus tip: Practice reflecting daily, weekly + monthly.

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Not every day will be packed full of productivity and you’ll have days that are challenging and you can muster up to do the bare minimum and that’s okay. Take it one day at a time because it doesn’t need to be complicated. Remember, as I said, it’s about progress and not perfection!

Until next time, friend,

Don’t forget to tell me what goals you wanna make happen in the comments. I wanna hear your story!