The Time Finder with Paula Eder

The way you use your time is the way you live your life.

Find Time by Finding Balance

Posted on April 19, 2009, under Self-Care Time.

finding-balance1This morning’s finding time tip offers ideas for building time for self care into your daily life.  Following these simple suggestions for regaining your balance will help you find energy that you didn’t know you had!

Tip:  Balance prevents burnout.

Action Step:  Claim your right to recharge your batteries and regain your balance, even when you feel like you’re “too busy.”

  • Start your day with a nurturing treat. Take a quick walk or dip into a book.
  • Alternate 45 minutes of work with a 5-minute change of scene.
  • Before you go to bed, plan your balancing activities for the next day, giving you something to look forward to!

You may notice that, as with the Pomodoro Technique, I am a proponent of alternating periods of focused work with brief breaks.  However, my recommendation is to use somewhat longer time spans for your work periods, so that you are able to more fully enter and engage with whatever you are working on before it’s time to step away.  The bottom line?  Experiment and find the time span that works best for you.

As for your balancing activities, you might try brainstorming a list of brief activities that you find nurturing and/or energizing.  Have fun and be creative with your list.  Include things that you genuinely enjoy … and if your work keeps you at a desk, try to make sure that some form of movement is involved in a good number of your balancing activities.

One final note:  Time Boundaries are a key component in making this work for yourself.  It’s very important to start and stop your work activity and your self-nurturing activity when you told yourself that you would.  This keeps you on track, gives you wonderful practice with setting and maintaining time boundaries, and, perhaps most importantly, builds self-trust.  Each time you follow through on this plan you are keeping a promise, taking good care of yourself,  and reminding yourself that you are fully in charge of your time!

Do you already do this?  Have you tried using a timer to help keep to your plan?  How about creating a balancing plan for yourself, for the coming week? Try it – and I’d love to hear how it goes!

What if you could find another hour every day? You can! For more Time Finding resources, you are invited to sign up and download The New Finding Time Boundary Template. It’s FREE, and when you sign up you will also receive (if you don’t already) my FREE, weekly Finding Time Tips and my FREE, monthly Award-Winning Finding Time E-zine!

Let’s explore time together …

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