Stop Wasting Time with these 6 Tips

Covid Quarantine has crushed good habits routine for many of us, myself included. We went from day to day hustle, to stuck at home. It was a nice at first but it has crushed routines and created unhealthy habits. Stop wasting time and plan for fitness, nutrition, meal prep and everything in your life. This is what our Fit4Females community struggles with:

Weight gain
Too much wine
Wasting time
Skipping workouts
Feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and not motivated
Staying up too late
Wasting time on social and non productive things
Lots of TV and screen time

1) Stop Wasting Time by Creating Time Blocks

In order to stop wasting time, make a list of EVERYTHING you do daily. Brain dump everything. If you are a parent, add a ton of extras that come with kids. List every task and to do in your life daily, weekly and monthly. Here are popular examples:

Meal Prep (21 meals/week B/L/Dinner or 35 if you have B/L/D and two snacks)
Grocery shopping *include travel time
Cooking
House Cleaning
Making your bed daily
Laundry
Workouts *include travel time
Relationship time with friends/significant other / family
Work
Appointments / event planning / scheduling
Commute time
You time *do you even schedule this?
Time wasted on anything *track your time, identify your “Time Suckers here”
Scrolling Social media *set a time limit
Surfing through email *schedule a time and stick to it
Caring for older/sick parents
Sleep *time to bed, time awake
Morning/evening routine
Everything else you do

Have Kids? Add this stuff too!

Kids add way more to your life. Get them involved in as much as possible considering their age. Stop wasting time doing everything for everyone except yourself.

“Don’t do for your kids what they can do for themselves.” Nicola Jones my dear friend

stop wasting time

Chauffeur kids/family
Kids lunch prep
Kids meal prep
Tons of extra laundry
Extra housework *why are they so messy!
Teacher duties: homework, school forms, important dates, reducing their anxiety/mood/stress
Event planner: add calendar dates for school, activities, appointments, PD days, oh so much!
Time for appointments
Housekeeper duties that are so much extra
Conflict resolution / Counsellor: You are responsible for all of the emotions your kids bring / arguing between siblings
Bathroom and shower time *my kids still bother me in the the bathroom “Mom!”

Just looking at this list reminds me how many tasks we have! Let’s get out of overwhelm and break down what is most important for your sanity and emotional health.

Trina’s Tidbit:

I needed to stop wasting time so, years ago I tracked every minute of time I spent for 3 days. It was exhausting but so eye awakening. Everything that you say “yes to” you are saying “no to something else”. For most women, too many “yes’s” leads to no self care.

Track your time champ, you will be blown away at the crazy responsibilities you put on yourself.

2) Schedule Tasks in Your Calendar

“If it doesn’t get scheduled, it doesn’t get done”. Schedule all tasks above that apply to your life. It’s amazing when you see it in the calendar. Prioritize meal prep, fitness/movement and relationship/family time.

Calendar review

Pick apart your calendar for the day/week/month
Add all priority appointments and non-negotiables
Add priorities and make sure Fitness, Food and Sleep are on that list daily!

3) Stick to it!

Do not put our priority to do’s aside. I used to move things to my calendar and then ignore the task and it wouldn’t get done. Schedule everything as though it’s the most important ever.

Give each task a time slot
Include travel if applicable
Change the time/date as things come up
Practice makes perfect, it gets easier I promise
Look at your days and weeks as a fresh start

4) Remove ALL Distractions

Noise cancelling headphones are a must. Phone on silent, shut down Wifi when possible, put on headphones and focus ONLY on one thing that needs to get done. Try quiet music, I like piano and no lyrics. These are the cheapest and best headphones that you will find me in daily.

5) Batch Plan in Advance

Do this as far out as possible. Schedule meals, workouts and to do’s for the week. Before Covid-19, I prepped all meals for the week on Sundays for my family of five. Meal prep day is busy but the rest of the week was easy because meals are ready. Experiment with what works for you.

6) Keep Taking Action and Embrace the Pay off

Keep the batching, planning and prepping going. Take action to get it done. This WILL change your Life. The days I don’t prep, I am stressed and overwhelmed.

Ask yourself: If I get things scheduled and done, how amazing will I feel. The payoff is the reward for doing the things that are priority.

Start Here

My 10 Day Lean and Clean is a great kickstart to prioritize workouts, healthy food and little mini tasks to do every day a priority. It’s one things I always come back to. Check it out here.

What gets scheduled, gets done. You are in charge of your time, what you say yes to and what you say no to. Do NOT make the mistake of putting yourself last.

Thanks for making it to the end! Trina Medves xo