Where To Find Extra Time (Working A 28 Hour Day)

Today I’m going to talk to you about something that I’m really passionate about. Something that I find I use on a daily basis if not a moment by moment basis. It’s the thing that everyone seems to ask me about and yet so few people actually seem to implement it. It’s to do with time!

CLICK HERE to watch or listen on YouTube

When you do this you’re in a position where you can achieve so much!

But when you don’t, you will feel like you’re just running around like a headless chicken not achieving what you need to and feeling like you don’t have time for everything.

What I am talking about here is extra time.

Now, what do I mean by extra time? “There are only 24 hours in a day and I can’t create any more Martin”, I hear you say.

Well, that may technically be true but I believe you can create extra time. Here’s the thing though. A second is a second, 60 seconds is still a minute and 60 minutes is still an hour. That doesn’t change. There’s still only 24 hours in a day even though I have had a few of my friends and colleagues say I seem to work in a 28 hour day.

So how do you find this extra time? Where is actually coming from? For me, it all comes from being organised. It’s about understanding what I need to do and when I need to do it. And then planning how I’m going to get that done right first time.  It’s about making sure I have the things in place so that I don’t have to revisit things time and time again. We always try and get stuff done the first time and make that the only time.

Now this may sound relatively simple and some people do try to implement the same kind of thing.  But they seem to get bogged down by having to put too much process around it.  They spend so much time systemising everything and organising themselves that actually the extra time they would have benefitted from just disappears.

So, you really have to make sure you have put your whole life in order. Whether that’s something you’re doing for your clients, something you’re doing for your organisation or something you do for yourself. So, you know minute by minute what you are going to do.

You might be wondering what does my week look like?

When I work with other people, when I ask them how about their week they’ll say, “Well I do five days at work and when I come home I try and do some relaxing or I go out to a club or something with a friend. And another weekend I try to spend the time with the family or go off and do something else.”

What they do is they plan on a daily basis as opposed to actually planning on a minute basis.

Now for me, what I do is, I see the whole week as one thing. I don’t split the time between work and leisure. You see, like you, I am one person and therefore I spend the whole 7 days doing the things that I need to get done.

What helps is, I break this down into specific elements where I may spend an hour, two hours, three hours or four hours dealing with one specific item. It might be that I’m working with a client. Or perhaps I’m in a meeting or in a workshop. I may be writing some content or recording a video just like I’m doing now. Or it could be about spending time with my children, or teaching canoeing or enjoying life.

It’s all part of being me, it’s my life. But rather than do my planning on a day by day basis I try to do my planning on a minute-by-minute basis.

So, I’m going to challenge you to look at the things you do in your daily life and workout are you actually making the best use of your time every day? Are you planning moment by moment so you know that you can fit in all those things you really want to?

Or are you just going to continue to plan on a daily or weekly basis and then hope you will have time at the end of it?