You and I share at least two things in common. We both have 24 hours in a day, and our days are finite. Yet how we experience and use our time varies widely.

Perhaps you are time-aware. You know how much time you have and spend it intentionally. Or maybe you have difficulty keeping track of time, feel time-poor, are easily distracted, and never have enough hours to get things done.

If you think of your relationship to time on a scale from zero to one hundred, with one end representing a total lack of time awareness and intentionality and the other representing high time awareness and intentionality, where would you place yourself? Whether your number is zero or one hundred, several concepts can improve your relationship with time and help you approach it more compassionately.

Time Management Scale

Before I share the strategies, review the Time Management Scale to get a sense of where you are right now. This isn’t an exact science, but the scale will help you identify your strengths and challenges. Understanding your relationship with time, combined with the concepts I’m about to share, can be a game-changer for you.

How to Use the Scale

• Reflect honestly on where you are today

• Identify your target range and desired habits

• Take consistent action to improve your score over time

Remember that small choices about how you spend your time today shape your future.

3 Ideas to Encourage More Compassionate and Aligned Time Management

There are three ways to align your time in a more compassionate and powerful way. As I mentioned earlier, the time available each day is fixed. Your life and the time you have left are finite. None of us knows how many days remain. How you use this precious resource shapes your life.

1. Energy

Have you noticed how your energy ebbs and flows throughout the day? For example, I have more energy and mental clarity earlier in the day, and my energy lessens as the day goes on. Matching high-brain-demand tasks, such as planning or writing, with the time of day I’m ‘fully charged’ works better for me. Lower-brain-demand tasks, like resetting spaces or grocery shopping, can be done when my energy is less.

As you plan your available time and how you will spend it, factor in your energy. A while ago, Executive Coach Marcy Stoudt introduced me to the reframing of time management as energy management.

It’s helpful to consider how you’re planning and using your time. One thing I’ve learned is how much longer tasks take when my energy isn’t aligned. For example, when I’m tired and my energy is low, it takes me two to three times as long to do certain tasks as when I’m well-rested and in my high-energy, brain-power part of the day.

Aligning your energy management with how you use your time is a compassionate practice.

“Small choices about how you spend your time today shape your future.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

2. Priorities

Have you noticed that some priorities, especially those tied to values, are fixed while others are flexible? For example, family might always be a top priority, so you’ll drop everything if someone in your family needs you. Or, when planning, family considerations drive your choices.

Flexible priorities are tasks, goals, and commitments that matter but don’t require immediate action or have a set deadline.

Flexible priorities could include:

• Projects with open deadlines

• Buy groceries sometime this week

• Meet a friend for coffee in the next few months

• Edit belongings to downsize

• Plant flowers in the garden

• Clean out the garage this season

• Improve sleep habits

• Try a meditation app

When considering your available time, aligning your priorities with your values and clarifying which tasks are fixed or flexible can lead to a more compassionate way forward.

3. Reality

Ah, yes! The old reality check. Here’s where time management can go sideways. Many people I know, including clients, struggle to align their available time with how long tasks take. This is where optimism needs to be balanced with a realistic understanding of time.

Has this happened to you? I see it most often on ambitious to-do lists. For example, you sit down to write your daily list. You have twenty or thirty items and expect to do them all today because they’re all “equally important.” Yet as the day goes on, you’ve only gotten to a few items. It’s clear you won’t finish everything. The day isn’t over, and you’re starting to feel stressed and defeated. Believe me, I get it. Reality and intention are two very different things.

• Reality Check 1: Not everything is equally important.

• Reality Check 2: Your list is too ambitious to complete in one day.

• Reality Check 3: Optimism is great, but balance it with a realistic understanding of your available time and how long tasks take.

• Reality Check 4: Reduce the size of your list. Curate a daily list of 1-5 items. Get those done, then review the time you have left before adding more to your day.

When you stop planning for an ideal day and start planning for the day you actually have, you gain a greater sense of control, accomplishment, and ease.

Are You Ready to Bring a More Compassionate Approach to Time Management?

The number is 24, as in the hours in a day. The number of days you have left is unknown. You have choices about how to spend your time. Use understanding and compassion as you plan and decide.

What will that look like for you? Which time management ideas resonate most with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Do you feel overwhelmed, disorganized, and time-stressed? Are you struggling to manage all your tasks, goals, and commitments? I’m here to help! You don’t have to do this alone. Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – Local feel with a global reach.

Let’s connect! I’m easy to reach.

• Schedule a Discovery Call

• Fill out the Contact Form

• Email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com or

• Call 914-271-5673

Managing your time, getting organized, and living with more ease are possible, especially with support.

Making a change in your life can be challenging. Have you ever wondered why? Here are some common obstacles you might encounter:

• Feeling unsure about how to create the change you desire

• Feeling defeated as the change you desire appears unattainable

• Feeling a lack of energy or resources to manifest the change

• Feeling overwhelmed by other responsibilities in your life makes focusing on intentional change seem unrealistic right now

• Feeling frustrated by the time needed to create change

• Feeling unclear about the change you want to make

• Feeling resentful that you want to make a change but would rather focus on less stressful activities

• Feeling the absence of a support system

Yet, despite these potential difficulties, you still want to make a change. Change is possible when you’re in a negative, stress-filled state, but it’s more challenging. What if you could create a starting point that is more conducive and encouraging?

I recently discovered something that could be a game-changer (no pun intended).

The Value of a Morning Activation Ritual

In Joseph Nguyen’s book Don’t Believe Everything You Think – Why Your Thinking is the Beginning & End of Suffering, I read a passage about developing an “activation ritual.” While Nguyen applied this concept to reduce stressful thoughts, I can see how the idea of rituals could be useful for facilitating change.

Nguyen says, “Most of us are used to spending the majority of our day in a state of stress (thinking).” However, when you stop thinking and stressing, that energy can be redirected elsewhere. Without channeling it elsewhere, you will likely revert to a thinking and stressful state.

He suggests creating a morning activation ritual that helps you “get back into a state of non-thinking and flow. It can be an activity that helps you feel grounded and allows you to practice getting into a state of non-thinking.”

Consider centering activities such as meditating, exercising, journaling, or making tea. “An activation ritual enables you to build momentum in a positive direction immediately when you wake up so that it’s easier to stay in that state of non-thinking for the rest of the day.” Nguyen suggests that it’s possible to “channel the newfound energy into our goals of inspiration.”

“An activation ritual enables you to build momentum in a positive direction . . .”

— Joseph Nguyen

Create Your Activation Ritual

Do you start your day gently with a nourishing and grounding routine? Or are your mornings often rushed and chaotic?

You have the opportunity to create a centering morning ritual that will energize you, reduce stress, and enhance your ability to make the change you desire.

Here is one approach to creating an activation ritual:

• Establish a consistent wake-up time.

• Select one grounding activity before beginning your day, such as exercising, meditating, or journaling.

• Do this for one week.

• Observe what happened.

• Depending on what you discovered, continue or alter your activation ritual.

Beginning the day feeling grounded and nourished will cultivate an internal state that promotes the change you want.

What change would you like to make? How can a morning activation ritual benefit you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I invite you to join the conversation.

How Can I Help?

Do you want support creating routines, organizing, planning, or inviting positive change? I’d love to help! Virtual organizing is an extraordinary path forward – local feel with a global reach.

Please schedule a Discovery Call, email me at linda@ohsoorganized.com, or call 914-271-5673. Change is possible, especially with support.