The most precious resource we have is time. It is irreplaceable. Once we spend it, we are never getting it back. No wonder so many of us have intense anxiety about time scarcity! There never seems to be enough time for us to do the things we need to do, let alone the things we actually want to do.

It is time to get your time back!

These life hacks will help you add hours back to your day.

1. Just say, “NO.”

   Say, “no,” to the things you don’t want to do or don’t have time for, just like the D.A.R.E. program taught you to say no to drugs (but actually, say no this time). All kidding aside, saying yes whenever something is asked of you can be like a drug. The external validation you are getting from people feels good and can be addicting, but in the long run, it hurts you. Learning to say no can be tough. Peer pressure is real, even as an adult. Saying no can feel uncomfortable and it may bring up anxiety about people getting upset with you or rejecting you. Those thoughts are important to notice and I encourage you to challenge them when they come up. Is it true it will go as bad as you fear when you say no? If a person will be upset with you, is that a good reason to over-extend yourself, or do you need to reevaluate that relationship?

   Sometimes, it isn’t even someone asking you to do something for them. You see a problem and volunteer yourself as tribute. You may find yourself volunteering for things no one expects you to take on. You need to feel needed, you feel it’s your job to rescue others out of trouble or you believe your value is in what you achieve or produce, so you may push yourself to say yes, even when you are already overwhelmed and no one even asked you to. While these driving forces are not always a bad thing, it is important to check yourself and make sure you are setting healthy boundaries in your life to maintain a healthy life balance. Learning to say no can help you regain control of your time and make sure you are using your time wisely and in ways that feel good to you.

   If you struggle with saying no, download our free pdf below!

2. Create the right habits.

Humans are creatures of habit by nature. The brain loves to save energy with routine. This is great if the routines or habits you are using are healthy and keeping you happy, but sometimes these habits are huge time suckers. One way to get more time in your day is to pay attention to your habits. Do you lay in bed too long? Do you hop on social media every 30 seconds? Do you binge-watch the hours away on Netflix? Do you spend time doing things like cleaning instead of what you really should be doing like writing that report? Do hours mysteriously vanish in a blink of an eye as you scroll through Tic Toc? Figure out your biggest time wasters and change them. You can replace them with a healthier habit, make changes so those habits aren’t easy to keep going back to, or set a time limit with those activities. Changing to healthier habits isn’t always easy. It takes practice and sometimes trial and error. Think of yourself as a scientist and experiment to see what works.

3. Rest.

Stick with me on this one. I promise I haven’t lost it. Rest is VERY important. Sometimes, people mistakenly believe that pushing themselves past their limits and overdoing it helps them to get more done. I am here to tell you it is counterproductive to push yourself past your limits. I’m sure you have been there before. You have a problem and you work at it and try to figure it out for a long time wracking your brain. Then you step away from it, you go to lunch or get some sleep and when you come back BOOM, you figure it out! When you fail to take breaks and rest, your brain becomes LESS efficient. You don’t think as clearly, you make more mistakes and it ends up taking you longer to do a task with a tired brain than it does with a rested brain. Not resting can also lead to fatigue, burn out and illness, which is all counterproductive to getting the work you need to do done and causes you to waste valuable time. Allowing yourself to rest is one of the best things you can do to get more time in your day.

4. Delegate.

There are no rewards for doing all of the things, all by yourself. Nobody wants you to be the martyr. If you need help. Ask. What can you think of right now that you could delegate to someone else and get hours back in your day? Could you get the kids or your partner to help with chores? Could your friend’s kid come to babysit? Could you and your neighbor take turns carpooling? Could you hire someone to do your yard work? Could you relinquish control at work and allow someone else to take something off your plate? Think about who has been offering to help you and actually let them. Get creative. It doesn’t always have to cost money to delegate a task to someone, but it will cost you control. You will have to trust someone to get the job done for you and it may not be done the way you would do it and that is okay. Sometimes, that is what it takes to get more time (your most valuable resource) back in your day.

5. Get in alignment with your values.

We all have the same number of hours in our day. Just 24. One of the things that make us feel like we don’t have enough time is that we are spending our time on things that are not in alignment with our values. Perhaps health is your top value, but you work a 12 hour day and don’t make time to create healthy meals or exercise. Maybe family is your top priority but you spend your time making sure your house is sparkling clean and volunteering for the PTA and don’t have time or energy to play with your kids by the time you are done. Figure out what your biggest values are in life and line up your actions accordingly. This might mean you create a cut-off time at work, exercise before you go to work, or spend one day a week doing meal prep. It may mean you let your house be clean, but not sparkle and that instead of going to the PTA meeting you play a board game with your kids. Spending your time in ways that align with your values can help you eliminate the feeling of time scarcity. Many times we feel there is not enough time because we are spending it on things we don’t want to do or spend too much of it on things we don’t value. Making your actions align with your values can help you feel like you have more hours in the day because you are spending your time on what you want.

Time is running out. You won’t get it back. Are you spending it how you want? What are some ways you will try to add more time to your day? Tell us in the comments to inspire others!