Spend a few days keeping track of how you spend your time. Write down exactly what you do every day. Pay close attention to how you spend free time. Do you play video games, or do you clean the house? Make a list of these activities and how long you spend on them.
Adjust your schedule based upon these times.
For example, you might notice a trend in your daily life whereby you tire yourself out doing an activity you enjoy. Then you don’t have the desire or energy to do anything else, such as working towards a longer term goal. On the other hand, you could spend all of your time meeting one social demand after the next to where you never make time for self-care. Each of these routines can be equally harmful to your personal well-being. So it’s important to take note of how routines affect your life. As you start to notice the routine in your life that keep you from meeting your goals or getting what you desire, think of ways to alter them in order to get more out of your time. This could be as simple as putting restrictions around certain activities, such as playing video games. Perhaps you’ll only permit yourself to play them after you complete a task relevant to a long-term goal. Or maybe it is necessary to learn how to tell people no when they ask you to do something so that you can work on self-care.
If you can’t rearrange things, consider if you can multitask. Get some quiet time during your morning commute by riding the bus. Then you may be able to enjoy some coffee while reading a novel.
Make a rough schedule for the next day where you list all of the activities you want to complete and the amount of time you want to spend on each. Allow some flexibility as you get acclimated to having your time budgeted.
Set your long-term goals. Do you have a particular job or career you’d like to pursue? Are there certain people you know who you’d like to become better friends with? Maybe you want to make a sports team at your school. Whatever your goals might be, getting them down on paper can make them seem more concrete than if they remain mere images inside your own head. Make a list of incremental things you can do to start achieving these goals. Plan time every day to do these activities. [2] X Research source
For example, does your parent want you to become something specific, like a lawyer or a doctor? While such wishes are often associated with parents’ desires for their children to be happy and successful, this career path may not make the child happy and fulfilled. Talking to them about how their desires for you might stifle your independence can be a good first step to becoming more comfortable figuring these things out for yourself. The worst thing you can do is go through life doing what others want you to do and never figuring out what will truly make you happy. When you determine your own long-term goals, figure out how these fit with the expectations that other people have for you. You may not be able to completely avoid your obligations and other people’s expectations. But you can start to schedule your time to focus more diligently on your own goals.
You may have some tasks that are the same every day, while other tasks are a one-time occurrence. You may need to adjust your schedule to accommodate one-time activities. You can even plan for these in your daily schedule. Mark a block of time every day as “flexible” time. This can be used to take care of unforeseen tasks. If you don’t have a task for the day, you can use it to make progress on a personal long-term goal, such as hitting the gym or practicing the guitar.
Some people prefer writing it down in a daily planner. Others like to keep track on a laptop or tablet. There are lots of useful scheduling apps for mobile phones. [5] X Research source If you use a computer or phone to record your schedule, you can set reminders to prompt you when important tasks are coming up.
The flex time can also be used for unforeseen obligations or other activities that come up last-minute.
Be sure to include your long-term goals so that you are sure to achieve them.
Self-care is different for every person. It can include meditating, taking a nap, playing video games, calling a friend, or other activities. Figure out which activities work best for you in producing pleasure and/or reducing stress.
Schedule a monthly massage, or plan for 30 minutes of video gaming every day. Making time for yourself will make it easier for you to tackle some of the more unpleasant obligations.
