Ep 16 How to feel less time poor
Do you feel like there's not enough hours in the day? Like you don't have the time to spend on all the things you want?
You're not alone.
In this episode I'm offering up a reframe and 3 steps to move you away from feeling time poor. So that you can create a way to align your time with your values, get the important things done and live the life you want to be living.
Let's dive in.
Links, resources & mentions
Podcast ep introducing the “4 D’s” - Productivity and the overwhelming to-do list
Episode Transcript
Laura Jean 0:08
Hello hello welcome back to the dietitian values podcast. Let's talk time. Sometimes it feels like there's never enough of it right. We can feel like we are time poor. But I want to offer a shift in thinking around that. Or just a way to think about our time away from feeling time poor, and to consider your time priorities, so where you spend your time. are you spending it on things that are important to you, and how to know and how to tell the difference. So let's dive in. So when we're thinking about time and I don't know about you but like in my earlier early iterations of me Laura as a human being. I may have had a few control issues. And one of the things that I tried to control or thought that I could exert control over until I found out the control was an illusion is or was time. So I loved, time management hacks and time management systems and strategies and all these ways to kind of time manage time to get more time to be more efficient to make the most of my time. And it's really interesting to think back on that and not that any of those things and I don't bring this up as a source of judgement or that that's like the wrong way of doing things. What I found for myself personally, was often these systems, you know, were very much just systems like these real like 'do it this way, and you know you'll get this result'. And what I found is that systems and one way of doing things and kind of one size fits all approaches, they don't really work for me, and I have a sneaking suspicion potentially that don't really work for you, either. If by work, we're thinking of it in the same way we would think of it with our non diet clients, not as like a diet version or definition of work but an actual true sustainable definition of work as in, it was something you were able to put in place, it was something that aligned with the life and values that you want to be living. And it was sustained, um, You know, was sustainable, could stay there.
So when we're thinking about time, one of the first things that is really that I think is important to release is the concept of control. We can't control time we can't control bloody anything, it's an illusion. What we can do though, is create choices, What we can recognise is that we are in control for want of a better word, or that we are in charge of the choices that we make, so sure we can't control time we can't pause the clock, but we are in charge of the choices that we make about how we use our time, and what we can do or what the opportunity I feel that there is, is creating greater connection to how we use our time, and greater connection to our values and how that can be used to guide our time priorities. So, in our day, we all have the same amount of time, but we can have different, and we will have different time priorities. And so, so for example if I use myself and how I run my business if somebody was to look at, look at my, my day or what I do in my day, they might look at it and go, Oh, you've got, you got heaps more time that you could be running your business in you've got more time to be doing this thing or that thing. What I or how I have structured my day for the most part, like I'm not perfect, like some days I still do things that I think I didn't really need to spend the time on that, what I've done for the most part is create a values alignment with my time, where I've created time priorities. And so what I wanted to offer up is three steps that I think are useful, that I've used, in getting clear on my time and actually creating that space for time priorities over that feeling of being time poor so that when you are making a choice to sit down and scroll on Instagram, or when you are making a choice to sit down and enjoy your iced coffee on the deck, or is that just me, that it is a choice that it doesn't feel like you have spent time on something that's not important to you, and where you've used that priority, those time priorities. So, getting really clear on where you spend your time what you spend your time on and just whose time you are prioritising and whose priorities you prioritise bit of tongue twister, with your time. It's really important, or something that I want to sort of add in is that you don't have to, you know, be filling your time up with what other people think are important.
And so the first step in getting clear on your time priorities are creating a space to adjust your relationship with time so that it is focused on your time priorities rather than you feeling like you actually don't get time to do the things that are important to you or that you don't get time to do the things that you think you should be doing. We'll talk about that. So the first step that is important no surprises here is knowing your values, knowing your values and knowing what you value and there is a slight difference. And so your values are those guiding principles and your values and what you value are the spaces that you act those out in. So, I've got my own values and the space so value in my day to day, I value my family I value my work on my business, I value the environment and my garden and I value rest, and I value all of those things. In my value, or I value myself, I should say, I was thinking about rest, but rest is my values, you know, creating the space was a wise use of my resources, and the space I put the play them out in is me. I value myself. So knowing your values in what you value, so to know the reason that's important is because then when you're making choices about how you're spending your time, you know, whether it's moving you towards your values or away from it. are 100% of your choice is going to move you towards your values? probably not, but you're making those choices then with your eyes open and you're making those choices with the knowledge of what is important to your what you've chosen and decided is important to you. So know your values and what you value.
And then the second thing is to know where you're spending your time, so once we get to know what our values are and what we value, then we want to think about, or what you want to know is where are you spending your time. What do you spend your time on. Now, I find and perhaps I'm a little bit. A bit strange, but I really enjoyed doing time trackers every now and then, You can get apps for it you can just literally do it, I'm a pen and paper girl I like to good old pen and paper, but you can just literally write down or keep a record of what you're doing the day in 15 or 30 minute blocks or five minute blocks depending how quickly or regularly you change tasks, so it's just jotting down across the day what you spend your time on. And that's a really interesting thing that you can do for a week or two. Now often people will say when they're going to do like a time like that kind of time like, oh, but that's not a typical week. Truth time: there is no typical week they'll always be random things that pop up so don't worry about that so much, but just getting a bit of a picture of where you spend your time, because we can have an idea of what we spend our time on or how we use our time but it doesn't always give us all the information. so knowing what you spend your time on by actually measuring it, and I'm not a big like tracker and measure, as such, I think we can get a good awareness of what's going on just through our connection to ourselves and our values, I think, however when it comes to time it can be a really useful tool to use. It's one space where I think actually kind of keeping track of what's going on, can give you a more accurate picture, accurate representation.
And then when you've got those two things, you've got your values and what you value, you've got a clear picture of where you spend your time is to look at - are you spending your time on things that move you towards your values, most of the time? so we're not going to spend 100% of our time on values based activities. However, we want to make sure we're spending 0% of our time on things that move us away from our values so if you have activities on your log that move you away from your values, or that get in the way of you moving towards your values, then that is a disconnect, a time priority disconnect. So are you using your time on something that's important to you. Possibly not. So that's an opportunity to reflect like whose values are showing up here? whose agenda, whose to do list is this on. Is there a way that you can ditch it delegate it delay it, Or do you have to do it. And what I'm referring to there is like a little strategy, the four D's that I introduced in an earlier podcast episode which I'll link in the show notes which is about coping with the overwhelming to do list where I talked about how we can use our values to ditch things and similarly here when we're talking about time priorities is looking at, you have your values, you have what you spend your time and looking at, are you spending your time on things that aren't part of your values that aren't important to you that don't move you to where you want to go. So an example I used in that podcast, and it was around folding the laundry. So, is that important to you? Does it move towards your values, you know, someone might argue, well, that's really important for the, you know, that my house is tidy and maybe for your mental health, it is and so that is a priority for you so it is on your time priority. It doesn't impact on me if I have a pile of clean clothing in the corner somewhere, so it's not one of my time priorities. Occasionally I'll fold the laundry, but you know I don't prioritise my time on it, I wouldn't prioritise my time over that on sitting down at the deck and having an ice coffee or spending time with the kids or recording a podcast episode or building relationships or connections to other humans on, you know through messages or emails through for my business so they're the things that are important to me and my priorities. I've got one of my values around wise use of resources for myself the community and environment. So, When I think about the environment. One of the things that I prioritise my time on is making food from scratch. I bake my own bread I bake my own sourdough. And so for some people that wouldn't be a time priority, it's not their priority, maybe it's not your priority. It's not part of your values. And that is, that's absolutely okay because you're not me and so that is my value so some people might think 'oh you're wasting your time when you can just go by that bread'. Absolutely. If it wasn't a time priority for me it would be a waste of my time, but it's not because for me it's a priority base, it's something that moves me towards my values, and it's something that I've chosen to prioritise for my time. And so knowing where your time goes. Now if I wasn't clear on my values and what was important, I might resent doing some tasks I might think like I'm wasting my time on these things, if I was living by somebody else's values, or if you were to go out and think, Well Laura makes her own bread and she said that you should make bread for the environment so I'm going to do it and then you're resenting having to do it. Then you are going to feel time poor, you're going to feel like you're using your time on something that's not important to you because you are. so it's really important to get a clear picture of where you are potentially spending your time on spaces that aren't your prioritie.s first you need to know what your priorities are and that's where your values come in, then you need to know why you're spending your time, and then you can find the gaps, find the disconnects and create the connection so connecting the time that you spend on your values. So connecting it to your values sorry so that you have a clear idea that to the time you are spending is on your priorities. So, to give another example yesterday was an amazing spring like weather day, and I had somebody here hanging out helping out with my Bubba in the morning and had some client stuff, and then they left, and Bubba was asleep and so I had a bit more time, and I had a few tasks I could have done for work but nothing that was time pressing and the weather was beautiful. So, what I prioritised my time on was actually sitting outside enjoying the warm weather. I collect, I sorted out my speed collection because I'm going to be starting raising some seeds from scratch soon. And that's what I prioritised my time on, and I have no guilt. I have no worry that I wasted time and today it is like cold and raining and there's absolutely no chance of me being able to be outside in the garden, so I'm inside and I'm, while my baby sleeps I'm prioritising batching some recording of some podcast episodes. And this feels like a great use of my time and after this, because this is my third episode I'm recording in a row, I'm going to go and sit in front of the fire and put my Nana rag on my knee and enjoy my iced coffee and read my book, and that's going to be the next use of my time as a time priority and that's my choice of how I'm going to use my time. And this is just to say, not that you have to do what I do but that there's the opportunity for you to get really clear on what you want to do, how you want to be living your life, how you want to be running your business, and the choices, there for your time, the way you spend your time to reflect those things that you say are a priority. And if they are a priority, then that is where I would suggest you spend your time. If they're not a priority, then I would suggest that you think about, is that where you want to waste your resources, you know, we have one was Mary Oliver quote by Mary Oliver, you know what will you do with your one wild and precious life time is a finite resource we don't, you know we can't renew it, we can't get more we can't create more of it it's probably the only finite resource that I can think of.
So, Where are you spending your time, and now this isn't to make you feel shame or guilt or judgement or any of those things you know I'm bringing the self compassion, and I want you to bring the self compassion 100% to this, to look at it, and just to use it as an opportunity for choice to move away from the idea of control but to create an opportunity for choice and that where we spend our time is a choice, and you have the opportunity to spend your time on your priorities, or to spend your time on things that are important to you, to spend your time on things that move you towards your values that move you towards your big picture vision and dream for the world that move you towards the business you want to run that move you towards the difference you want to make for the humans in your life, both in and outside your work and that move you towards the life you want to be living that move you towards creating and building a world that's based in your values that supports your values.
And so I think there's a lot of power in that I think that taking that choice like owning and recognising that choice, not control but the choice and the option to connect your time and your use of time to your values and create time priorities, versus having that feeling of being time poor. So I hope that this is helpful, and I've given you a few ideas. so like I said, the three steps to get you started. One is to know your values and what you value, two track your time, and then three to look for the connection and the disconnection. Where are you spending time on things that don't move you towards your values, where are you spending time on things that get in the way of you moving towards your values. And where are you spending your time on things that are other people's values, and you can find those for looking for those words like should, gotta have to, you know those things that, that are telling us that we should be taking action versus want to need to. Can't wait. For instance, can't wait to go have my iced coffee after I finished recording this podcast, and couldn't wait to jump on and share some thoughts and ideas around, around the podcast. And so, yeah, thinking about that and how you can create a feeling, and how you have choice around how you spend your time. Now sometimes there are things absolutely in the different seasons of life that you've got to do. So for example I have small children and so sometimes I just have to get up in the middle of the night to help them out to pop a dummy in to put someone's blanket back on to give a cuddle after a nightmare. And those are things that I don't while I don't necessarily want to interrupt my sleep. What my value is to create a space for my kids, that is supportive, that is safe, that is known, where they know that they are seen, known and heard, and part of that is being there for them in the middle of the night. That's the thing that's just going to be here for this season of my life you know in the next season of my life that won't be something that I'm spending my time on. And it's not that. Yeah, that getting up in the middle of the night is my time priority, but creating a space where my kids feel seen known and heard absolutely is. And that's a way that I can do that. And yes, It's not exactly my number one choice as to how to share that with them, but it is what they need in this season of life so Yep, absolutely. We won't always spend time on 100% Everything that we're like kicking our heels up can't wait to go do. But if we can create. If we can be clear that they still move us towards our values, then even though they may not feel fun even though they may be hard, even though they may lead to less sleep if it's moving us towards our values then it's moving us, it's moving you it's moving me, in the right direction or in the direction that creates our best aligned, fulfilling life.
So I'll leave you with that, I would love to hear your thoughts come over to the post on Instagram at dietitian values and under the post pic, let me know. Do you constantly feel time poor and how does this reframe land for you does it help you to think about how you could create space around time priorities, versus feeling time poor. I'd love to hear your thoughts, and come share them with me, and if this resonates if you think this is something that it would resonate with other humans in your life, then please feel free to share. And I look forward to catching up with you again soon. Until then, Bye for now.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
