5 Hacks to Save Time for Busy Women

Stress management skills are invaluable, and for busy women juggling lots of hats at once, they are a necessity. So what does stress management actually look like? As with many things, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to managing stress. It’s different for everyone and everyone is different. But we can dig through the layers of stress that many busy women carry around with them and focus on a few strategies that prevent stress becoming a problem in the first place. Time is one of the most common elements that contribute to stress. Read on to learn about 5 hacks that will save you both time and stress.

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Hack #1 Be self-disciplined

Busy people are constantly on the go, moving from one task to another, often in a reactionary way. Distractions can side-line us into all sorts of things that are neither urgent nor important. Learn to discipline yourself to stay on task (unless there’s an emergency of course!) and to say ‘no’ more often. Whenever you say ‘no’ to someone, something, or yourself, it opens the space for you to say ‘yes’ to the most important things in your life. Ultimately, by avoiding time wasters you’ll save your time for the most important things in your life and feel much less stressed!

Say no so I can say yes

Hack #2 Batch your tasks

I LOVE this hack! Batching can be done in just about every area of life. Here we’re thinking about mostly routine tasks that can save you time when you use a ‘mass production’ or ‘assembly line’ approach. My favourite batching hacks include:

  • Get the ironing done and dusted all at once instead of one item at a time (and usually in the hectic rush of getting ready for the work / school day).
  • Bake multiple batches of muffins at once and freeze heaps of them for next week
  • Cook double quantity meals and either freeze or refrigerate the leftovers for another night (think savoury mince, risotto, lasagne – all delicious and can be reheated, re-purposed or dressed up for another night).
  • Work tasks can often be batched too. For myself this includes blog writing, administration tasks, making videos, and creating social media postings.

In what other ways can you save time and reduce stress by using the batching hack?

Fresh baked pie

Hack #3 Be selective

Time is a commodity that we trade for something else like money, leisure, work, travel, sleep and so on. Is there room for you to be more selective about how you trade your time? Are you unnecessarily busy? Are you trading your time for something of inferior value? If so, you can begin saving time by taking up the habit of asking yourself “Is MY time worth trading for THIS?”

time management clock

Hack #4 Delegate, let go of full control

Ouch, easier said than done! Yes I KNOW! The struggle is real when I want things done ‘the proper way’ and it seems I’m the only one who CAN or WILL do it that way. Sigh ….. let’s get real here though. When you delegate tasks you’re also giving the other person the chance to learn a skill and develop confidence in themselves. Think of the underlying message of competence vs incompetence that you send out when you’re always the one taking charge. We need our children and employees to grow skills, to become independent, responsible, competent and confident. That won’t happen if we hold onto control all the time. Think of it as an investment. The time you spend teaching them now, will have amazing payoffs in the future and definitely save you time and stress in the long term. Keep in mind the famous saying Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Letting go

Hack #5 Set your priorities

Busy people can easily get their priorities all mixed up in the hectic chaos that is life. And it becomes a vicious cycle. Set your priorities for the day and let everything else fit in around it – if it can! Stress builds up when we fight to fit things into our day (or our life) when we simply don’t have enough time for it all. And once time has gone, we can’t get it back. Be sure to fit the most important things into your day first, and anything else that stacks in is simply an added bonus!

Let's sum up!

Time management is a proactive way of managing stress. The 5 hacks outlined here will save you precious time and reduce your stress when practised regularly and habitually. Here they are again!

  1. Be self-disciplined
  2. Batch your tasks
  3. Be selective
  4. Delegate, let go of full control
  5. Set your priorities

What are your biggest time wasters and your best time saving hacks?

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Discovering mountain biking as life’s ultimate parallel universe in her middle age, Daisy Spoke aka Kathryn Walton logoKathryn Walton shares information and reflections in Daisy Spoke that connect, inspire and self-empower women to make healthy choices for themselves. She integrates her love of physical exercise, family, nature, gardening and creative arts with her professional background in mental health social work to facilitate change with individuals, groups and communities of women who are committed to living life to the full. 

13 Things To Do When It’s Too Wet For MTB

For nearly 2 weeks the weather has been drizzly and windy. It’s exciting to see the browns turn to bright greens as the water soaks in and gives us hope that we won’t forever more be living in drought. But with our usual MTB trails and State Forests closed until the ground dries out, we have to get our fix in other ways.

Here are 13 different things that I’ve been doing instead of riding in the great outdoors. What other ideas do you have?

1. Baking. Especially coffee muffins. Perfect for your next mid-ride snack!

2. Go for a walk. If you can’t do it on two wheels, do it on two legs. Get out of doors, into nature and breathe in that fresh air.

3. Pace out that tricky section of MTB trail that gets you stuck. As you become more familiar with the tricky technical bits, you’ll be able to find a line and visualise yourself riding it. A great set-up for the next time you ride.

4. Spring clean that cupboard that’s been on your to-do list for months but you’ve been too busy riding to get to it. Admittedly, not as fulfilling as riding right now, but think of your sense of satisfaction as you cross it off your list knowing you’ve well and truly earned your next ride.

5. Rearrange your furniture, reorganise your shed or change-up your bike storage. The process of sorting and organising can be inspiring as well as energising, and flows into other areas of our lives.

6. Plan your next holiday or MTB adventure. Read, research, talk to others, plot a route on a map, create a budget, make some bookings. You know you want to!

7. Give your bike/s a bit of love and care. Catch up on your maintenance and servicing activities to keep your best buddy rolling along through your next adventure.

8. Remember those hobbies you used to have before you discovered the joys of MTB? Yeh, well they’re still waiting for you, so make the most of the rainy weather and immerse yourself in your other loves.

9. Go on a picnic with your family. You know, those other non-riding people you live with? Show them a bit of love and maybe at the same time you could check out that new trail in preparation for the next time you go riding!

10. Core strength training. We all know that MTB is so much fun that we make that our priority, and the added extras like core strength training are a bit hit or miss. So unroll your yoga mat while you have the chance and work those abs!

11. Gardening. It’s amazing how much strength training you can accomplish by even gentle weeding, pruning and digging in the garden. You’ll be sore the next day – proof that you’ve worked those muscles that have been sadly neglected through focused bike riding.

12. House management tasks. Get them done now while you can. Tomorrow could be perfect riding weather and you don’t want to be stuck in the house cleaning or needing to go to the grocery store when you could be outside with your friends riding.

13. Indoor training. Interval training on the stationary bike to your favourite rock music that gets your legs spinning, your heart pumping, and the time flying by. Bruce Springsteen’s my all time favourite. Nothing beats a good workout to the tunes of “Come on up for the Rising”, “Waiting on a Sunny Day”, “Rosalita”, and “Born to Run”. You’ll feel the difference in your fitness next time you have a real dinky-di outdoors-y MTB ride!

 

Discovering mountain biking as life’s ultimate parallel universe in her middle age, Kathryn Walton shares information and reflections in Daisy Spoke that connect, inspire and self-empower women to make healthy choices for themselves.