How to Have a 25 Hour Day

I stole the above title from an email I get from an organization that provides information on health.  It's not the first time I've seen all the hints they published, but they are all things I always forget.  Of course, there are really only 24 hours in every day, but there are tons of ways to make those 24 hours go farther.  For example, if I make soup, I double the recipe and freeze the second portion.  That's one day I don't have to cook and cooking twice as much is only a tiny bit more time consuming than making the original recipe.  I only check email and Facebook twice a day.  I don't drive to the car wash - I just soap my car up when it rains and let the rain rinse it.  (If there's no rain, I just use the hose.)  I do all my errands at once.  (Saves time in running from one place to the next every day).  I return calls once a day.  I ask for help a lot.  People who come to visit are usually asked to help me with something.  (I keep a list of stuff I need help with.)  I open the mail as soon as I carry it in and throw out all the stuff that doesn't require action.  There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of web sites that give ideas for time savers.  If you feel pressed for time, look them up and use the ones that fit for you.

Checking Up on Yourself

Maybe you're like me; maybe you're not.  But the life of my dreams always eluded me because I forgot what it was and what I intended to do to get it.  The daily tasks and events of life completely distracted me from the big picture.  I started reading books on organization because I kept running out of time and couldn't get everything done.  What I learned from those books was that life was not about getting everything done; it was about getting the stuff done that would get me to the life of my dreams. 

The major thing was to get down in writing what I wanted (from my heart; not my ego).  Then that piece of paper needed to be in front of me every day when I made my to-do list for the day.  We're getting closer to the end of May, the 5th month.  So in another month and a week, we'll be half way through the year.  I know where my piece of paper is - it's in the front of my journal where I look at it every day.  Do you know where yours is?  I hope so because if you don't know, there's a good chance you've not been including the things that will get you to the life of your dreams on your to-do list.  So, it's not too late.  Before July 1 - the official halfway point of the year - best get that piece of paper and get going!

The "Not-To-Do" and the "Done" Lists

A whole lot of people make to-do lists.  Personally I hate them even though I make them.  I have a very hyperactive brain and I can think of way more stuff to do than I could possibly do.  My ego thinks I should do everything immediately which used to lead to my feeling frantic, fearful, and feverish.  Then I learned about the not-to-do and the done lists. 

The not-to-do list consists of the stuff I know perfectly well I will not be able to get to today and that don't matter anyway.  Sometimes the stuff on this list is carried over for years.  Sometimes I eventually completely forget about those items.  Every once in awhile after ten years or so, it will be time to take care of them and they make it to the real to-do list and get checked off.  This is extremely rare. 

The done list is the one I make at the end of each day so that I don't go to bed thinking that I got nothing accomplished (which is what my ego tells me, attempting to motivate me to do more the next day).  The done list is part of my daily journaling and helps me keep track of how I'm doing with my priorities. 

My mother used to say all the time that what she wanted was a day with more than 24 hours.  I know now that if I had a day with more than 24 hours, I would just have a longer to-do list.  So I rely on the not-to-do and done lists to keep me sane.