When there's no time...
I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say that the thing we most often complain about is the lack of time! In our super-active society, we all face this famous challenge: that of making room for the things that really matter in our lives!
Our days are overflowing with demands and obligations: following up emails, making important calls, keeping appointments, responding to invitations, looking after the household, meeting work deadlines, dealing with emergencies (which are often not our emergencies)... and the list goes on!
You're probably one of those people who have a lot on your plate at all hours of the day, and sometimes even at night, whether it's at work or at home. What's more, there are many sources of distraction between social media, television and your multi-connected life.
As an expatriate, it's all the more difficult to find the time to manage your day-to-day life in your host country, while at the same time cultivating relationships with your loved ones back home.
As a humanitarian, your work often interferes with your free time.
And as an accompanying spouse, contrary to what society thinks, you often have very little time to yourself, because your pivotal role within the family means you must wear countless different hats!
So, when do you have time for your life goals? Whether it's for a personal project that's close to your heart or to make those small, positive changes you need?
Well, this article proposes a simple exercise to help you sort out your life and make room for your goals!
Make room for your life goals
In my article “4 ways to make expat transitions a success”, I explain the importance of understanding who you are, clarifying your vision, defining quality objectives and taking action. These are essential steps, but they're useless if you don't give yourself real space to achieve them!
To reach them, it's crucial to give them a place of choice, to sort out the important from the urgent, to know how to say no... and to understand that the source of your time is you!
It's likely that your day-to-day life is full of activities that you haven't deliberately chosen to incorporate into your life. They pile up, sometimes without you even realizing it.
To help you create space for your priorities, take stock of what you want to keep, add and eliminate. You'll see, it feels really good to clean up your life!
Differentiate what fills your daily life
There are all those activities and tasks that occupy your weeks: the important, the urgent, the trivial, the exciting, the boring, the uninteresting and yet so urgent, the time-consuming that are neither important nor even urgent! And the energy-guzzlers too! That's what gives you that unpleasant feeling of never having time to do what's really important to you!
To help you set your priorities, I suggest you sort through them, using a table that will help you keep an eye on:
- Don't get lost in what's urgent and not important, , often imposed by external sources such as telephone calls, the flow of emails, unexpected interruptions and solicitations of all kinds.
- Don't forget what's important and not urgent, : your values, your long-term goals, your passions, your well-being, time with your family, your hobbies, your friends.
- Eliminate what's not important and not urgent, </mark: surfing the internet and social media, pointless discussions and gossip, too many hours in front of the television.
- Free up time for what's urgent and important, : a substantive file that needs to be handed in quickly, an essential discussion with your partner, meeting the deadline for signing up for your children's activities, and depending on the state of the fridge: grocery shopping for something to eat this evening!
Le tableau que je vous propose porte le nom du Président américain Dwight Eisenhower qui était considéré comme le maître de la gestion du temps. Il est l’auteur de cette fameuse citation qui dit:
“Les décisions les plus urgences sont rarement les plus importantes !”
Sort your life out
To complete this table:
1. Start by listing everything you need to do next week, your goals and your tasks, at personal, professional and family level.
2. Also think about everything you do during the day that isn't planned or in your objectives.
3. Once you've listed everything, place each item in one of the four quadrants. This will help yu priorities each activity.
Act on your priorities
Next, analyze the list of things in each quadrant, and for:
- The urgent and important: Do it right away!
- The important and not urgent: Set a deadline for doing it. Make time to do it!
- The urgent and not important: Delegate, do less, rethink the system!
- The not important and not urgent: Consider eliminating the unnecessary.
Make sure that nothing is missing and add those items that don't appear in the table, but that you feel you never have time to do. Pay particular attention to the ‘important but not urgent’ box, which is often the most neglected! Make sure that your life goals have a prominent place in your planning. Remember to set aside time each day to make a little progress towards your goal.
Avez-vous fait l’exercice ? Si oui, est-ce qu’il vous a permis de faire le tri et de clarifier vos priorités ?
Vous pouvez bien sûr le répéter aussi souvent que nécessaire, et en particulier quand vous sentez que vous êtes débordé ou que n’avez jamais le temps pour ce qui compte vraiment !
Conclusion
It is possible to make room for your life goals!
But it requires you to take stock regularly, sorting out what you want to keep and what you want to leave, and then setting priorities according to the importance and urgency of the tasks.
It's well worth it, because moving towards your goals will boost your well-being and give you every chance of achieving the goal you've set yourself!
What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments and reactions!