I don’t have time to…  do something, read a book, go to the gym, travel etc.  Not having time is the most common excuse if we don’t want to or can’t do something. Bullshit, there is always time and if you don’t have time, find it. I’m not a fan of wasting time, procrastination or pushing stuff forever. Can share with you some tips and tricks on how to manage time 😉

Just do it

There was a time when I was studying at two faculties and had a full time job. I had the flexibility to choose the classes that I had to attend and went to those which were in the early morning or in the late afternoon. In the office my manager was also very understanding and said that he doesn’t care when I do my job as long as it’s done on time, expectations are met and stakeholders are happy. All nice and good but I struggled when the examination period came and I had to study for 11 exams. Geez, I was reading my notes and textbooks everywhere: on the bus, on the tram, during lunch breaks, when I came back home after work. Had to sacrifice my social life for like three weeks but in the end it was worth it. What is surprising, my grades were better when I had to juggle lots of things in a short time period compared to having plenty of free time. Now it’s similar. I have a full time job, a blog to look after, my hobbies, friends to hang out with, new activities to explore and yoga. Guess what? I manage to do it all, basically I function better when my diary is full of things to do. You might ask, how are you managing all of it?

3.       Just do it. Many times I simply feel lazy and can’t be bothered to do stuff. In that situation I harshly say to myself: Alice move your lazy ass, NOW! It actually helps 😛 The most difficult part of every activity is to start but as soon as you put some effort into starting the rest will take care of itself. Again yoga… when I’m tired I don’t wanna do it, but when I start I’m actually glad that I did it 🙂

4.       Be organised. Yes yes, everybody says it. Be organised, have a schedule, have a plan – not revealing at all. But it works for me. When I have a schedule of things to do, it’s easier for me to get organised as I know how much time I need to dedicate to each activity. For example, yesterday I was meeting my friend at 8 pm. I wanted to do yoga before and start to write a blog post so my schedule looked like this: 5.00 pm finish work, 5.00-6.00 pm write some post ideas. 6.00-7.00 pm do yoga. 7.00 to 7.30 pm get ready and order an uber. Worked like a charm as I knocked on PF’s door at 7.45 pm 😀

5.       Do things simultaneously. I deliberately don’t call it multitasking as I can’t multitask. I’ve tried and it turned out that in the end nothing was done properly For example, lately I’ve noticed that I don’t have that much time for home facials as I used to. Hence now when I’m writing this post I have a hyaluronic acid sheet mask on 😀

Not saying that I have the golden recipe for managing time or that by sticking to my advice your life will transform by 360 degrees. I want to share my experiences to give you an idea how to approach time management. Although the most important thing in time management is discipline, which is the hardest to work out. I remember what my Dad used to say – do your duties first then focus on fun stuff. Yeah my Old Man, again I have to admit that he was right 😉 Only please remember that in the busy schedule and hectic daily life there has to be some ME TIME. Sometimes when I don’t have any plans for the weekend I dedicate one day to do absolutely nothing 😀

Work life balance

Mental health and work life balance is a popular topic lately as still many of us work from home and it’s difficult to draw a line between work and personal life. There was a time in my life when I worked from 9.00 am to 7.00, 8.00 and sometimes to 10.00 pm. I loved it. Sitting in the office and delivering my piece of work was the most amazing thing ever. During holiday I was checking my black berry to see what’s going on in the office or thinking how that important meeting go. Covid and the working from home situation did change my perspective. I still love my job and always put it forward but I drew the line for myself. I start at 8.00/9.00 am and finish at 5.00 or latest at 6.00 pm. Reason for it is that before covid I was in the office daily. I could meet and talk to people, participate in activities that were organised at the office or go with my co-workers for a drink after work. Now when I work from home from March 2020 I need to disassociate from work to undertake not work related activities. That helps to keep my mental health on an acceptable level and to maintain a healthy relationship with my job. I wonder how it will feel to get back to the office, sit in the open space with other people around you and chat to colleagues face to face. Although working from home has its advantages like saving time on daily commute or telling the courier that he can deliver the package anytime, I do miss going to the office. I miss the watercooler chats, the common lunches and coffees and in the current hot polish summer the aircon! However, when we come back to the office… hope it’s a matter of when, not if… my work life balance approach won’t change. I noticed that I’m less stressed out, less impulsive and more calm with having a healthy work life balance. Most importantly, that’s really odd. When I don’t think about work during my time off I get the best ideas to solve issues at work which previously seemed to be unsolvable… See how many advantages with one simple perspective change.

Tempus fugit, which means time flies… and it flies fast hence I plan to use every second of it the best way I can. Having said that, I’m running to go with my friend MSz to see the beautiful lavender fields around Krakow.