“I’m so busy!” “I never have time!” “I feel overwhelmed by my schedule!” You’re certainly not alone if you’ve thought or felt any of these statements recently. Most of us wish we knew how to be less busy or knew how to find more pockets of time in our schedule.
You might look at your calendar and think that something’s got to give but wonder what on earth you can take off your plate. With family, work, and social obligations, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, stressed out, and frazzled. You may feel like you’re running from task to task but never really catching up.
So how do you take back your time and “unbusy” your schedule? Follow these 9 tips to discover how to be less busy (without dropping the ball on your commitments).
1. Make a Conscious Choice to Be Less Busy
Many wellness and motivational speakers have addressed the topic of how to prioritize your time and how to be less busy. If you follow a mindfulness practice or have spent time studying meditation, yoga, or similar philosophies, you’ve likely encountered the idea of being present.
When we’re present, we aren’t stressing out about what we need to do (or what we haven’t done). We’re in the moment, focused, and aware of what’s in front of us. Having a sense of presence also helps us realize that we’re making a conscious choice to be busy. When we pile on too many commitments, stretch ourselves too thin, and overschedule ourselves, we get that creeping sensation of stress.
What’s more, when we’re stressed out and overscheduled, we’re less likely to do our best job at any task. So if we want to do something well, the first step is to make that conscious choice to make our schedule less busy.
2. Choose Your Trade-Offs
We have only 24 hours in a day (and we spend about 1/3 of those asleep). Deciding to declutter your schedule so you no longer feel overwhelmed by life means weeding out some time-wasters and less critical tasks. If your schedule is too full, something’s got to give, which means there will be some items that may fall by the wayside (and that’s totally okay)!
Wondering how to decide what should be the priority on your schedule? Try listing off the main essential tasks you have in the day. These might include work, spending time with your family, exercise, or social time. Then, look at how much time you spend on those crucial, non-negotiable commitments.
Then list off your less critical but still important tasks. These could be creative endeavors, home decorating, shopping, entertainment, volunteer work, or any other items that you want to keep on your plate but may be flexible. Look at things you could outsource or space out. For example, could you shift your volunteer commitment to every other week? Could you enlist help with yard maintenance or housekeeping? Could you have groceries delivered instead of a weekly in-person trip to the store?
Finally, look at those tasks that you either don’t want to do at all, only do out of obligation or a sense of guilt, or really don’t need to do. These are the items to weed out of your schedule first and foremost. Then, see if you can offload them, pass them on, or take them off your plate. Accept that there are times in life when we can’t do certain tasks and maybe right now isn’t the season of your life when you’ll pursue three different hobbies. It’s okay to say no or to hit the pause button.
3. Appreciate Downtime
So many of us feel uncomfortable if we take a break. We may see self-care as indulgent, or when we find time to enjoy a little downtime, we might feel too guilty to really enjoy ourselves. We may even engage in “busyness” contests with friends without realizing it.
In today’s society, many people value the idea of being constantly busy. So when we talk about our lives with friends, we might say, “Oh my gosh, I’ve been doing X, Y, and Z. I’ve been running around like crazy.” While that may seem like a lament, it becomes a form of one-upmanship in some ways. We’re trying to prove that we’re the busiest and the most stressed out.
But being the busiest (or the most stressed) isn’t something we should always celebrate. In fact, when we’re too busy, we might not be doing our best job. We might be stretched too thin, feeling unfocused, and more prone to mistakes.
Instead of humble bragging about your endless to-do list, focus on time affluence. Shift your mindset from believing that you don’t have enough time to acknowledging that you can create pockets of time in your schedule. We all have control over our calendar, and when we stop focusing on the lack of time in our lives, we may find more time to spare!
4. Give Yourself a Break
Taking a break for rest sounds counterintuitive when you have too much to do. It may even sound like a terrible idea. But the truth is, none of us can fire on all cylinders all the time (or even most of the time). When you’re going in a full out sprint, you’re likely to burn out quickly. Your body and mind need time to rest and reset.
We can build in breaks as a full day of the week when we take time for ourselves or as pockets of rest throughout the week. In many cultures and religions, people embrace the idea of a sabbath—a day of rest, where we regroup. During that day, we may spend time alone, in spiritual practice, or simply unplugged from our normally busy lives.
If you prefer not to take a full day of rest, create blocks of time on your calendar when you can tune out the outside world and practice activities that you find restful. It may mean a long bath at the end of the day, sipping a cup of tea slowly in the morning, or fitting in a leisurely nature walk over your lunch break. Whatever activity you enjoy, make it mindful, and keep it a priority on your agenda.
5. Use Time Intentionally
Working on a major deadline at the office? Tackling your guestroom remodel? Overhauling the garden? When you have a big task on your plate, block out time and really dedicate yourself to that singular item. Most of us have an attention span that can last a few hours. After that point, we may feel fatigued, distracted, or less engaged—these signal that it’s time to take a break.
When you need to focus and stay dedicated to finishing a task, you’ll still need to create breaks for yourself. Build that into your schedule, so you don’t feel guilty or view taking a break as a failure (which can lead to throwing in the towel and giving up on a job completely).
If procrastination is a problem, setting a timer and blocking your time can help. Work in 20–30-minute blocks, where you singularly address the task at hand. Take a 5–10-minute break (if needed), and then restart the timer and work for another block. Be sure to take a more extended break every two hours or so to give your brain a chance to decompress and your body a chance to catch up on any biological needs like hunger or using the restroom.
6. Don’t Underestimate the Job
Many executives are notoriously late and constantly distracted. When researchers have looked at the reasons why, they’ve discovered that people—especially highly competent people—tend to underestimate the time it takes to complete a task; this idea holds true even when it’s a task they do all the time.
A cognitive scientist named Douglas Hofstadter named this phenomenon “Hofstadter’s Law.” It’s prevalent amongst many people, especially those who are high functioning and very busy. We jam-pack our schedules because we believe that we can fit everything in.
When we fall behind, it creates a domino effect. One task falls by the wayside and then another. Our allotted time bleeds into the next section of our schedule, and suddenly we’re behind on everything. When this happens, it can be helpful to take a step back, reset, and move something off the plate for at least the day. When we keep thinking we’ll catch up in the next half hour (we’ll drive to the appointment a little faster, spend less time preparing dinner), we create a snowball effect that can leave us feeling guilty and even embarrassed.
7. Narrow Down Your Choices
If you’re wondering how to be less busy, consider streamlining your life as many ways as possible. When we’re disorganized and cluttered, we may feel overstimulated, frazzled, and experience a phenomenon known as choice paralysis. When we have too many options, we can have a harder time selecting something. When we’re only given one or two items to choose from, we can quickly make a decision.
Think about getting dressed in the morning. When you have a closet completely stuffed full of clothes, you may have difficulty choosing what to wear. You might not be able to find the top you want, or you pull it out, only to realize it’s wrinkled, stained, or doesn’t fit as you remember. So you spend time searching for something else, all the while feeling like time is ticking away, and once again, you’re running late.
Instead, consider an organized closet with only a few items that you know fit you well, are easy to care for, and flatter your figure. When you open the door to get dressed, you can quickly grab the expected item, knowing it’s ready to go. The closet is just one example, but there are many places where too many choices can leave us feeling overwhelmed. Keep a few go-to options for lunch, purchase some neutral and comfortable shoes. Look for ways to simplify your choices, especially those time-eaters that you might face daily.
8. Get Organized
On a similar note, keep your environment organized if you want to be less busy. A cluttered desk covered with paper might make us feel confused and chaotic at work. We can’t find the document we’re looking for; we have to pause our project to look for something, and then it takes us a while to get back on task.
At home, misplaced keys or a wallet can disrupt our entire morning. We spend time searching high and low for the missing item, and then we’re running late. Unfortunately, when we’re busy and distracted, we’re more likely to accidentally set our phone down in an irregular spot, leave our keys on the counter, or lose a shoe.
We can keep ourselves on track by organizing our homes as much as possible. Declutter and clean out cupboards, drawers, and closets. Create a space for the items you need and make a conscious effort to take the extra step to return items to their home every time you use them. Whenever possible, pare down to the essentials, and you’ll find yourself spending less time searching, cleaning, and sorting.
9. Block Out Interruptions to Find Your Flow
Researchers have discovered that every time we take a break to check email, answer a call, or deal with an interruption, it takes us an astonishing 25 minutes to get back on task. When we feel busy and time-famished, it may be because we’re giving way to frequent interruptions. So, again, it comes back to the idea of mindfulness.
When we’re mindfully working on a singular task (that we enjoy), we can often reach a state of “flow.” Psychologists explain flow as a state where we’re completely immersed in a task. When we experience flow, we feel engaged, calm, and focused. We appreciate what we’re doing, and we feel successful. Flow is very productive, but flow isn’t busy or frazzled. When we’re in a state of flow, we’re performing well, and we’re making the most of our time.
To find flow, we should block out interruptions. When there’s a task on your plate that requires a high level of attention, find a quiet space where you can really focus. Get out those noise-canceling headphones, turn off your phone, or disable notifications. Work for a block of time, then give yourself a break. Keep in mind that it’s hard to maintain “flow” for long periods, so don’t expect yourself to stay engaged in a high-level task for longer than a few hours.
We can all find opportunities to be less busy, adjust our schedules, and find more time for the things in our lives that bring us joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment. Deciding we want to be less busy is the first step. From there, we have to prioritize and learn how to cut back on our commitments. Focus on the items that really matter—the things that bring you joy and help you feel connected to others.
When tackling a task, you’ll find more success if you’re organized, mindful, and deliberate in your approach. Avoid distractions and schedule pockets of time when you can be present with the job at hand. Shift your mindset to acknowledge that time is abundant and available if we take control of our schedule and prioritize those things that make us feel happy.
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