A Guide to Managing Your Time When You’re Always Behind

A Guide to Managing Your Time When You’re Always Behind

By Leo Babauta

It seems to me that being behind on all the things you need to do has become (or perhaps always has been) a part of our basic human condition.

I don’t know anyone who feels they’re completely on top of things.

Most of the time, we feel behind — too many things to do in too little time. We’re stressed, overwhelmed, busy, procrastinating, distracted. This is never a fun feeling, and yet most of us feel it most of the time.

So what can we do? I think there’s not just one answer. If it were simple, we’d have solved it long ago. But there are a number of things we can try, and I’ve found them helpful.

We’ll talk about these one by one:

Make a list. Then focus on one thing at a time, in intentional containers.
Work mindfully with your procrastination and distraction. Practice with your fear, discomfort, uncertainty, and feeling of overwhelm.
Work with your attachment to doing everything. Let go.
Manage your energy. Learn to relax(rəˈlaks) and replenish(rəˈpleniSH).
Create flexible structure. Adjust over time.
Let go of self-judgment.

Don’t get overwhelmed! These are doable(ˈdo͞oəbəl) actions. Let’s dive(dīv) into them.

…
https://zenhabits.net/manage-time/