Increasing your energy step 7: Time Management and Routine.

Ok, we are at our last step to increasing our energy.  Time management is a topic that everyone, including myself, suffers with every single day.  As I have addressed in several other blogs the famous words "I am just to busy".  How many times have those words left your mouth? Let me rephrase, how many times have those words left your mouth today? Slow down, I can't add that fast!  Yes we say that way too much.  Now, I want you to sit back for a second and I want you to think about the things that are "on your plate" to do today..........................  Finished? Ok, now how much of that time was spent at work?  How much of that time was spent in front of your television?  How much time was spent eating?  I'll quit asking questions now but I want you to break up your day into specific pieces and label each event in order of importance.  It's tough to do isn't it?

    One of the ways for us to better manage our time is by putting ourselves in a routine.  Routines keep us on track. They give us structure and order.  Let me use a baby as an example.  One of the ways that babies learn is though routine.  You get a child to sleep by putting them on a sleep schedule. Their bodies learn the pattern and are trained to respond appropriately based on time scheduling.  Take your weekly verses weekend routine.  During the week you go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 7am, then on the weekend you stay up to three in the morning and wake up at noon, then you end up feeling terrible the next day.  This is because our body is used to a certain schedule and it acted adversely to the change.  Sometimes change is good.  Changing your workout routine keeps your body guessing and you can lose weight more.  Changing your diet every now and then serves the same purpose. The vast majority of the time though, our bodies need time management to properly function at its optimum.  I can say personally that when I am leaving vacation I end up saying " I need a vacation from my vacation".  Doesn't that phrase completely contradict the purpose of a vacation? The reason we feel that way is because we are not in our routine.  You go out to have fun, stay up late, consume more quantities of alcohol than you normally drink, eat whatever is in sight, etc. and you end up putting way more stress than you normally put on your body. 

   So what's the solution?  I am going to offer some time management tools that you can use to help better manage your life,which will lead to less stress.

1.  Get an organizer, keep it organized, and use it:  I know people that buy organizers and never use them.  I also see very cluddered organizers that they themselves need an organizer just for the organizer.  Write down everything on your "to-do" list before you do them.  This will keep you more balanced as the day goes by, and will help you schedule more time if needed.

2.  Plan out your week:  This works for work, home, recreation, etc.  Take 10 minutes on Sunday night and plan out your entire week, and follow that schedule.  Knowing what will happen and when will take off the stress of forgetting things and rushing to do tasks, which add stress to your life.

3.  Set up a solid routine and stick to it:  The key to any task, whether it be weight loss, exercise, or learning guitar, is consistency.  So when you put yourself on a consistent routine, you will be able to do things more on automatic, and will add less stress to your life.

    These may be simple rules, but it is harder than you think to try to follow.  So I recommend tackling 1 at the time and gradually adding in the other methods.  Managing your time efficiently is about reducing your overall stress level, which increases your energy!

I hope these 7 steps have been helpful and we will continue our journey to better health and wellness!

In Good Health,

Dr. Ara