Too busy? Or just wasting time?

We watched a fantastic Ted Talk in our #LeanIn session last week from Laura Vanderkam

on how to gain control of your free time.

I loved what she had to say about the way we view time and how/why we consider ourselves "too busy". She says that if we spend on average 56hrs sleeping and 40hrs at work per week, we have 72hrs left to do with what we wish. That's a lot of time, and a lot of time wasted.

It is all too easy to waste my time deleting emails, scrolling through the news (for the fifth time that day) or in the blackhole of social media. Sometimes it may feel like there isn't quite enough time to do something meaningful, but it's surprising how much you can do in a short period of time when you really see it as a priority. I just need to know what those priorities are, so that when I find a quiet moment, I know how to spend it wisely.

I've realised just how much time I waste on things that don't matter to me, it's a case of needing to prioritise what's most important to me, rather than letting time disappear into a void of mindless or automatic activity. I love her example of "not having time to mop the floor" - if someone offered me £10,000 to mop it I would certainly find the time to do it then - so it's a case of prioritising what matters and what's most important to me.

Think about what's important to you and do that. The rest of the stuff will find the time to fit in around it. If you want to see the full Ted Talk. it's here: https://zurl.co/9oE6

You can also listen in to our Brilliant Bosses Podcast: I'm a leader, how the heck can I find the time to get stuff done? here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/peopletopia/episodes/Im-a-people-manager--how-the-heck-can-I-get-stuff-done-e22j2l0/a-a9mi35n