4 life changing tips to be intentional with your time

This post is all about how to be intentional with your time and take back control of your life. Have you ever not known what you have done with your weekend or afternoon? Have you ever spent all day scrolling on instagram? Then keep reading to find out my best 4 life changing tips to be more intentional with your time.

Analysing Your Values

In order to be intentional with your time, we first need to know what our values are. By knowing our values, we will be able to set our goals, and therefore spend our time, according to what makes us feel most fulfilled. 

To begin to determine what your values are, start by thinking back on when you felt your happiest, most excited, and most fulfilled. For example, I feel most fulfilled when I am working on a creative project, learning all I can about a subject and challenging myself. Based on this, I determined that 3 of my values are creativity, learning and adventure. 

Another way to determine your values is to look at a long list of value words and underline any that stand out to you. After going through all the words, pick up to 10 that feel right and experiment with whether they are right for you. It can take months or years to decide on your values and that is normal. 

Remember that your values are going to change and develop over the years as you grow and develop. What is important to you today may not be as important to you tomorrow. So, it is important that you do at least a yearly evaluation of your values. 

Creating a Time Audit

Have you ever looked at the screen time on your phone and been shocked to learn you have spent 5 hours that day on your phone? Me too. 

Tracking your time and seeing how exactly you spend your time will help you understand what you need to do in order to be intentional with your time. 

You can use an app like ‘ATracker Time Tracker’ to easily track how much time you spend doing each activity. 

From there, you can analyse how much time you spend on certain activities, what activities you don’t want to waste your time on and how much time you would have if you didn’t do those activities. 

Having the visual on what you spend your time on is really useful to identify distractions, time wasters and non-essential tasks and allow you to start being intentional with your time. 

Prioritising Your Tasks

Once you have done the above activities and determined your goals, it is important to prioritise your most important goals and tasks. 

The easiest way to do this is by using a priority matrix. A priority matrix is a type of table where you can organise your tasks by importance and urgency and then by do now, do later, delegate and delete. 

Here is an example of a priority matrix which is from the Notes to Thrive 2024 Planner:

Regular Reflection

Being international with your time is not a one time task. It is a habit that you will have to be mindful of everyday and regularly reflect and evaluate. 

When doing this, remember that balance does not mean 50/50 and work life balance does not exist in the sense of complete and total balance. It means that some weeks you will be very busy and other weeks will be not so busy. Some weeks you will also be dealing with some challenges, such as family emergencies, and maybe time management will be a low priority. This is ok. 

When you are reviewing how you are being intentional with your time, reflect on what is working and not working. Reflect on whether you are making progress with your goals and celebrate any achievements, big or small.