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How To Start Taking Control Of Your Day

Self-Improvement |

Do you ever feel like your day has just gotten out of control? And that you can’t take back control but you really need to? So have most of us! It is completely normal and common to experience that but what is the most important is to learn how to start taking control of your day when you need to. Which is what we are going to be talking about today.

Remember as you are reading this that there is a lot of different factors that could be making your day feel out of your control. Including but not limited to your job, family, friends, administrative tasks, life events, weather, etc.

Some of those factors are easier to overcome than others so it’s important to keep that in mind when you are working on taking back control of your day. Be patient with yourself and know that you are making progress even if it doesn’t immediately feel like that!

That being said let’s get into these steps to take to help you learn to start taking control of your day!

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How To Start Taking Control Of Your Day

How To Start Taking Control Of Your Day

Steps to take back control of your days:

Step 1: Reflect on how it got out of your control.

Take a few minutes to figure out how your day actually got out of your control. Did something in particular happen that made you feel like you lost control? Or was it a combination of small things that added up?

Regardless of what caused the feeling it’s important to be honest with yourself while reflecting on it. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge what really caused you to feel this way because being honest with yourself about it is essential for taking back control of your day.

Step 2: Complete a time log.

This is a great way to figure out where the time in your day is going.

Because often what makes us feel like we aren’t in control of our days are feeling like there isn’t enough time in the day.

And the best way to counter that is to write down what you are actually doing every 30-60 minutes throughout the rest of the day. This also forces you to be realistic with yourself about what can be accomplished in a day. As well as showing you if you are getting distracted by unnecessary tasks/activities.

Also, the time log does not need to be complicated! It can just be short hand abbreviations and you can use any insider lingo that helps you do it more efficiently. A time log is for your eyes only!

Step 3: Make a prioritized to do list.

If you have been around here for a bit then you would know I absolutely swear by the importance of daily to do lists. Definitely one of my most important tips for how to be more productive. 

But in order to truly take control of your day you need to take it to the next level and make sure you are prioritizing your daily to do list. This isn’t hard though! Just go through after you make your to do list and number it. Start with 1 and work your way down in order of importance.

Step 4: Be careful about phone notifications.

The next way to be more in control is to make sure you are being aware and cautious with your phone notifications.

If you really need to focus for an hour or so I recommend putting your phone on DND to really stop all notifications.

But in general I recommend going through your notifications settings in your phone and turning off any notifications that you don’t actually want. Because when you are getting random notifications on your phone then your phone is having more control over your days than you are.

Step 5: Start saying no.

This can definitely be one of the most challenging steps.

But saying no to things (coworkers, friends, family, etc.) that you don’t have time for is essential to being in genuine control of your time.

For those of us that are people pleasers this step can be daunting. But once you implement it and start saying no then you will find that you are in more control of your days.

But there is a lot of information behind it! So if you find yourself struggling to say no to more tasks then check out this guide here.

Step 6: Avoid any time holes.

The next step is to figure out the places where you are wasting time. AKA your time holes.

Time holes are times in your day that you are being unproductive and are time that you aren’t in control of. For a lot of us the time holes in our days tend to be getting sucked into social media for an hour (or more!). 

Once you know what time holes you are guilty of you get a better idea of how to stop them so that you can have better days.

Step 7: Take something off your plate.

Chances are there is something that you wanted to do today that really isn’t a priority and is causing you to feel more overwhelmed than the task is worth.

So be honest with yourself about what that task is and take it off your plate.

That may mean moving it to a later day or completely marking it off your list and deciding not to move forward with it as a task.

Korra-Shay

If you found this article on how to start taking control of your days helpful then you probably (hopefully!) will find these helpful as well:

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