“My work is draining me and I don’t have time to find something new. I’m curious about what else I could do but just can’t find the time for it.”

Sound familiar?

One of my readers recently emailed me with this problem, and I thought WOW, I really need to address this because it’s something I hear ALL. THE. TIME.

It’s like, you know you need to get out of what you’re doing, but it’s just so hard to find the time!

I get it.

We’re all Soooo busy just surviving that it can be virtually impossible to carve out some time for the things that really matter (like changing careers).

Here’s the thing about time.

We all have the same amount of it.

Last time I checked there were still 24 hours in a day right?

So have you ever wondered how some people can seem to fit everything in and still be smiling by the end of the day, instead of a frazzled mess by bedtime?

Aha! They are the keepers of time secrets!

And I’m gong to share a few of these time secrets with you, my dear friends, so you can create some space for the things that really matter to YOU (like doing work you LOVE for example).

Time Secret #1: Be more decisive

Often when we’re short on time, it’s because we’re wasting a lot of time deliberating over things that don’t really matter.

The problem with this is, if you use all of your time up over-analysing unimportant things, then guess what

You don’t have any left for the things that matter.

Psychologists call this ‘Decision fatigue.’

The point is, it takes the same amount of energy to decide which doughnut to eat, as it does to decide which career path is right for you.

And guess which one will have a real impact on your life?

So, take stock of how much time you spend worrying about small everyday decisions…like what to eat for dinner, which restaurant to go to, what to wear today?

Know that really, these everyday decisions will have little impact on your quality of life, so best to just pick something and move on.

Did you know Steve Jobs & Barack Obama were masters at removing small decisions like this from their lives?

Jobs used to only wear one thing (the black turtleneck) and Obama only wears either blue or grey suits…as he said in his own words:

“You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,” [Obama] said. “I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.

A while back, I wrote a really long post about how to make faster decisions so be sure to check that out below to get better in general, at decision making.

It’s really an awesome resource, and I myself refer back to it at times when I’m feeling indecisive!

>>10 Secrets of Fast Decision Makers

Time Secret #2: Stop people pleasing

Now if you’re reading this, then I know one thing about you: you’re a genuine, nice, decent kind of person.

Because these are the type of people who tend to read my blogs and emails.

Mainly because these are the kind of people I like to hang out with (on and offline).

The thing with people like us is, we can often get taken advantage of.

Our good nature can at times, get somewhat trampled all over.

Sound familiar?

If you’re like me, at some point you have been a bit of a people pleaser, mainly because you just like to keep things peaceful and for everyone to get on….and you probably also like to help others.

The problem with this is that it can be to your own detriment.

If you’re helping everyone else all the time then guess who suffers? Little old you.

Know that it’s OK to say no to people and this doesn’t make you a bad person.

In-fact as Oprah once said “You can’t give what you don’t have.”

So in order for you to have enough energy to genuinely help and support others, you MUST first look after yourself.

And that means start saying NO.

Say no to that event that you know you’re too tired for, but feel like you should go to.

Say no to helping that person out when you know, it’s going to push you over the edge.

Just say no, more often.

And this will see you claiming back some more of your time.

Because you really do deserve to have some time each week just for you.

And this time should be reserved for important things like figuring out what to do with your life! (and finding your dream career!)

Time Secret #3: Get it in the diary! 

I have a saying that I share with all of my students (from my Find a New Career in 30 Days program) and it goes something like this:

“If it’s not in the diary, it doesn’t exist’.

And it’s so true.

If you want to find the time to focus on finding your dream career then you MUST schedule it into your weekly diary.

You need to think of it as a genuine meeting. Except instead of with someone else, it’s with, well, you.

Think about it. You wouldn’t stand up a friend who you arranged to go for a coffee with now would you?

That would be just plain rude.

So stop standing yourself up.

Put a note in your diary titled ‘career planning’ and then stick to it.

Even if it means this is you just spending 20 minutes thinking about what you might like to do in your next career.

The point is, it needs to be scheduled in, or otherwise it just ain’t gonna happen.

Because we tend to fill up all of our spare time, as soon as it’s available.

So give these three time secrets a go. See how you can stretch out your 24 hours a day to work for you instead of against you!

It’s really that easy 🙂

In the comments below, let me know which of the above 3 time secrets resonated the most with you?

I’d love to hear how you have seen these behaviours (like too much deliberating or people pleasing) play out in your own life?

To a time-rich future for us all!

And thank you for the privilege of your time and attention today on this important point.

With love

Zoe B

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PS: Did you catch my interview with Stanford Professor Bob Sutton a while back? He describes how people like Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) and Larry Page (founder of Google) were able to save time with their decision-making strategies. Check out what they do differently here>>