7 Tips To Sort Out Your Life And Get Back An Hour A Day

Don’t let admin turn into “mad-min”! Clever streamlining will give you back precious me time, our experts tell Christabel Smith

- Elizabeth Emens & Anna Newton

Your phone’s beeping reminders at you, you’ve got 57 unopened emails, three birthday cards to send and urgent bills that won’t pay themselves. Bang goes that coffee date or walk in the sunshine. Once again, your free minutes are squeezed to nothing as you ask yourself, “Where did the day go?” Don’t despair! We’re here with seven smart moves to free up quality time and space to do something you love.

1 Simplify Your To-do List

If you “to do” by phone, keep stress levels down by using basic Notes rather than Reminders, which will keep pinging all the time. If you get a “real-time” admin request, for example a friend asking for someone’s email address, do it there and then. If you prefer to write, invest in a beautiful diary to add pleasure to the daily workload. DO IT If items are lingering, enlist a friend to help tackle them or offer yourself a reward to clear them once and for all.

2 Make Your Mantra “Nothing’s Perfect”

The psychoanalyst DW Winnicott identified the term “good enough” as an antidote to the seeking of impossible perfection, which results in frustration and anxiety. There’s no way you’ll get your admin “right” all the time. It’s far more important to strike a balance and, along with cleaning, child-rearing and cooking, aim for “good enough”.