5 ways I changed my habits to work smarter and created more time for me

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

Doing one, many, or these 5 habit changes will create more time for you to… (fill in the blank), for me it’s write more.

1. I stopped doing what I can and started doing what I want to do.

Fearlessmotivation.com has a great article about Matthew McConaughey’s Motivational Speech and Lessons For Life

“Just because you CAN?… Nah… It’s not a good enough reason to do something. Even when it means having more, be discerning, choose it, because you WANT it, DO IT because you WANT to.”-Matthew McConaughey

The entire article is great but item number 9 “From can to want” jumped out at me as a one way for me to get time back for the many wants I wanted to accomplish, but never seemed to have time for, now I have more time for my wants.

Just because I can do something does not mean I have to take that course any more, instead I’m on to my wants course instead.

I had been volunteering in the community with my technology expertize for the past 10 years, because I can and I have the knowledge to create and fix website, repair computers, and fix computer issues and malfunctions.

I had helped people in the past mostly at no charge, a few paid customers.

Several years ago I partnered with a local business to provide subscription computer support. It’s not a moneymaker by any stretch. Several businesses complained about their prior service provider, so we said we’ll jump in and provide the same service to a set of customers. And just because I can do it we did. We made some money, but not enough for the time we put into the project.

In May 2019 we decided that at the end of this year we would discontinue the service. He notified customers with the next billing, letting everyone know that we were no longer providing service effective December 3 1, 2019. Several customers asked why, my response was “Because I do not want to do it anymore,” most customers said they understand.

We think sometimes that we are the only ones who can accomplish a task because of our skill sets. That’s not true, and deep down inside we know that, we’ll I do, now.

The day after the decision I felt a tremendous relief, my mind started to think about the other thing I wanted to do. As the months have progress toward the end of the year, I slowly see that I have more time and am planning my writing career.

With three and a half months to go, I already am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Happy Roger, smiling Roger.

2. I started being a better listener by listening while I stopped talking and asking questions.

More times than not I added more work for myself by suggesting things that ended up making a simple task take longer, and in doing so make more work for myself.

I reduced my workload as soon as I stopped asking additional questions before they had time to explain the details of their requests or project.

If someone wanted something they had to ask me for it. Tell me what they wanted. I only asked questions at the end of listening for clarification. And not offering to add to my workload.

3. I do not follow up on other people’s missed commitments.

In the past I would follow up or hound people for information or feedback that I needed to keep their project moving along or complete.

Now when people don’t respond they lose their place in line and I may have to extend the time a project completes. Usually it does not take too many times before they learn. After several time they learn they need to follow through, or their project might take longer, or I’m not happy with their behavior.

This activity is effective to change their behavior and a time saver for me.

4. I do not call back anyone who does not leave a message.

I have for many years had a message of my cell phone that says, “No message no call back”. If I get a call from someone without a message, I do not return calls.

In the past I would call people back and when they answered, they will say something like “never mind” or “I figured it out” or “that call was a butt dial.”

I don’t know the number of saved hours I have not spent on these activities.

5. I do not answer calls from any number I do not recognize or have a contact in my phone.

This works nice with number 4. As it has also saved many hours. Also, I do not have to take calls from scammers, argue with them or play games keeping them on the line. Scammers can also not record my voice so they can impersonate me to scam other friends and family, or others unknown.

I have never received a message asking why I did not answer their call.

This is also helpful since some scammers call impersonate Caller ID today.

The time I’ve received back from these 5 habit changes is incredible

It’s time for my next habit change.

To me life is an experiment and adventure. I’m stopping one experiment/adventure and starting a new one.

I am 67 this year, with a plan for 33 plus more years to go, and will plan that out in 5 year chunks.

I will return to planning better with Goals, which I have not focused on for the past 10 years. http://rs2021.eightysixhundred.com/blog/10-years-ago-i-stopped-writing-goals-and-that-was-a-mistake/

I have gotten better at saying “NO”, and that’s working nicely for me now.

Try one or all, and you will see a difference in your available time for your wants.

Originally published at http://rs2021.eightysixhundred.com/blog.

Originally posted on www.rogerskibowski.com

Sign up for my newsletter containing my stories and thoughts delivered weekly. Thank you for reading.

Similar Posts