Do you dream of having unlimited time to get your work done before the deadline? Time to enjoy a unique moment with your loved ones? Well, it’s possible. According to surveys, more than 30% of people feel they are living in a hurry, in other words, suffering from a lack of time. Whether you’re a parent or not, a student or a pensioner, you always feel like you’re racing against the clock. The question is: how can we manage all this when our day is only 24 hours long? While some end up burn-out, others adapt in their own way. Yet this phenomenon is far from inevitable.

With the right organization, everyone should be able to get everything done… and even find time to relax before bedtime.

Lack of time: why do the hours keep slipping away?

While for most of us, working hours have been shortened to an average of 40 hours a week, we still feel we don’t have enough time. Whether we’re working or not, studying or not, we still feel we’re sorely short of time. Similarly, our life expectancy is constantly increasing, yet we continue to suffer time instead of mastering it. Why does such a paradox exist? What’s wasting so much of our time?

OVER-CONNECTION
It’s impossible for most of us not to be online for an hour at a time. For some, it’s even become an addiction, commonly known as cyber dependency. We’re always finding excuses to go on social networks, and the worst thing is that once we’re connected, few of us manage to disconnect. We say to ourselves, I’m just going to look at this for 5 minutes, and after 1 hour, we realize we’re still there looking at things that aren’t even worth looking at. As a result, it’s normal to run out of time.

Overconnection takes away from our leisure time and family time. As a result, we feel we’re running out of time to devote to our loved ones and hobbies. In fact, everyone is affected, young and old alike.

Among senior citizens, this hyper-connection is obvious, as a recent survey attests. Indeed, more than 40% of them declared that they spend more time behind a screen than doing their daily chores. Technology doesn’t only bring benefits, especially when you don’t know how to master it. As a result, lack of time is becoming a universal problem across all genders and ages. Our generation spends more time staying and communicating online than doing what’s really important.

HYPER-REACTIVITY TO MESSAGES
As soon as we receive a text message, e-mail or message on social networks, 45% of us respond immediately, even if it’s not urgent. This simple gesture, which may seem insignificant, steals what little time we have. Imagine if 100 people sent you a message during the day. After that, you’re bound to be short of time.

Just assume that you take 1 minute to reply to each person. All you have to do is add it up and you’ll know what a waste of time and energy that is. Psychologists have even discovered a new phobia linked to smartphones: nomophobia. As a result, you stop what you’re doing and the delays pile up. To avoid this, you simply need to know how to manage your time: a time for chatting and a time for working, as they say.

HYPERINFORMATION OR INFOBESITY
For many people, missing news online or on TV in real time is simply inconceivable. As a result, they consult social networks or the Internet several times a day to keep up with the news. If you add up these little breaks, it can add up to 2 hours a day, or even more. Watch out, too, for television, which can blind you to information you have no use for. You forget what really matters to you!

PROCRASTINATION
The lack of time is real when procrastination is at the heart of daily life. In other words, putting off until later what can be done immediately. An assignment due? A task to do? Most people tell themselves they still have until such-and-such a date to do it. Instead of finishing on time, they’d rather watch a movie or do something else. As a result, most find themselves in an emergency situation, waiting until the last moment to get everything done. And yet, if we all know how to get organized, we can avoid the lack of time and the habit of running two hares at once, which, among other things, is not without consequences for our physical and moral well-being.

Lack of organization

The real problem is that most of us don’t know the difference between what’s urgent, what’s important and what can wait. We tend to prioritize what shouldn’t be, and vice versa. As a result, we find ourselves caught between two different tasks, and inevitably encounter a major obstacle to their completion: insufficient time.

The consequences of lack of time

Lack of time can seriously affect our quality of life. In fact, it’s an invisible enemy that degrades our existence in many ways. Specifically, it impacts on different aspects.

MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STATE
Becoming aware of how little time we have to finish all our tasks in a day creates stress. Just thinking about it raises our heart rate, makes our hands clammy and blocks our breathing. If we put up with it, the consequences for our well-being will be felt sooner or later. Depression is just one of them. To avoid running out of time, good time management is essential. This is essential if you are not to feel overwhelmed by events at the last minute.

SLEEP
How many times have you had to sacrifice sleep for an exam, a presentation or an important event? How many times have you pulled an all-nighter on the eve of a deadline? Most people will probably answer “more than once”. But sleep deprivation is not without its effects. Fatigue is just one of the many consequences. Which just goes to show how important it is not to underestimate lack of time.

PRODUCTIVITY
Trying to do two things at once is never profitable, simply because our brains won’t be working at full capacity. As a result, productivity plummets and inefficiency sets in.

MOTIVATION
Doing several things at once without finishing any of them can only lead to demotivation. Our morale takes a hit. As a result, delays pile up and the race of time leaves us no respite.

How can we reconcile ourselves with time?

According to specialists, lack of time is a consequence of our lack of organization. Indeed, it’s imperative to know how to manage your time if you want to be in full control of your life. But how can we manage our time and be effective both personally and professionally? The answer can be summed up in two words: get organized.

SETTING PRIORITIES
Managing priorities is a sine qua non if you want to get rid of that feeling of running out of time. To do this, you need to draw up a list of what needs to be done first, and stick to it. This way, the lack of time will only be a bad memory. This doesn’t mean, however, that you should leave other tasks to one side. Otherwise, they too will become priorities. And, of course, you’ll have to deal with them as quickly as possible.

Important and urgent tasks: to be carried out immediately.
Tasks that are important, but not urgent: to be carried out quickly.
Non-important but urgent tasks: to be delegated.
Non-important, non-urgent tasks: to be abandoned.

The concept is taken from the Eisenhower Matrix, a time and priority management tool available to everyone.

KNOW HOW TO SAY NO
Who hasn’t agreed to do an extra task so as not to hurt someone’s feelings? Or to do a favor for a friend in difficulty? The problem is, we’ve already got a full schedule that leaves no room for any other activity. We know this, and yet we accept out of kindness. Knowing how to say no is really important to avoid work overload and an overbooked agenda. Saying no from time to time allows us to free up a little time for ourselves and avoid a lack of time. Whether in our personal or professional lives.

On the other hand, we’ve all got that colleague who keeps bothering us every hour to complain about his or her life, work… It’s no surprise that these little breaks end up eating up our time. You absolutely must learn to say no.

For some people, it can’t be easy, especially when they’ve been used to always saying yes. But think of yourself, of what’s ahead of you, of your family clamoring for a bit of quality time with you. Your free time will turn into a lack of time if you continue to give priority to others. Of course, altruism is a fine quality, but you have to think about yourself from time to time.

KNOW HOW TO DELEGATE
Knowing how to manage your time means learning how to delegate. Wanting to do everything on your own is the best way to waste time. Learn to trust others and entrust them with what needs to be done. Of course, you need to choose people who are competent in their field, otherwise the opposite effect will occur. And with good reason: you may have to start all over again because everything was done badly.

LACK OF TIME: SETTING LIMITS
For good time management, you need to know how to set limits and use strategic planning. For example, for a given activity, a certain number of hours must not be exceeded. In the same way, we plan a time slot per day for no connection and no chatting. This ensures that no time is wasted on unnecessary things.

GET UP EARLY
Feeling like you don’t have enough time? Wake up a little earlier than usual and make it a morning routine. That way, there’s no risk of running out of time, and you’ll get a free slot when you get out of bed early. As you can imagine, getting up early means getting a good night’s sleep. So instead of spending your evening glued to your screens, prioritize a good night’s sleep instead. You’ll see for yourself the benefits when you wake up.

It’s up to you!

Note that theory is only as good as its application. So don’t just keep all this information in your head. Without willpower, discipline, courage and effort, you’ll always be short of time. That’s why you need to put what you’ve just read into practice. You have all the keys you need to overcome this problem, and your future depends on you. So take action.