Category: You Have Time

Note: I’m delighted to welcome Sandra Pawula as a contributor to the Find 20 Minutes series.

What could you do with 20 free minutes?

• Bang out 500 words of your novel
• Strengthen your body with push-ups, squats, jumping jacks, toe touches, and maybe a bit of hoola hooping
• Sketch your surroundings
• Write a letter
• Weed a flower bed
• Nap
• Play catch with your kids

I’ve led a very high-stress life and have suffered personal consequences: a frazzled nervous system, chronic health issues, and a deflation of joy.

When you’re on the stress treadmill and the speed seems to incrementally increase, you’re just trying to keep up and stay alive.  Do you know what I mean?  So I never thought for a moment how much time stress might be stealing away from the very essence of my life.  But, now I see vividly that stress may be one of the worst time thieves alive.

Here’s how less stress will help you find 20 minutes and, maybe, far more:

1.  Be more productive.  Chronic stress can lead to fatigue, exhaustion, lack of focus and motivation, sleep deprivation, anxiety, or depression.  It’s pretty hard to do your best work when you feel like a zombie, and it sure takes more time.  When you’re less stressed, you’ll have the energy and enthusiasm to meet your tasks head on and finish them in record time. That leaves at least 20 minutes for lolling about or whatever else you wish.

2.  Make fewer mistakes. Chronic stress can impair memory and concentration.  Remember the last time you forgot to “save” and it took hours to recreate that email or document?  Or when you showed up at the wrong time for that critical appointment with your boss?  How many times have you misplaced your keys, wallet, or glasses in the last few weeks?  What about those notes you need for writing your book or the pattern for your current knitting project?  Hours and hours are lost making and fixing unnecessary mistakes.  Less ongoing stress means more clarity of mind and that adds up to extra time.

3.  Spend less time at the doctor or psychotherapist.  Studies show that 60-90% of doctors’ visits are for stress-related illnesses. The list of suspected stress-connected disorders goes on and on starting with heart disease, stopping off at diabetes, and taking a turn at immune-related dysfunctions.  Eating disorders, anxiety, or depression – all thought to have a link to stress – can have you spending countless hours with a shrink or even hospitalized.

4.  Indulge in fewer fights.  Stress can make you feel edgy, to say the least, and consistently lead to regrettable outbursts of red-hot anger. You’re a good person, but you can’t seem to get a handle on yourself.  Or maybe you always feel irritable or on the edge of tears.  All this leads to miscommunication, which often sets off terrible fights.  Once the argument is finally done, not only are you wiped out, it can take hours or even days to repair the emotional mess.  And sometimes, it’s impossible to fully rebuild the trust.  Reduce your stress to take off the edge and have more time for happy and healthier relationships.

 5.  Live a longer life.  Stress might take hours, months, or years off your life due to its link with so many different disorders, diseases,and plights.  People subject to chronic stress often turn to alcohol, tobacco, and drugs for relief, none of which are likely to extend your life.

Get smart now. Get smart early. Reduce stress to find 20 minutes and maybe even hours or years of your precious life.

Sandra Pawula is a freelance writer, mindfulness advocate, and champion of living with ease. She writes about finding greater happiness & freedom on her blog Always Well Within.  Her new e-course, Living with Ease:  21 Days to Less Stress begins on Sept. 9th, and you can register right now.

What could you do with 20 free minutes?

• Bang out 500 words of your novel
• Strengthen your body with push-ups, squats, jumping jacks, toe touches, and maybe a bit of hoola hooping
• Sketch your surroundings
• Write a letter
• Weed a flower bed
• Nap
• Play catch with your kids

One of my own biggest time thieves comes at me through the kitchen, but I have ways to thwart that thief! Here are some tips for creating systems in your kitchen to help you find an extra 20 minutes.

1. Everything in its place. I could probably prepare a decent meal in my kitchen blind folded (don’t fret; I’m not going to try). I’m the primary cook in the house, so I impose my logic on the kitchen. Refrigerated foods go in the same location every time I use them. Tools, canned goods, and spices have their own special spots. A little time organizing in a way that makes sense to you, not a kitchen designer, will save you time.

2. Meal plan. This simple change has saved me at least an hour a week. Once a week (I do it on Saturday evening in the summer, after I’ve picked up my CSA share), I decide on the meals for the rest of the week. I find any recipes I need, create a grocery list, and add the menus to my Google calendar. One weekly grocery trip, no dithering about what to make for dinner: these add up to free time.

3. Limit variety. I know, I know. It’s the spice of life and all that jazz. I limit the recipes I try–once I have my out-of-the-park pancakes, I don’t go looking for more recipes. During the winter, two nights a week are soup night (yay slow cookers). Every Tuesday I fix the same dinner. I’ve eaten the same breakfast (with Sunday pancakes as an exception…it really is a good recipe) with little variation since 2002. These little efficiencies equal extra time for the rest of my day.

4. Use fewer tools. Lots of people love kitchen gadgets. It’s fun to buy new tools, right? Those tools may be stealing your time, though. When Neal gutted our kitchen in 2009, I packed away all of the kitchen tools but the most basic: my French knife, a cutting board. I loved the simplicity of having less clutter. Since then, I’ve added more tools back into the kitchen, but a lot of what I packed away four years ago hasn’t returned into rotation. Less clutter makes it easier to find what I need as well as making clean up easier.

5. Clean up as you cook and immediately after eating. My grandfather used to chide my gram “don’t undress the table.” He wanted to linger and enjoy having his family around him. I get it, but I get Jennie’s method, too. The faster clean up is completed, the easier it is. Easy clean up (wet splatters are easier to clean than dried splatter) takes less time.

What are some of your kitchen systems that help you find time?

PS: Want to find out where your time is hiding like so many quarters under the sofa cushion? Registration for my micro-course You Have Time is now closed, but you can sign up to be notified about upcoming sessions!