Overcoming Obstacles: I Have No Time

This series is to help you find your side hustle that will allow you to live life to the fullest.  Too many people complain about not having money, and when coached on earning money on the side they throw up excuses.  Many people are just too comfortable in their routine to start a side hustle, but some excuses need help being broken down.  Recently we talked about not having any ideas and testing it before implementing.  Now we will look at the barrier: “I’m just too busy.”

Time management is something that everyone wishes they were better at.  They know there are things they SHOULD get done, but somehow they just don’t.  For instance, I pile papers on the end of my desk until the pile gets absurdly high before taking the time to file them or toss them.  If I just did it as they came in it would take me about 12 second per day, as it is I have to make a conscious effort to clean up my desk.  If you employ some of these tips, you could find that you have much more time for your side hustle than you imagined.

To-Do List

You might be proud of the fact that your mind is still solid and you can remember all the things that need to be done.  But there is more to making a list than just remembering what needs to be done.  The visual cues will help to provide you the motivation and incentive to stay on task while physically crossing the items off will give you the psychological boost to keep pressing on.  Not only that, but writing things down will help you realize just how many things you need to get done, as well as how many things you actually forget about.

Eliminate, Delegate, Simplify

When you have your lists of things-to-do, and it looks daunting, you need to whittle it down.  Are there things that do not really need to be done?  Get rid of those tasks you really don’t have to do.  Is there something that someone else can do?  Maybe you could hire your kids to help with a few more chores around the house for a little extra allowance.  Can you make anything on the list easier?  For example combine grocery shopping with the evening commute to save some time.  The point is to make your list shorter with the least amount of effort.

Quit Wasting Time

Now you don’t have to make an actual list for this one, although it certainly will help.  Think of all the things that take up your time.  Hopefully family is one of the biggest ones.  But now think of how much of that “family” time is spent gathered around the TV.  Do you sleep 10 hours per night?  What if you cut that back to 8 or even 7?  Do you go out to the bars and sit around with friends often?  Maybe you could skip one night per week.  In all of our lives there are little things that we can trim off to find the time to perfect our side hustle.  The best part is, you don’t have to give all of it up, nor do you have to quit all your leisure activities all at once.  Just trim off 15 or 20 minutes here and there, and you will notice that you actually have a lot more time than you think you do.

“I don’t have any time” is an excuse that people love to throw out there.  It is convenient, it makes them seem like they are already such a hard worker that they can’t do anything else, and if you argue with them it makes you look inconsiderate.  But our lives are more convenient today than they ever have been in history; we have machines and devices that do the majority of the work for us.  If you truly want to earn more on the side, then you will find the time that is needed to do so.  I recently read something interesting on Cracked.com:  “Do the math: How much of your time is spent consuming things other people made (TV, music, video games, websites) versus making your own? Only one of those adds to your value as a human being.”

Image Credit