Everyone struggles with not having enough time.

I know I have for years.

When I worked as a corporate, and later investment funds, lawyer, there was NEVER enough time. Jumping from client call to drafting contracts, to attending meetings, to supervising others, to billing, to client development, to research, to emails...

Add to that all the general life admin, taking care of family, etc...

Spending time on me was THE furthest thing down the list.

It rarely happened.

But what changed for me was realising that focussing on "time-management" was wrong.

And as soon as that clicked, I started to understand that overcoming my lack of time wasn't the point.

I needed to focus on something else entirely.

Here's what I did instead:

Focus on replenishing energy

We all have differing amounts of energy depending on the time of day, our hormone levels, our sleep patterns, the seasons, health status, life circumstances.

Focussing on this replenishable resource (rather than on the finite resource that is time) allowed me to feel I had greater control over my ability to engage with work (and life admin) and therefore on my capacity and efficiency to get things done. It also allowed me access to a greater range of solutions.

Not enough energy for the task in hand became "what do I need in order to tackle this?"

Struggling with tasks requiring sharp focus in the afternoon and evening due to low energy became move them (where possible) to first thing in the morning when my energetic cup is fuller.

Running out of time before a deadline became "how can I boost my energy to get this done?"

This simple but seismic shift in perspective has continued to help me better manage my work and my time and increased my creative thinking too.

Let me know what it does for you!