Honestly, this is one of the most problematic concepts I’ve had to battle with in my 20s, whilst pursuing my online business, that I’m sure I can’t be the only one.
Making Time is quite simply what it sounds like, which is straight forward; making time. HOWEVER, it’s what “making time” entails that makes it so complicated to figure out.
Making time in your 20s can already be a battle, since you’re in pursuit of your dreams, but also don’t want to sacrifice all of the amazing core life memories that you can also be creating.
Now, add a 9 to 5 job into the mix, and we have ourselves a HUGE time maths problem to solve.
Why is this a “problem”? Because I can probably speak for most, when I say, that I don’t want to sacrifice (significantly) in order to create my dream life. This is not me saying I am not willing to put in the work, learn, evolve and stick to it. This is me, instead, placing value on the present moment, the loved ones, the limited time we all have, the abundance of health we all possess.
The amount of times I have scrolled through tiktoks of elderly people sharing their regrets, and many of them wished they had lived more, worked less, experienced more out of their four walls. Now, this doesn’t put me off wanting to chase my dream life, but it revolutionizes the way I approach the chase. The purpose and drive remains unphased, if not made even stronger, but the work ethic attached becomes slightly modified so I can live a more fulfilled life always; and not have to sacrifice the now to get the lifestyle or career I want.
I’m here to tell you that, if you’re like me, then you don’t have to sacrifice time and experiences in order to “make time“.
I won’t illude you and say you can have all of everything, BUT I WILL say that you can have a bit of everything until you create the dream life that enables you to have as much of anything you please.
Balance is what we’re after here; true balance and not the work-life balance we are always sold the idea of. Actual boundaries.
This all comes with Smart Strategizing.
For this, we need to deconstruct the following:
- Perspective and Priorities
- How much time do you have control over?
- Boundaries: Setting it Straight
- How I do it!
perspective and priorities
We need to get real with ourselves, and get grounded with who we are, what we like and how we can be realistic with our approach so we set ourselves up for success.
We need to be able to answer a few questions:
- What is important for me to live a fulfilled life?
- What gives me joy?
- How much of my free time am I willing to put towards creating my dream life?
In all, we are trying to use these questions to evaluate what our priorities are.
For you, the answers might be something like:
- Time with family, and friends, hobbies, self-maintenance.
- Coffees, going for a walk, doing activities.
- I am willing to put in about a quarter of my free time towards my online business.
Now, that we know both our perspective and priorities, we need to move onto the next step:
how much time do you have control over?
If you work a 9 to 5, and you’re in your 20s, I will guess we all have around the same amount of time we have control over to use; since if we need to pay bills we can’t really control our weekday time since we might still need that 9 to 5.
I’m guessing, we’re talking early mornings, lunch breaks, afternoons and weekends.
We know what time we have, we know what we want to fill it with. Now, let’s move onto boundaries. (Take as long as you need at each step!)
boundaries: setting it straight
We need to set things in order by first approaching what times you are actually willing to work:
- Out of your options, when are you willing to make time towards your online business?
Some factors to consider: this may depend on when your friends and family are free, when you would like to do something yourself. Regardless, it might not be as simple, and you may need to trial and test what actually ends up working for you.
I know I thought just because I’m an early bird, I would be happy to do early mornings, but my sleep is so ground-breaking to my productivity, that I found that this wasn’t for me (and I wasn’t willing to have a super early sleep time, so that was a no for me). Only because I tried it out to see if it worked.
This is all about seeing what works for you.
You can gather inspiration from how others do it, but you have to see what aligns with your perspectives, priorities, time and willingness.
This is all about being intentional with the way we live our lives, so we don’t end up putting our heads down, chasing the dream, only to see that we might regret missing out on a lot of truly special moments with loved ones, for example. That is the whole essence of why this post is so important to me and to many of us. We don’t want to live our only life in a way that we cannot take back, just because we didn’t know any better.
how I do it!
Okay, so, if this has been a tough one to get through, here is what I do. It might help to shed some light into how you can adapt some of this work ethic yourself, but to also deconstruct the myth that you need to work 100 hours per week to create your dream life.
Yeah sure, it might get you there faster, but at the expense of a balanced, fulfilled life.
Here’s the very simple walkthrough of how I make time in my 20s, and with a 9 to 5, to create my dream life:
- I work about 5 to 10 hours each week (not fixed, varies on workload and how much I want to work that week/ how busy my social life is).
- I work during lunch breaks (1 hour), and a little bit during evenings (usually 30 minutes), and occasionally might do a Saturday if I want, where I romanticize the ISH out of my life and go to a cute café, dress up cute, have some nice coffee and work on my business.
- I strictly leave weekends free for family, friends, hobbies, ANYTHING that gives me joy (unless the occasional one where I decide otherwise).
I initially thought this may not be enough, but it is no longer about it being enough for me, it is about having my priorities and boundaries set straight, and living accordingly.
The mastery that comes with this Smart Strategizing is making your schedule work for you, by making the most of the time you are willing to put in, and prioritizing your tasks with laser-focus so you only do what will actually result in a return on your time investment. Getting real specific about what is absolutely essential for you to do to get your business growing as much as you can with the time you have; with as little room for distractions as possible. This is how you will get truly focused and in action.
Having and making time for fulfilment in each day can actually fill your cup more, and provide you with more boundless creativity to show up even better towards your online business, so this is my take.
I hope this relieves any other girlies who are also on the same journey, in their 20s, working each day of their 9 to 5s wanting to somewhat figure out how to time manage their ways out of it, and into their dream lives, whilst enjoying the present as much as possible on the way!
Comment how you make time to create your dream life whilst working a 9 to 5, in your 20s, and let’s connect!