Two ~inspirational~ quotes which have stuck with me, are based around time. Firstly "You can't steal money, but you can steal time"

Secondly "You have the same number of hours in a day as Beyoncé/Oprah/(insert successful person name here)" 

I don't remember where I first heard/read these quotes, but they must have stopped my finger when scrolling Instagram, or made me lean into a little closer to my conversation because now I think of them a lot. I think of a time a lot, of managing it, fearing wasting it. How much of it I have and don't have is something my world revolves around.


Today I wanted to talk about maximising your time, becoming a thief of the clock, making your 24 hours stretch again and again.

Naturally, some days, time seems to run away from you, and other days drag. Some days you're ticking through you to-do list as fast as you're writing it, and some days, get the list written a challenge enough.

Having said that, no matter how fast or slow they might seem, there are always 60 seconds in a minute, each hour you live with last 60 minutes, and both your longest and shortest days will come to a close after 24 hours.  I mean, it's pretty damn obvious, that's how time works. Yet still, we convince ourselves it varies "I've had a long day" "Work dragged today" "Today has flown by""So little time, so much to do" - time seems to have a bit of bad wrap, when it actually constant, and the exact amount we're getting is always guaranteed. 


We live in a world, where we're overcome with guilt if we don't get everything done.  However juggling a full-time job, a side hustle, working out,  a social life, good relationships and general adult responsibilities is a lot. When you add into the mix posting regularly on Instagram, keeping up with emails,  a decent skincare routine, getting somewhere with that dreamy side project which someday might be your main project life can feel a little much

What if we could steal time? Wouldn't life be dreamy? Well, I think we kinda can.
Make those minutes count. As soon as you maximise your time, and learn to stop mindlessly wasting it, you can become a thief of minutes. Those 60 seconds that get away from you before you know it, you know the ones spent scrolling Twitter, refusing to get out of bed (no matter how desperate you are for a wee) or sitting in a towel on your bed doing nothing, they add up. There is also the time which we can't help using, which feels wasted, you know, travelling, waiting rooms, waiting in general. However, waiting rooms don't have to be just for waiting. That time is a gift if you the choice to take it. 

Write your lengthy Instagram captions on the bus, get up 20 minutes earlier to do your yoga, write a paragraph of that book on your lunch break, a tweet from the toilet, write poetry in the notes of your phone in waiting rooms. Answer emails the moment you open them.  Take your train journey as a time to practise mindfulness. Ring your friends to catch up while you're walking. Listen to podcasts while you do you make up. Always follow the 5-minute rule. If it will take 5 minutes, do it immediately. Say no if you don't want to do something. 


Pay attention to how you spend your day. If you spend an hour commuting each day, consider whether you're using this time wisely. Make the time positively impact your career, your mental wellbeing, your relationships or even to just add a little tick to your to-do list.

I'm not saying you shouldn't have downtime because that's crazy, and you can't be productive all the time, but make sure your downtime, is actually benefiting you. Is it making you feel better?  That free time where you mindlessly lose an hour scrolling past beautiful girls, find yourself comparing, just kinda makes you feel a little rubbish (scrolling pass girls who inspire you, is also a completely different thing). I recently started having personal training sessions three times a week. Before I began, I wasn't aware I had three hours to spare a week - but it seems I do. If anything those evenings working out I feel as though I have more downtime, I actually relax more putting that time into exercise rather than not doing a lot and then wishing the time back a day later when I have a to-do list longer than my arm. In fact, I cannot tell you what I was giving those three hours up for before I started working out.

Don't wave goodbye to time and then wish it back.
As the saying goes, time is precious, waste it wisely.