6 Reasons Why Do You Feel Like You Don’t Have Enough Time

[A collaboration post – all thoughts are my own.]

As someone who handles two jobs at once, I get used to having many things on my plate. When I still worked in the office, I try to finish my priorities task and sometimes feel guilty when I didn’t meet my daily goals as a translator. It feels like no matter early I wake up, I feel like I don’t have enough time to accomplish my to-do list.

At the end of 2019, I quit my 9-5 job and stop finding a new job. Instead, I focus on the translation service and decided to create my own website in June 2020. It’s been two years since I work from home and I feel that I’ve found happiness in my career because the key to ensuring I always have enough time is to establish a daily routine that I follow no matter what, including a healthy sleep routine. Here are the reasons why you feel like you don’t have enough time even though there are 24hr in a day.

You multitask a lot

Multitasking is good if you could focus on working on many things at once. However, studies show that people who multitask are less productive and waste more time when switching between tasks than if they break large tasks into small ones. Other than that, I feel that multitasking damage my mental health. My brain is simply not capable of focusing on multiple tasks at once. Do you feel the same?

You are not organized

I admit that I’m not perfect when it comes to organizing. But I’m not that bad either. Before I work, I like to organize my desk and place things I need within my reach so I won’t waste time looking for misplaced items. If you are organized, you give your productivity a real boost and are able to create time for people who matter in your life, like your friend and family.

People who don’t have a routine that they follow every day are likely to miss deadlines and tasks that need to be done. Design a daily routine that you love and keep things neat and tidy. This way, you will know exactly what items you have and where they are located, which can save you a lot of time and help reduce your stress.

You are easily distracted

Do you realize that you don’t have enough time because you’re easily getting distracted? We have way more easily accessible, shiny things available to us 24/7 than ever before. It’s not surprising anymore that many people, including me, are easily distracted from their goals and end up blaming that they never have enough time.

Analyze yourself, and what makes you easily distracted; it can be your phone, social media notifications, the noise at home, or someone giving you an errand. Lock yourself somewhere quiet when working and concentrate on the task at hand. If the people around you are the source of distraction, ask them to let you finish what you are doing first before you help them. Don’t be afraid to say NO to anyone who constantly interrupts your work.

You are so focused on being fast

Working with deadlines and the need to balance work-life tends to make people too focus on being fast. People who are too concerned with working fast end up not as productive. I experienced that when my novel translation class deadlines with my client’s articles. As times go by, I achieved my best times when I emphasize my time management and productivity.

Rather than work quickly, you need to focus more on functioning “smoothly”. This way, you will improve your productivity and get more things done in good time. Besides, life is a marathon, not a sprint. Your goal is to finish the race, not merely to cross the finish line first.

You have negative thoughts

Well, everyone can’t avoid having negative thoughts. I think it comes with our nature as human beings. No matter how much positive you are, human is capable of doing bad things whether it’s intentional or unintentional. However, people who are able to speak and think positively, and prioritize are able to do much more than people who are always saying that they are too busy to read, travel, work out, etc.

Instead of saying, “I don’t have time to spend with family because I have so much work,” it would be better to say, “It’s work days, but I could spend more time with family on the weekend.” That is essentially what you mean when you give excuses for lack of time.

You don’t track your time

Write down all your meetings, appointments, deadlines, and everything in-between. Find out the actual time you spend on each activity with what you think is the best amount for each. For instance, I give 3 hours of work on 700 – 1,000 words for document translation and 3 hours for drafting a blog post.

At the end of the day, I will discover just how much time I am wasting away and get a chance to reevaluate and monitor my time. If you don’t monitor your time, you are the ones who wonder why you don’t have enough time and can’t understand why you accomplish so little at the end of each workday.

Everyone has exactly 24 hours in a day. If others can get work done and still find time for family and friends, so can you!