Beware the time thief

IT’S a given that owning your own business is timeconsuming. Sometimes it can feel like there could literally never be enough hours in the day to achieve everything you want to get done.

ent destination to your normal surroundings can help to reset the mind as much as a day zoning out in front of Netflix.

is it an efficient use of down time.

• “We are here, not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers.” – Emmeline Pankhurst

• “Do what you feel in your heart to be right–for you’ll be criticised anyway.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

• “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou

• “There’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer.” – Rihanna

• “You could make a case that, along with the technological revolution, the most provocative upending destabilising thrilling change in the course of human history is that we’re finally in it. … We’re here now, women are in the world, and we will not be bullied.” - Meryl Streep

But while we know that some amount of down time is vital to keep us performing our best, what it the most efficient way to use that time to your advantage?

Here we explore common time thieves that can easily monopolise the hours you dohave off, and how to avoid them.

The couch While at the end of a busy day or week the sofa may feel like the natural choice to come down a little, there are most efficient ways to bring your mind down from a million miles an hour.

A ‘a change of scene’ as they say, ‘is as good as a rest,’ and it is remarkable how true this can be. Travelling even to a slightly differ-

As an added benefit, expect new ideas to flow as the different perspective allows the mind to reflect on things.

The midnight emergency What happened to the days of a good old-fashioned cup of hot milk and a bedtime story, eh? Perhaps our parents really did know best all along as it seems that increasing numbers of us are now checking devices, dealing with work, or watching high-drama TV right up to the moment we go to sleep.

Endless research has found that quality sleep is one of the single biggest factors in cognitive function, yet we regularly ignore the sound sleep routines our parents set us up with and choose to raise our adrenalin levels right before bed.

This is neither healthy, nor

If you really can’t stomach the idea of a warm milk before bed (you are an adult, after all), why not go for the slightly more grown up angle of a good book, yoga, music (soothing, obviously), or a warm bath before bed?

Whatever you do, just make sure it’s something design to calm, not stimulate, your senses.

Procrastination The art of putting off to tomorrow what can be done today, procrastination is perhaps one of the biggest time thieves. To achieve the tasks in front of you and avoid putting them off, try one of the most forms of time management; time blocking.

Write out a task that needs completing, book out a block of an hour, turn off phones and emails, and commit to using that whole hour to completing that task. You’ll be amazed what you can achieve.