Have you managed to spend at least five minutes every day doing something for yourself, which makes you feel happier and more consciously engaged with your wants and needs?

Hopefully you would have had time to read my introductory blog post ‘The Beginning’.  If you are time-rich, you would have also had time to watch the TED talk, and started a conversation with yourself about time, how you can prioritise it, and how you can carve out more of it for the things that you love.

Can you list the things that you have deliberately done for yourself over the past week/fortnight?  On reflection, does that make you feel empowered or that you need to take more control?

I appreciate that for many, the conversation I started in my last post about finding more time for yourself is terribly over-simplified.  Ultimately, compromises will be considered and carving out more time for you for ‘X’ could mean less time for ‘Y’.  For example, I started to compromise 30 minutes sleep in the morning to get up early to do an exercise course.  However, this DID make me HAPPY (which is the perfect way to start the day)!!!

As I touched on before, if we are happier and more rounded beings then we can contribute to the world in a much more positive way.

Are there any compromises that you would be happy to make, to help find more time for yourself?

***********************************************************

Review of Activity #1 (From ‘The Beginning’)

How are you getting on with deciding what your goals for 2018 will be?

Maybe the thought of getting a notebook to start jotting down your goals was just another item on a lengthy ‘to-do’ list, or your bag is already bursting at the seams.  Some of you will be perfectly happy to use your phone/tablet, or some will find that simply carving out five minutes to even think this through is all that you can manage – anything goes.

Or perhaps the sheer challenge of setting yourself 2-3 goals in three different areas of your life (e.g. professional, home, personal) was too daunting and all-consuming.  It could be that your life is dominated by a single goal or a significant uncertainty that make it hard to think forward past the next few weeks. 

Let’s take a step back, and set a single goal for the month.

***********************************************************

Activity #2

Instead, as a start, why don’t you think about just one goal you would like to achieve by the end of the month?  Something simple. 

We have talked about hours in a week (168), but what about hours in a month?  Can you spare just one hour for a massage, a facial, a yoga class or a trip to your favourite place?  Try it and see.  Be open to inspired thought – for example – if you receive an offer or discount for something that you would enjoy then take the hint!

This type of mindset will take some practice, but like most things the more you practice the better you get, and before you know it prioritising a bit of time for yourself each day will become second nature to you.

Let us know what you decide to do for this month… you can comment below, or share with us on Facebook or instagram using #minutesforme @minutesforme