“Time, where did you go? Why did you leave me here alone?” My phone would sing this to me ten years ago – back when having a song as a ringtone was cool. I chose the Chantel Kreviazuk tune, “Time,” based on my dedication to soft pop and Canadiana. Recently, however, I couldn’t help but notice how my current relationship with time eerily parallels its namesake’s lyrics.

I’ve been struggling to manage my time. From emailing editors and friends to completing deadlines to scheduling in bikini waxes and “personal time,” it seems like there are never enough minutes in the day to do anything. This is, of course, not true because there are 14440 minutes in a single 24 hour-period and that’s a heck of a lot of time for both the mundane and the magic to happen. But why did it suddenly seem like I could get NOTHING done? Was it a case of ringtone imitating life, or life imitating ringtone? It was something that I needed to get to the bottom of.

Here’s what I found to help manage my time more wisely – and happily.

Maintain a Solid Sleep Schedule

Even though I work from home, I try to maintain a 9-5 schedule as best I can. But because my bed is only a hop-not-even-a-skip away from my desk, it’s verrry easy to press the snooze button on repeat, just because I can. So I start my workday groggily and unfocused, and then end up going to sleep later. No bueno. Most people need a solid sleep 7-8 hour sleep schedule, or else the body and mind no longer wish to cooperate, no matter how much coffee you consume. I’ve started to go to bed earlier and only hitting the snooze button once, and I feel better already.

Time Doesn’t Equal Money

This is a huge, HUGE lesson for me, especially as a freelance writer. Since I’m not salaried, every hour is time spent getting paid or not getting paid, so I try to use each minute to its fullest, which really means I am in an almost constant state of anxiety. But this “strategy” (a.k.a. torture) is basically the worst thing you can do for yourself. A 2012 study showed that people who put a price on their time are more likely to feel impatient when they’re not using it to earn money, which plagues their ability to enjoy their leisure time. No wonder I’ve been bailing on social events when I wasn’t “feeling it.” I’ve promised to smell the roses more and mark “yes” to (some of) those Facebook invitations.

Schedule Downtime During the Day

I’m one of those people who eat the red Smarties last, meaning, I do all of the boring, shitty grunt work first. But instead of rewarding myself, I continue to plow away with the next task. I love checking things off my to-do list, which isn’t a baaaadd thing, but it definitely puts a lot of pressure on getting things done. I’m so preoccupied with ticking things off my list that it’s difficult for me to step back and appreciate what I’ve already accomplished. A few hours of this nose-to-the-grindstone behaviour soon leaves me with little gas left in the tank. Then procrastination kicks in, and I find myself clicking aimlessly on Twitter for TWO HOURS.

Needless to say, getting back to work is HARD; however, allowing some downtime between tasks was just what the doctor ordered. Now, I schedule some “fun” time between responsibilities. Whether it’s going out for a short walk or doing some creative writing, I try to inject some “fun” into my workday and find that I am able to not only acknowledge the dent in my work that I’ve made, but also am eager for round two.

Use the Weekend To Its Fullest Potential

As a freelancer, working on weekends was a no brainer for me. I mean, if I can take off a Monday afternoon to go the Jays game (I’m not saying I did, but HYPOTHETICALLY I could), I can use a Saturday afternoon to do some editing. However, sometimes when I used a weekend as a workday, I ended up hating myself and feeling gross and resenting my assignment because my friends were going somewhere awesome like Screemers, and I had to say no.

Though I do believe that doing even an hour or two of work on the weekend isn’t too awful since it lessens my load during the week, I now take one full day – either Saturday or Sunday – to do absolutely no work, and stay completely away from my computer. On some weekends, I even stash my phone in a drawer so I’m not tempted to check my email or Twitter. The benefits to my peace of mind, as well as my personal life, have been TREMENDOUS.

Learn To Say No

When opportunities come knocking, I usually run to answer the door because who doesn’t like to be needed? It’s validating, and it just feels good. Well, not always. Recently I’ve learned that not every opportunity, email or conversation, is worth my time. When it comes to responding to new invitations, either professional or personal, I am learning to take a moment and ask myself, “Does this feel like a yes?”

A “yes” feels exciting and joyful and gives me a feeling of anticipation and “I can’t wait to do this!” A “no” feels heavy and creates anxiety and frustration and almost always lands on my procrastination list. When I say “no” more often – presto! I suddenly find the time to do the things that make me feel good. We can only be more useful and productive to others if we stop to honour our own needs and happiness.