5 Time Reframes To Make The Most Out Of Your Busy Schedule

We all have too many things clamoring for our attention and between work, family, friends, and side hustle interests, it feels like there will never be enough.

Most people look at massively successful people like the Hormozis or Taylor Swift and wonder how they manage to get everything done. It's not because they magically have more hours in the day—everyone gets the same 24 and needs to sleep. But rather, they have clarity on their goals and engineer their time to meet and exceed those goals.

As a serial procrastinator who is trying to be productive and not blame "lack of time" anymore, these 5 time reframes have shifted how I think about my busy schedule.

Time Reframe 1: Busy & Productive Are Not Equal

Have you ever felt like you did things all day only to lay down at night and feel like you got nothing done?

Those are busy days, but busy and effectively productive are not equal. It's worth looking at your goals for a few minutes at the beginning of the day to help guide what will push the ball forward on your goals and what seems urgent, but can wait till another day.

Time Reframe 2: Rest Is Not Unproductive

I still struggle with getting rest, but am starting to recognize that everyone needs it, including sleep.

While it would be amazing to stay up till 1am and still get up at 5am and constantly get things done, it's not realistic long term. When I'm tired, it's much easier to get distracted and not do what I set out to, but getting adequate sleep has helped me use time more effectively without getting distracted (at least as distracted...).

Time Reframe 3: Research > Mindless Scrolling

Content creators need to have a finger on the pulse of what's going on with their audience, but it's easy to scroll the For You feed for 3 hours and return with no insights.

Instead of mindlessly scrolling, spend a minute or two deciding exactly what research needs to be done and what the result should be. Then, set a timer, open the app, and search instead of scrolling.

Time Reframe 4: You'll Never "Find Time"

Even this week, I have caught myself saying that, "I need to find time to do xyz." and it's a bad habit to create.

The entire concept of calendar blocking is that you make time for what is important because it won't just fall into your lap. Once time is designated to be used for a certain task or project, then it opens up the "find time" ability for when you have to wait 5 minutes for the next appointment.

Time Reframe 5: Time Fills The Space Available

This concept is known as Parkinson's Law and made me realize that my undiagnosed ADHD could be an advantage.

Previously, I would intentionally plan on a project or task taking a week or month, but I'd inevitably get within a few days of the deadline and still not have made progress. An idea from Leila Hormozi is to take that timeline and cut it in half, which has helped my ADHD brain put priority on it instead of procrastinating.