Too Much to Do? Overcoming Time Famine

Do you ever feel like there are too many tasks and projects on your plate? Like you simply don’t have enough time to tend to every task? Then you may be suffering from time famine.

What Is Time Famine?

Time famine is described as “the universal feeling of having too much to do but not enough time to deal with those demands.” This feeling tends to creep up when we have a lot on our plate, and we begin to feel overwhelmed by our time constraints. In a society that seems to favor monetary value over spiritual value, it’s no wonder that we often push ourselves to the point of exhaustion just to cram one more deadline in.

When you’re experiencing time famine, you may feel overwhelmed, under-valued, and near the point of emotional and physical burnout. However, there can be so much pressure to succeed and further your position within your career that you may feel guilt for taking a moment for self-care and relaxation.

This can lead to a vicious cycle of overworking yourself and feeling bad for those moments when you simply need to take a break.

How to Overcome Time Famine

We’re here today to discover ways to overcome time famine and get back to your roots, valuing your personal health over your ability to produce products, content, or work for monetary value.

Valuing Yourself

The first step to moving beyond feelings of time famine is to take a step back and evaluate your own personal value. Are you a complex individual with much more to contribute to society than simply your work? It’s time to consider what it is you need and deserve.

While money certainly makes life easier, it is not the doorway to happiness. Happiness is found in the little things, the connections, the sentiment, the stolen moments.

We can get so wrapped up in our professional selves that we forget that we are so much more. Take a moment, open your journal, and make a list of the traits, talents, and desires that make you the beautiful individual that you are.

Once you learn to value your spirit and your being over your ability to produce, you’ll feel better setting time aside for crucial aspects of your life, like self-care and mental health maintenance. It’s time to realize how valuable your spirit is and how much the Universe wants you to take care of yourself.

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Reprioritize

You’ve been working hard, but have you been working towards goals that truly suit you? Research shows that time famine occurs across all economic earning levels, meaning that the idea that a raise or a promotion will help you learn to relax and take care of yourself may be an illusion.

If you don’t learn to make time for what truly matters to you now, this feeling of a perpetual lack of enough time may follow you from one promotion or career to the next.

This is the time to take stock of the things that matter to you. If you have a family at home, is it worth missing out on those precious moments to get another project completed well before the deadline? Or would it feel more comforting to make time for the people you love the most?

Grab a notebook and a pen, open it up, and take note of the things that you find to be the most important in this life. Then, look at that list through the perspective of how you currently spend the majority of your time. Do these two areas add up? If you’re spending more time doing the things that don’t fulfill you as an individual, you may need to reprioritize your time and make room for the activities and connections that you find spiritually fulfilling.

Recognize the Importance of Mental Health & Self-Care

While it’s wonderful to advance in your career and create success for yourself, there is nothing more important than your physical well-being, mental health, and your self-care routine. There are few things in this life that can bring you as much peace as taking care of yourself mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Sometimes it may feel odd to take time to pamper or treat yourself, but these aspects of life are just as crucial as making money. It’s great to find financial and material success and almost impossible to enjoy these things without the clear-headed objectivity that comes along with self-care. 

It’s time to take time for yourself and realize the importance of your self-caring, mentally healthy routines.

Embrace Your Time Without Distractions

You’ll never know amazing it feels to sit down and simply relax until you do it! So set some time aside for simply being and resting in your own self-worth. Make time for a bubble bath, a meditation, or even a binge session of your favorite TV show.

When you begin to use your time for joy and pleasure, you’ll realize that there are so many more important parts of yourself than the work you produce.

You Got This!

These tips are incredibly valuable in building our self-confidence and finding self-love. We can journey into loving ourselves, but if we constantly feel that we are under-performing, this will take a toll on our self-image. So, let’s do this. Let’s prioritize our time and overcome time famine!

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