Make More Time for Yourself

3: Reschedule Your Schedule

Now that you’ve freed up precious minutes, decide how you want to spend your energy.

Establish one or two “nonnegotiables” and work your schedule around them. For example, eight hours of sleep a night, two hours of exercise a week, or one night out for fun, suggests Valorie Burton, a life coach in Annapolis, Maryland, and the author of How Did I Get So Busy? (Broadway Books, $13, amazon.com). 

Create your daily to-do list on an index card. “The card forces you to focus on what’s important,” says Ferriss. (If you prefer to think in weeks, fill out five cards.) Write down only what you can realistically accomplish in a day―three to five items. Then make sure at least one item from the top of your wish list is part of your weekly plan. Yes, that means writing in “30 minutes on the hammock with my novel.”

Schedule a quick and brainless task first. This lets you cross off something right away and start the day feeling accomplished.

Schedule your most onerous task second. Whether it’s a difficult conversation with a friend or a tedious e-mail to a colleague, plan to get it over with next. 

Challenge the list. “Sometimes all it takes to keep your sanity is to drop just one thing,” says Burton. Ask yourself: “What item here least reflects what matters most to me?”

Reassess every Friday. Gina Trapani, editor of Lifehacker.com, a website dedicated to time-saving technology tips, is a huge fan of this approach. On Friday afternoons, she sets aside a half hour to go through what she accomplished, personally and professionally, and to map out the next week. (Even a five-minute version of her ritual can do the trick.) “This helps me remember my priorities,” says Trapani. This also reminds her that it’s impossible to do everything. “When you’re realistic about how much you can do in a day,” she says, “you’re so much happier.” And isn’t that the point?