I have been cleaning out my schedule to make room for more important stuff, and I realized that I’ve been “cluttering” up my calendar with unimportant stuff again. Here are 5 things I’m cutting out right now to free up more time: 

 

1. Not cooking at home.

 

It’s counterintuitive, but not shopping for food then cooking at home adds up to a lot of wasted time each week. Here’s how the math works: 

 

Home cooking: 

 

Shopping each week: 1 hour.

Cooking for 2 meals a day x 20 minutes x 6 days a week: 4 per week

 

Total: 5 hours

 

Eating out:

 

Picking up food x 2 per day x 6 days:  6 hours

 

Total: 6 hours

 

An hour isn’t a huge time saver, but it also is cheaper and healthier, making me more productive the rest of the day. 

 

2. Group my errands.

 

I’ve found myself making lots of little runs to various places throughout the week. By grouping all of my errands into a single day, I can significantly cut my drive times. 

 

3. Group my meetings. 

 

Meetings are important in the music industry, but very time consuming. One trick I’ve found that works is picking a single location (a coffeehouse, for instance) and scheduling 2-3 meetings back to back there. This keeps me from having to drive to a new location for each meeting, and frees up my schedule. 

 

4. Plan my house work. 

 

House work can fall through the cracks, and having a plan for when to do each task can make a big difference. Also, seeing everything written out can help me prioritize what’s really important to do, and what I can let slide. 

 

5. Create a weekly plan. 

 

This is the big one- having a weekly plan helps me stay focused on what’s important, and keeps me from feeling overwhelmed. I make sure to put in lots of free time into the plan, otherwise I’ll have a hard time sticking to it.