Have you every felt like your day was running you, instead of you dictating how your day should go? I feel like that way too often, so today I thought I’d share a couple of things that help me when I start feeling out of control and a little overwhelmed.

Here are three ways to take back control over your day:

Conduct a Time Audit 

Take a few days to learn how you’re spending your time now and what the impact of that is. It’s easy to keep track if you use your smartphone to record what you’re doing on a note pad, by taking pictures, or by just writing down what you’re doing and the time and impact of it on a piece of scratch paper. The important thing is that you should know after a week or so how you’re spending your time now and how the actions you’re taking are affecting your goals.

​Set Time Limits and Deadlines for Yourself 

When you look at your time spent audit, do you notice any patterns or things that jump out as time-wasters? If so, automatically eliminate all time-wasters such as surfing the net and so forth by simply adding a time limit to the tasks that you need to do. For example, if you do need to check your email each morning, set a time limit of 15 to 30 minutes so that you’re not tempted to get lost clicking links in email rather than seriously processing email.

​Use a Daily To-Do List 

Create a daily to-do list and add only things that are urgent and only you can do. Everything else can be scheduled for a later time, assigned to someone else or even automated. Primarily the to-do list should consist of impactful actions that make a difference and get you closer to reaching your goals.

Final Thoughts

Knowing how you spend your time gives you more control over what you do with it. When you see how you’re using your available time, you can make better decisions on whether to keep doing certain things yourself or look to outsourcing to free up even more time for yourself. When you focus on doing what it most important each day, you will feel less overwhelmed and more in control of your day.

If you really want to take back control of your time and your business, my friend Jan Small has a great course called Freedom From Overwhelm*, that walks you through her process for ditching overwhelm and learning to love your business again.

*Note: This post includes affiliate links, for which I will receive a small commission should you make a purchase.