Do You Manage Your Time, or Does Time Manage You? Managing Your Time to Control Your Diabetes

How often have you commented on not having enough time to do everything you need to do? Maybe you’ve said, “I don’t have time to exercise.” Or, “I can’t plan my meals ahead of time; it takes way too much time.” Or, “My schedule’s packed. Between doing my job and taking care of my family, I don’t have time to take care of myself.” Probably more times than you can count.

Lack of time is one reason many people struggle to maintain their newly established eating and exercise habits. Whether this time crunch is real or imagined is up for debate. With adults watching about 20 hours of television a week, and overweight adults watching almost 29 hours a week, it might be more perception than reality.

Nevertheless, most people do seem to be busier than ever. So this Well-being article is about managing time — your time.

• It explains how better time management can actually help you control your diabetes.
• It describes simple steps you can take to become a master of your time.

Time Management and Diabetes Control: What's the Connection?

As you’ve read the Diabetes Control for Life™ Program articles, you’ve probably noticed two important themes:

• Eating healthy foods and adopting an active lifestyle are essential diabetes control strategies that require planning — like planning meals, making grocery lists, and arranging time to exercise. Without planning, it’s easy to lose sight of weight loss and health goals.
• To be successful, diabetes control must be one of your top priorities: You have to practice behaviors that help you control your diabetes persistently and consistently — every day.

Time management is about getting organized. Julia Morgenstern, author of Time Management From the Inside Out, says that “being organized, whether with your space or time, is all about being ready … feeling in command so that you are prepared to handle all of the opportunities, distractions, and surprises life throws your way.” In other words, time-management skills can help you stay focused on your diabetes control and health goals, even when life throws you a curve like an unexpected change in your schedule. Managing your time also helps you create and maintain balance in your life so you can give attention to each aspect of it, including your job, family, friends, and self.

Time-Management Skills: Make a New Plan!

Contrary to what some people think, being able to manage time is not a genetic trait. It’s a skill that is easy to learn. With a little practice, you can find a system that works for you. Then you may feel less overwhelmed by your schedule and the need to search for more hours in the day.

Here are some basic steps:

1. Recognize that time is fixed. There are only 24 hours in a day, and roughly eight of those hours are spent sleeping. If you work, eight or more hours are spent on the job, leaving you about eight hours to do the things you like and things you need to do.
2. Keep your priorities and values in sight. Put your diabetes control and health goals at the top of your list of priorities. Typically, most people’s time-consuming activities revolve around their work, families, and households. To create a balance, add friends and — most importantly — yourself to that list.
3. Conduct a time audit. Find out where you currently spend your time and how long it takes you to do each activity. For one week, write down what you do and how much time you spend doing it. Then, take a hard look at your schedule. How much time do you spend doing each activity? Is there a balance between time spent on work, on family, and on you? Or are things out of balance? If there isn’t enough time in your current schedule to do things for yourself, make sure to build that time into your schedule. This isn’t selfish: This is an important health issue for you. Ask yourself honestly, “What can I delegate or get off my schedule altogether in order to make time to take care of myself?”
4. Create the ideal schedule. Block out regular times for the things that are important to you and that will help you reach your diabetes control goals. Keep in mind, though, that you don’t want to be too rigid. Some flexibility is good because even the best-laid plans sometimes have to change. If self-time is getting short shrift in your schedule, you’ll want to build more of that into your days. If one of your goals is to eat out less often, schedule time into your day to do some cooking so you can achieve that goal. Schedule time to plan your meals for the week, do your grocery shopping, and prepare your meals. If your goal is to walk 30 minutes a day, five times a week, schedule it in. If you don’t, it likely won’t happen.
5. Learn to say “no” from time to time. Some people find this hard to do. But by accepting requests and invitations from others, they end up clogging up their schedule with activities they would rather not do and resenting it. You don’t have to participate in these extra activities that drain your time and energy and interfere with your ability to do what you need and want to do to achieve your goals. You have the right to say “no.”
6. Don’t be afraid to delegate. Learning to share your workload with family members or coworkers is one of the most important time-management skills. Contrary to what you may think, you don’t need to do it all. Delegating tasks to others not only frees your time and energy and helps you focus on your goals, it’s a great way to solidify and build relationships. What you delegate and to whom you delegate are up to you, but the benefits are worth it.

Summary

• Make time management your friend. It’s an important diabetes control tool. When you organize your time, you have the energy and resources to stay focused on your healthy eating, exercise, and lifestyle goals.
• Keep track of how you spend your time, as well as how long it takes you to complete activities in your day. Use your current schedule to help you build your ideal schedule. Strive for a reasonable balance across all areas of your life: your job, family, home, friends/support, and yourself. Block out time for those activities that will help you reach your weight loss and health goals. If they’re not planned in, chances are they won’t happen.
• Time certainly does fly. But remember — you’re the pilot.