Creating Margin

                                                        

I was an educator for forty years and a teacher mentor. One of the things I had to do was to teach students and teachers how to balance their time to be the most productive with the least amount of stress. Here are some ideas on how to do this.

Do you find yourself stressed most of the time, trying to fill as much as possible into your day, and then feeling frustrated because you didn’t accomplish everything on your list? Most of us are frazzled, doing too much too quickly and we cannot find a way to do it any differently. There are so many things to do and only so much time to do it. When we complain about it, we are told to let something go, to rest more, but that often seems impossible. Recently, I heard a suggestion that made sense to me. The suggestion was to create margin in your life.

When you think about the word margin you imagine the blank space on the side of a page where you can write in explanations or reflections. It is the spot for extra thought and personal additions. It is room to make more. What if we made margin in our lives by creating some blank space and time where we had some room to breathe? We seem to always be so intent on filling in every waking moment with as much activity as possible but with margin, you can have some time to catch up on a neglected task or merely do nothing but destress. Let me show you how creating margin, the unfilled space can make you both healthier and more productive.

Managing time with margin

Have you ever been in a situation where every minute of your day is scheduled, and you are like a hamster on the wheel wildly trying to keep up with completing your tasks? You are already behind, you have to have a presentation done in five minutes and of course, your computer shuts down and will not restart. Your stress level rises and panic sets in. What if you had given yourself some margin, some space in case something did not go according to plan? Instead of planning everything back-to-back, give yourself ten minutes in between commitments. If you finish early, you have space to start on something else or to take a few minutes to regroup.

Using margin for time outs

When you start to create margin, you will find that you have some time to refocus and organize. When we have time to focus, reflect and reorganize we can be more productive with our next task.  You will not feel frazzled and on edge because you were able to prepare calmly. Sometimes all you need is a few more minutes to breathe. Schedule that time into your day when you can catch up.   

Create a routine

Mornings are typically the most stressful times so do what you can to make them easier by organizing everything you need the night before. Choose the clothes you will wear, put anything that needs to come in with you near the door, and do any meal and snack preparation. Whatever you need to accomplish in the morning, make it a routine that you can do without even thinking. Consider waking up earlier to give yourself margin to ease into the morning.

Limit screen time

It is easy to be obsessed with checking our e-mail or social media or taking a break to look at YouTube videos, but these are all time eaters. Put a limit on how often you check your screens and stick to it. You may have to silence your phone or put it somewhere else so that you cannot hear notifications.

Say no

Do you feel guilty when you say no to something even though you know you do not have the time or energy to complete it well? If we are pulled in a million different directions, we will end up not doing any of our tasks professionally. Focus on the most important responsibilities and look at saying no as protecting the integrity of the task because it should be done by someone who has the time and ability. You deserve to live a life of quality which includes having time to relax and renew. If you never say no, there will never be any time for yourself.

Keep a calendar

Write down all your appointments, meetings, and tasks. If you do that then you will not be stressed by wondering if you are forgetting something.

Schedule the day

You do not have to schedule every minute because we all know that the minute a plan is in place, the disruptions will happen. Schedule the basics of your day.

Give yourself some margin in your life and I guarantee you will see a difference. Last year I made the decision to become part-time at school because I was frazzled and unhappy. I needed some margin to write and pursue other passions. I feel as if I am in better health, I am happier, and stress is not part of my life. My daughter told me that I am a completely different person. Margin has worked for me, and I think it can work for you.