Over many years, I have developed daily habits that have increased my efficiency and have essentially given me the gift of time!

Many years ago, when I was a young mom, alone and very much stuck at home most of the time, I started descending into a depression-type state. I was where I wanted to be and doing what I wanted to do, and yet I did not feel fulfilled. I felt lost and aimless much of the time. And on top of everything else, I felt guilty for feeling this way, when I knew I had a good life with much to be grateful for!

Looking back, I feel there were a few reasons for my state of mind:

• I felt very alone in those years. I didn’t always have a vehicle and being off-grid at that time, meant I did not have the technology to stay meaningfully connected to the world in real time. My husband worked and went to school, and we lived far enough outside of town that visitors were few and far between. The reality was that I was alone much of the time.
• Living off-grid was a choice my family did not understand, nor were they comfortable with it. I got a lot of flack for my lifestyle choices as soon as we moved to this property. And that did not get better when I added a baby to the mix. My parents were always concerned for my safety and could not understand why I willingly gave up regular power and plumbing. They were well-meaning, but it was also frustrating and tiring to feel like I constantly needed to justify my choices. It would seem people questioning, and me justifying is a pattern in my life, because of my various outside the box lifestyle choices!
• I was feeling societal pressure around the fact that I stayed home to raise my babies instead of pursuing a career. People would ask me what I did alone in the bush all day, and I had trouble answering in such a way that sounded like I was “doing something meaningful” with my life. Strange that raising children wouldn’t fit that bill alone, isn’t it?

I knew I was busy, and that my life was full, and yet I wanted to be able to articulate that better. After some introspection, I realized it wasn’t just for the sake of answering other people’s questions. I needed to feel a sense of accomplishment myself. I am a planner by nature, I love goals, I like seeing visual progress, and I feel like my life needs to have meaning beyond myself.

I read some books, learned about my personality type and how I’m wired, and discussed my struggles with people who were wiser than I am. From that process, I gleaned some ideas and then slowly made them my own until I had established my own set of daily habits that helped my efficiency, gave me more time in my day, but even more importantly, helped me feel accomplished at the end of each day.

Here are some of my life-changing efficiency habits, that to this day, I still do on an almost daily basis:

• I make lists. I have daily lists, monthly lists, and yearly lists. They encompass things I need to do or goals I want to accomplish. Daily lists were one of the biggest game-changers for me, mentally speaking. I write down EVERYTHING I want to do every day, and then I check that thing off every time it gets done. I list even mundane, obvious tasks like making supper and collecting eggs. Daily reading goals, meditation, and my step count goals are all things that are added to the daily list.
  This detail may be unnecessary for some, but I needed, and still need, a visual of what I get up to every day, and it makes me feel good to see what I was able to check off at the end of every day.
  I also need to be well organized because of my off grid living. Balancing my power needs according to variables like time and solar charging is a must. I can’t just throw in a load of laundry whenever I want.
  And honestly, sometimes I even write down things I’ve done already just for the mental satisfaction of being able to check it off!
  I also tend to forget to do things if it’s not written down, especially if it is not part of my daily routine, like bottling beer, appointments, or publishing an article. Going on an errand day without a list borders on useless for me. I forget things, or I do them in an order that makes no sense. Properly executed lists are huge for increasing my efficiency!
• I do small tasks immediately. My friend Ryan wrote an article about this idea last week and how if it just takes two minutes, do it right then and there. Somewhere along the way, I read this concept, as she did, and I adopted it in many ways. But it was such a great reminder for me to read this because there is always room for improvement!
  This is why I always open and sort my mail as soon as I get it. I open and delete or deal with emails every day. I make my bed when I get up in the morning. Dishes get washed as I bake or cook so that there is less of a mess after the eating part. Dishes also get washed after every meal. Laundry gets folded and put away as soon as it’s dry.
  I find that if you keep up with the little stuff immediately, it never turns into a major burden to deal with later. It saves time, mostly over agonizing the fact of not wanting to do something because it has now become a much larger task.
• I create routines I can maintain. When I am by myself doing an ordinary day in my world, it runs in a very routine manner. I have certain readings I start my day with, I then deal with email, I do animal chores and start the fire next, and if it’s a writing day that is what follows, and so on… Generally, I write my lists, knowing that most days I can accomplish what I set out to do, as long as I maintain my usual order.
  It’s also important to not reach too far when setting out new goals. Writing is a great example of that. I set myself goals according to what I want to accomplish and then adjusted accordingly as goals are met or not.
  I try to keep my goals manageable. If I reach too low, I forget about them. And if I go in with too much gusto, I get burned out and quit. With every new venture, I relearn what works for that thing, but it is a concept that I know is important. What can I consistently maintain within my known time constraints?
• I clean the kitchen and do a general tidying of the house before bed. This nightly task ends up being a gift to me every morning. I don’t always love doing it at the time, but I love waking up to a relatively clean house in the morning, and I like my surroundings to feel like a clean slate for whatever new things I want to accomplish that day. I am not a morning person, so it is very deflating to me when I do wake up to a kitchen full of dishes when I can hardly navigate boiling water for coffee. This can end up setting me back in time and can compromise my goals quickly. By doing this nightly step, I set myself up for success every day.

None of my tricks are new ideas or are earth-shattering by any means. But they changed my life when I needed a change. And to this day, they serve me well. I get a lot done most days, and I have time for myself. I read and take baths almost daily. I watch my share of Netflix, have weekly time for drinks with friends, can stare at my chickens for a while if so moved, and with forethought and efficiency tweaking, am able to take off for a few days to hang out with my boyfriend on a regular basis.

I have, of course, adjusted these habits over the years as my lifestyle has changed. For many years, my life used to revolve around driving my kids to school and their activities, so my days looked very different from how they do now. The point is to tweak these ideas for your current lifestyle and then stay consistent!

My belief is, that the more consistent you are, the more efficient you become! And the major bonus, besides time, is better mental health. These habits help keep me grounded even when the rest of life is tumultuous, which it often is, and they allow for necessary me time.

If you manage to practise some of these efficiency ideas consistently, before you know it, there seem to be more minutes in your day, and more peace in your heart!