Struggling for time? Here’s how to create spare capacity in your schedule

You’re probably aware by now that I’m pretty obsessed with time. 

The passing of time, how we spend it, invest it, use it up, the language around time and, most crucially, making sure that we all learn from the past to make the best use of the present, and optimise the future.  

In my keynotes and workshops I often remind everyone of two key points:

1. We all have only 168 hours in a week so the mission should be to make the best use of all of them.  Add your maximum unique value as much as possible, prioritise periods of efficient deep work, inspire others to leverage their time in the best ways possible, and also plan for, and enjoy, quality recovery time.  

2. Drawing on Oliver Burkeman’s book 4000 weeks, I encourage everyone to give some thought to haw many more weeks they have still to look forward to in life, and how they plan to make the best of each of these weeks.  There’s nothing like the concept of finite time to focus the mind and clear out any clutter that’s getting in the way of what really matters.  

Either point is a quick gateway to high level prioritising and, given the opportunity to consider these topics for a moment, most people are pretty effective at mapping out what they’d like more of in their life, now and in the future. 

But in order to have time for all the things that are important, most of us would benefit from offloading a whole raft of behaviours, strategies, habits and routines that are currently sucking up much of that time. 

So your mission for 2026 is simple

Make notes every day for the next few weeks of things that rob you of time but no longer teach you anything or move your life forwards.

Then make a plan for how quickly you can rid yourself the items on the list.  

Some things will be easy to drop, others may require a little time and consideration but, with the concept of what you want to achieve, and a plan to get you there, you’ll definitely find a way to let go of them at some point.  

This way of operating might feel uncomfortable to begin with but very quickly this system of clearing out old behaviour patterns before they start costing you time will become your default way of living.

Very soon you’ll notice that even when you take on new strategies or behaviours that are meaningful and helpful, you’ll already be thinking about the point when these become outdated and you can transition away from them and onto the next most useful behaviours. 

Which is a great way to run your routine.  Getting ahead of your future self. Being proactive, not reactive.  In control.  

Give it a try.

You’ll be amazed at what a difference this mindset makes. 

And how much time you can make available every week by doing less of the things that you don’t particularly enjoy anyway.

And how different your life could look this time next year.