There is never enough time. This is a common theme I hear from people everywhere. There is so much that needs to be done and so little time to do it that most people become lost in the quagmire of mundane tasks and do not move the needle on accomplishing what really matters.

The problem is that most people don’t know how to structure their day so they are not wasting their time. Let’s look at a typical day for most. Most people sleep at least 7 hours a day and work 8 hours a day. If you add one hour for commuting then you have lost 16 hours and have 8 hours left.

Let’s take away 3 hours for running errands, such as dropping and picking up your children from school and activities, doing groceries, going to the bank, picking up the dry cleaning and making dinner, to name a few. Let’s give an hour and a half for all of your meals including your breakfast, lunch and dinner and half an hour of relaxation, which is being conservative, as most people spend more time relaxing in a typical day.

You are now left with 3 hours that you have to devote to what truly matters, which is life enhancement. Life enhancement refers to improving the quality of your life, which could be in areas of health and fitness, personal and intellectual development, relationships, career and finances and spiritual development to name a few areas.

How you utilize these 3 hours will determine the quality of your life and, in order to move the needle in this area, you must focus on the area of your life which needs the most development. For some this could be their health, for others this could be their relationships and for others it could be their spirituality. Only you can make this determination.

I encourage you to brainstorm a list of two goals or ambitions which will have the greatest impact on improving the quality of their life. Once you have identified these areas, assign the 3 free hours, that you have in a typical day, to working on these two ambitions.

Identify the next smallest step that you can take in each of these two goals, to moving the needle further to accomplishing these goals. Then take those steps by scheduling them into those 3 hours of free time that you have identified. Create a written schedule and a journal entry for any action that you take towards your two goals.

You will find yourself utilizing your free time more effectively and will start to see the fruits of your labour as your greatest goals slowly materialize before your before eyes. This is how you structure your day to create more time and utilize it effectively.