How to Make More Time for Giving
It's easy to get stuck in a rut, feeling like we have too many responsibilities and not enough time. But what if there was a way that you could give yourself more time? That's exactly what this post will teach you how to do. From prioritizing your tasks by importance, structuring your day for maximum productivity, and giving yourself permission to let things go, these are the things that will help you make more time for giving.
Ready yet? Let’s dive in!
How much do we sacrifice when we spend our lives running on autopilot? In an effort to protect ourselves from overloading our schedules and disappointing those around us, the human experience loses flavor. We lose the chance to connect with the people and things that make our lives so rich. We stop going for walks, reading books, and go out to eat with friends. And we forget about giving of ourselves, making it difficult for us to live up to our highest potential.
I have been there. I remember the days when my mind would race with so many thoughts of all the things I needed to do in a day, which would cause me stress worrying about how I was going to get everything done. I wanted my work to be perfect and my time spent with family quality time. I lost myself in trying to juggle it all and not quite succeeding—always feeling like there was a better way for me to live my life.
It wasn’t until I discovered the book Getting Things Done by David Allen that my whole outlook on time management changed. His simple system helped me get into a calm place where I was able to gain clarity on how I wanted to live my life and how I could get there. This made it much easier to manage my time, take care of myself, and give back in ways that felt meaningful. It is because of this book that I started Life Sanctuary – an organization that helps women reclaim their lives through self-care and personal development.
When you make giving a part of your life, you can truly feel a sense of freedom in the decisions you make on a daily basis. This is because giving doesn’t take away from your life, but rather gives you room to live the life that you want. And you can only truly do that when you have a clear picture of what your priorities are and a system in place so that you can get them done.
This is where the Life Sanctuary template comes in. We call it “Giving Formula” because it is an effective way for helping you realize and harness your unique purpose, as well as get more focused on who and what matters most to you. It is designed to help you find spaciousness in the things that means the most, while allowing room for everything else to move in its own direction as well.
Our life purpose is unique, and it's up to you to know what you're here to do. By discovering your purpose, you allow yourself the freedom of living life with peace and clarity in your heart.
It may sound like a heavy topic, but it doesn’t take long for the how’s and why’s of this formula to sink in once you start using it. Let me tell you a little story about how the template has helped me along my journey.
The morning after I posted my first blog post on this site, I was overwhelmed with sadness and confusion about my life. I felt like my purpose was pretty clear—to help women find their way out of not just the challenges they face in dating and relationships, but also in their careers and life in general. I’d had a lot of success with the blog over the years, bringing peace to many individuals, but I wasn't sure how to take that next step to have a bigger impact on my life. I felt tremendous pressure to start something new or create more income. But all that got pushed down because I was worried about "the why.” I had to stop making it about money and start making it about my mission.
Discovering my life purpose is something that has taken me months to define, but the formula has made it much easier for me to sit down and think through. Here’s how the formula breaks down:
Your top two or three feelings – What makes you most excited when you wake up in the morning? This is your life purpose. It's also another part of this post that I am going to go into more detail about how to identify your feelings because it's a skill you will use over and over again as you move forward on your path.
Today I feel ___.
The people who support you – This is an amazing lesson of how we are all connected to one another. There is no way that you can do as much as you want on your own and not rely on the support of others to help you accomplish your goals. By getting clear on who these people are, it will be easier for you to align them into your life so that they can help you bring more value to the world. I am going to go over this in great detail in a future post, but for now, the key here is that this formula will help you define what type of relationship would be most helpful to have or where else you could find that person’s support.
Do I have these people in my life?
The most important two or three things – Your two or three most important desires. This is another part of "How to Say No," where I explain why it's so important to identify and make decisions based on what gives you the greatest joy. Over time, it will become easier for you to prioritize your life the way you want, which is the whole point of this system—to help you make better decisions about what your priorities are and how to spend your time on a daily basis. The core idea here is that everything else is just filler.
What are the two or three most important things in my life?
The people who want to support you – We all have people who want to support us, but it's up to us to tell them what we need and how they can help. This is where Life Sanctuary comes in. The purpose of this platform is not just to help you identify your life purpose, but also provide tools so that you can start making a difference right away. This is an amazing way for me and the Life Sanctuary team to give back and strengthen our connection with our supporters.
Who do I want to help?
The most important one or two things – This is the part of the formula that deals with prioritizing and making decisions. It’s important to remember that your life is not going to be perfect. No one's is, and it's important to have a system in place so that you can make decisions that feel right in your heart. Reducing the pressure of perfection will help you find relief at the end of the day while helping you sleep better, too!
One of the most challenging aspects I’ve come across when teaching this formula to others is finding a way for everyone to be heard.
Conclusion
This is an amazing system that anyone can use. No matter where you are on your path, it will show you how to make better decisions every time. Once you learn this system, it will feel like life's a breeze! I'll go into more detail about how to use the template in the future, but for now, here are a few points to keep in mind:
You create the formula and the experience. It’s up to you to decide what direction you want your life and business to take.