A recent study reported that the average modern mother gets just 26 minutes per day to devote to “me” time. It would be interesting to see a similar study done to determine just how much “me” time the modern entrepreneur manages to set aside! In this article, we look at the concept of “me” time and find ways of integrating the idea into our busy lives in order to make our “me” time work for us in a more meaningful way.

At Planning for Life we encourage our client to develop plans for spending their money. It is a way of maintaining control over their money, but in a more positive way than “setting budgets”. Similarly, we also encourage our clients to set plans for spending their time, plans that are often more about what not to do than what to do. We start by looking at the concept of getting something for free by doing or making it ourselves. So what does “Free” really mean?

In our previous article "Valuing Time - The Goals Approach" we have talked about the importance of addressing how you spend your time, particularly as an entrepreneur where time is one of, if not, your most valuable assets.

We have also looked at ways of valuing your time and this is a key exercise that you need to carry out before you can go any further. Giving a value to your time helps you put it in perspective and budget time in the way that you budget money. It allows you to work out what your real priorities are, rather than being side-tracked by activities which don’t add value.

Once you have put a value on your time, you can then start to develop your own personal Time Policy. Write down how you are going to spend time and what you are going to do with it.