Setting Boundaries: Establishing Limits That Transform Your Life
April 4th, 2012
Setting Boundaries: Establishing Limits That Transform Your Life
Would you like to make more time for the important things in your life? Do you feel like you often get lost in the details?
If you can set healthy limits, you’ll regain control of your life. Some benefits of this can include:
- Life is simpler, more manageable, and therefore more stress free.
- You’re able to achieve your goals.
- When you value your time and show that you have priorities, others will also see your time as valuable.
- You become more effective in almost everything you do.
Rather than focusing on life’s trivia or biting off more than you can chew, read on for some tips on setting boundaries that work for you.
Examine Your Routine
To start this process of boundary setting, look at your daily routine. What consumes most of your time? Try to identify the places where you feel overloaded.
Maybe it’s watching too much television, spending too much time on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribing to too many blogs or newsletters. Perhaps you’re just glued to your mobile phone. Calculate how many hours you spend on such activities and cut down on them.
Then, try allotting a certain amount of time to each of these activities. Maybe give yourself an hour for your email instead of two. Each day, write down exactly how much time you spent.
After a week, look at your numbers. Did you do better than before you were tracking your time? More importantly, did you feel like you had more time for what you really wanted to do?
Refrain from trying to deal with everything at once. Address each time individually, and you’ll gradually see a change in your routine.
Identify Essential Tasks
Once you begin to set limits on your activities, you’ll be able to simplify further by sticking with the essential ones and reducing the trivial. The essentials may be organizing your closet, catching up with your reading, or balancing your checkbook.
Determine your values and goals. The essentials will depend on these. Whatever you choose should make a big difference to your life. For instance, if you want to be a good athlete, you’ll make the time to train on certain days during the week. If you can’t read through all your emails on those days, that’s okay! That’s not your #1 priority for the day, anyhow.
You may want to make a list of things to do. Then you can set your priorities. For example, you could put off cleaning the kitchen shelves in order to pay your bills.
Be Aware of Your Energy Levels
You may set out to clean your entire house in a day or take the kids to the park for a ball game and find your plans impossible because you just don’t have that kind of energy. Know your limitations and work within those boundaries for greater success.
Budget
Just like you’ll want to know your personal limits, you also need to know your financial limits. Make an effort to align your spending with your goals and values. For instance, if one of your values is knowledge, you might choose to buy a book rather than a new outfit.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for more hours in your day, these tips are a great place to start. Try out some of the suggestions above and you’ll begin to set boundaries that work for you. By doing this, you can simplify your life and make the most of work and leisure times. Best of all, you can start today.
Known for a contagious passion for excellence, a talent for practical business solutions, and a competence for being a motivational leader, Lorene Collier Purcy, is professional speaker, a certified credit, entrepreneur & personal development coach, a contributing author to (2) newly released books “The Power of Change: Reinventing Yourself at Any Age” & “How to Break the Glass Ceiling Without a Hammer: Career Strategies for Women”. Whether it’s life balance, money, career or relationship issues, Lorene has been helping individuals realize their true potential and acts as their accountability partner, assisting them on how to effectively implement strategies to live the life they truly deserve. You can contact Lorene at info@savvychicks.me or visit her online at www.savvychicks.me.
EmbracingMyJourney L.L.C. was created by Caryn FitzGerald in 2008.
Caryn, known as "The Manifesting Queen" is a motivational columnist, speaker and writer, she has been featured in and published several books, including "Tulips In The Sand" "Fish Sticks, Books and Blue Jeans" “Manifest Success” “Visual Arts Junction Interviews” & “Online Marketing Success Stories..."
Caryn is a domestic violence survivor who has triumphed over a 10-year battle with anorexia and bulimia. She is a wife, mother, healthy-aging-specialist, writer, speaker, blogger, coach and a health food enthusiast Click to connect with Caryn at her website There may be paid links on this page, click here to read the blog disclaimer.
If you enjoyed this post, click here to receive a little motivation in your inbox each day!!
