How To Live In The Moment – My Quest To Be More Present

Lately, I have been wasting so much time on social media and on other things that it has started affecting other areas of my life. There are so many distractions in life, and I want to change that.

In fact, I started writing this blog post at around 10 a.m., and it is now 6:30 p.m. the following day, and I am just now really getting started.

I’ve been getting so distracted by so many different things that it has caused me to waste a huge amount of time, and therefore, I have not been able to live in the moment like I would really like to.

I constantly have something on my mind, and I feel like I’m not always enjoying the fun moments. This is because I’m always thinking about other things and distracting myself with everything that happens in life.

Due to this, I recently shared this on Twitter:

Should I delete Facebook off my phone?

— Michelle Schroeder-Gardner (@SenseofCents) November 8, 2018

200 people participated in my little Twitter poll, and nearly 90% said I should delete Facebook off my phone. I was shocked that so many people voted for that. But, maybe that would help me be more present than I have been.

This made me think about what else in my life was causing me to waste a ton of time, and how I could change to live in the moment even more.

I’m guilty of rushing through everything, and many times, I feel like I am a very impatient person. I’m guilty of running through life too quickly and not stopping to really enjoy it.

I’ve decided that I really need to slow down, enjoy what’s happening right now, and to live in the moment. I want to be more focused so that I can truly enjoy whatever it is that I am doing.

Life goes by so fast, and I’m sure many of you are wondering how it’s already 2019. Your children are growing up, you may be finishing college, you may be feeling older, and so on. Life just goes by so quickly!

Because of that, I just want to make sure I get to experience more of this beautiful world that we live in. I want to start enjoying it instead of being preoccupied by the things that are holding me back.

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Here are the changes I’m making to live in the present.

 

I’m deleting Facebook off my phone.

After that Twitter poll, I decided to go ahead and delete Facebook from my phone. I constantly checked Facebook way more than I should, and it really did cause me to not live in the moment as much as I wanted.

I actually deleted Pinterest and Twitter off my phone a few years ago, and it’s been great. So, I decided to do that with Facebook too, as I’ve just been spending far too much time on it.

The average person spends many, many hours on social media each week. Between Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and many others, it can be quite easy to waste your entire day.

If you find that you are spending too much time on social media and it isn’t allowing you to live in the moment, you may want to delete some social media accounts from your phone, or even shut them down all together. You can even create a time block so you cannot access your accounts during certain periods of the day, and so on.

 

I’m unsubscribing from unnecessary emails.

Subscribing to emails is really easy to do. Over the years, I’ve subscribed to a ton of of different websites and companies. I have subscribed to so many that I get several hundred emails that land in my “Promotions” tab on gmail each day, along with hundreds more in my “Primary” tab as well.

I spend so much time every day filtering through them, but they are mostly junk. It is tedious, and sometimes real emails get lost in the mix as well!

So, I am unsubscribing from almost all emails, except for blogs that I enjoy and whatever is absolutely necessary.

Everything else is getting the ax.

If you find that you are spending too much time everyday checking, reading, and deleting emails that it isn’t allowing you to live in the moment, I definitely suggest unsubscribing to the ones that aren’t meaningful to you.

 

I’m no longer checking my email over and over again.

This is one thing that I am pretty bad at and it causes me to not live in the moment like I would like to. I have an addiction to checking my email– I will literally reload my email inbox over 100 times a day.

This wastes a huge amount of time, and there’s really no need for me to answer all of the emails I get the moment I receive them.

I think the problem for me is that I feel obligated to keep checking my email in case something pops up with my business or if a reader has a question. I want to be as available as possible, but that means I am constantly checking my email.

This is a hard thing when you own your own business as you want to be available to your readers or clients. But, you will be a much better business owner or employee if you are able to create a better work/life balance and live in the moment more.

While it may not feel like you are spending that much time checking your email, the time and focus it takes to switch back and forth can really add up. It can also lead you to losing your train of thought when you should actually be doing something else, like enjoying what’s around you and living in the moment.

Instead of checking your email all day long, I recommend setting time aside throughout the day to check your email. You can even set a rule that you only check your email after you finish a task, and you can turn off email notifications if they are distracting you.

You may want to work down to only checking your email just a few times a day, or even (EEEK!!!) once a day.

This will probably be hard at first, but when you realize how it helps you become more productive and live in the moment when it comes to personal things, you will have wished you did it sooner.

 

I’m batch working.

While I do enjoy writing, it isn’t part of my average work day. When I am in the writing mood, I like to write blog posts well in advance.

This means that I usually batch write. I may get really into writing and crank out a few articles in one day, and maybe even ten or more in one week. Then, I won’t write at all for a month or two.

I will continue to do this, as this is how I enjoy writing blog posts the most– only when I’m in the mood to write! 🙂

If you want to live in the moment even more, I suggest separating out tasks to focus on what you are currently motivated to do. Depending on what you do, this might be difficult. But when you focus on one type of job at a time, it will help you save time and live in the moment even more.

 

I’m significantly cutting back the amount of TV I watch.

I haven’t watched TV in a few months now, and it feels great! We actually haven’t even turned on our TV since around August of 2018.

I love a good TV show, and I can honestly say that I was once wasting a lot of time by watching too much TV. The average person watches TV for over 35 hours per week! I’m not sure if I was watching that much, but I know I was close.

Can you imagine what you could do by reclaiming just half of those hours each week?

You could work more on your side hustle, spend more time catching up with your family and friends, and just live in the moment even more!

I actually have firsthand experience with what you can do when you stop watching so much television. When Wes and I moved into the RV we actually got rid of Netflix, which was our only form of TV. When we got rid of Netflix, I was able to spend more time on my blog, spend more time exploring the new places we were traveling to, etc.

 

I’m outsourcing more work.

I’ve slowly been passing more work to my editor and virtual assistant, and it’s been great.

For years, I did nearly everything on my own for Making Sense of Cents, but it has been nice to have help as the blog has grown.

When I tell people that I run 1 Dollar Finance95% on my own, they are shocked.

Many people think that there is a team of people running this business.

But, nope, it’s just me, my editor, my virtual assistant, and my tech person– and they are all only part-time.

If you find yourself low on time, then you might want to consider hiring someone to help you out. There are virtual assistants, personal assistants, and everything else out there. You can designate certain tasks that don’t exactly need YOU in order to function.

Plus, you may find that outsourcing certain tasks will give you more time and energy to reach your other goals.

Even if you aren’t a business owner, you can outsource by finding someone to mow your lawn, clean your house, or do car repairs. This will give you more time to start a business on the side, or whatever your goal might be.

In order to outsource effectively and to make sure that it’s actually allowing you to live in the moment, you will want to think about a few things, such as:

• Could outsourcing some tasks help you earn more money, or would you be better off doing the work yourself?
• Do you feel comfortable doing the task, or would you be better off leaving it to an expert?
• Would outsourcing the task help you focus on your goal?

Outsourcing can be hard at first if you feel the need to be in control of everything. But with good help, you will probably find that you have more time in your day to devote to other things, like being able to live in the moment and focus on more important things.

 

I’m focusing on being organized.

This might surprise you, but I’m usually not an organized person at all. If you ask me where something is, I usually respond with the most ridiculous answer, such as “that [insert item] is under the stack of papers that’s between the two bins of shoes I never wear.”

For the most part, I remember where stuff is, but it never makes any sense.

I’m an organized mess, as they say.

Here are some surprising statistics I found from Simply Orderly about being unorganized:

• The average person spends 12 days per year looking for things they can’t find.
• Every day, the average office worker spends 1.5 hours looking for things.
• In a recent survey, 55% of consumers stated they would save anywhere from 16 to 60 minutes a day if they were organized.
• 23% of people pay bills late and have to pay late fees because they are unable to find their bills.

Being unorganized can waste a significant amount of your time, and like those numbers show, it can lead to late fees, stress, lost items, and more. I know some very unorganized people who say they always know where things are, but I’m not sure that is the case for everyone.

Learning to be more organized can be a hard thing to adjust to, but it can really help you reclaim some of your time. If you are wanting to work towards a more organized life, here are several helpful time saving tips for becoming organized:

• Put things away when you are finished using them.
• Make a schedule and stick to it.
• Write things down in a notebook or planner so you don’t forget anything.
• Regularly tidy things up.
• Switch to a minimalist lifestyle.

Like I said, learning good organizational skills can be difficult, and you will have to commit if you really want to take part in this tip. But, being organized will make your living and working spaces more functional, and it will probably even clear some mental clutter.

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I’m not wasting time on being negative.

I spend a lot of time dwelling on negative things that might happen, so much so that it causes me to miss out on the good things that are happening around me. This is because there’s almost always more good moments than bad ones.

If you are thinking negative thoughts, then you are wasting your time. Yes, it is really that simple.

Instead of dwelling on the negatives, such as regret and/or gossiping, you can be more productive and use that time for things that actually matter.

By being more positive, you will be able to better simplify your life and live in the moment.

Do you find that you are too distracted? What are you doing to enjoy life more?