6 Ways to Find More Time for Yourself

1. Put It in Your Calendar

One of these days. That's when you'll paint your bedroom, read that 800-page historical biography, and learn to speak French. But right now work is crazy, your family is embroiled in yet another drama, and that pile of laundry isn't going to wash itself. You barely have time to think, much less kick back with a cup of tea.

If your dreams of personal time keep dissolving in a sea of unwashed dishes, try these six success strategies.

Laura Stack, author of Find More Time and Leave the Office Earlier, says that whether you want time to write a novel or just take a bubble bath, you have to carve it out first. "It can be as simple as saying I'm going to be in the tub from 8 to 8:30 each night and I don't want to be disturbed," she says. Stack also suggests that you make an appointment with yourself. "Put it right in your daybook or your Outlook Calendar, then that time will come up as unavailable when you're making plans with others," says Stack. No one needs to know that your "appointment" is to meditate in your bedroom or read magazines in the park.