30 BEST TIME MANAGEMENT QUOTES TO INSPIRE INTENTIONAL LIVING
We all have the same number of hours in a day. Let’s start using our time wisely, manage our calendars, simplify our schedules and find more time for the things we want to do, not just what we have to do. Here are 30 best time management quotes to inspire intentional living so we can stop complaining about lack of time and instead be inspired and learn to make the most of it.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO MANAGE YOUR TIME
Time management is a subject that’s close to my heart. My own search for a more fulfilling life began because I was fed up of having no time.
Of course, as it turned out, it wasn’t that I didn’t have time. I had the same 24 hours in a day that everybody else has!
It’s just that I wasn’t using those 24 hours intentionally.
I was scrabbling to get everything done that I needed to do (or felt that I needed to do) and still craving for a window of time when I could do what I wanted to do.
My search for an easier life and my journey from decluttering to intentional living was really an experiment in carving more time out of my diary. I learnt to curate my calendar like I curated my belongings. I kept what was useful and that I loved and needed… and threw out the rest.
- I said no to appointments, commitments and activities that didn’t serve me right at that moment, or weren’t important to my family or I.
- I created blocks of free time which we could use to do whatever we felt like. This included anything from going to the park, out to dinner or just chilling on the sofa with the TV or a book.
- I postponed or cancelled invites and appointments when I felt we’d become too busy. These things could wait until next week or next month.
- I cut myself some slack during busy seasons at work and realised that the world wouldn’t end if our home wasn’t perfectly neat and tidy!
HOW TO BE INTENTIONAL WITH YOUR TIME
All of these changes came about because I was intentional with my time.
- I created a structured but flexible morning and evening routine.
- I carved out time for me, even on busy days.
- I decluttered my home and made it easier to manage.
- I delegated housework, set up household routines and got my kids to help.
- I learnt how to be productive, efficient and effective, rather than just ‘busy’ for the sake of it.
- I learnt to say ‘no’ without feeling guilty.
- I stopped wasting time.
- I established some healthy daily habits to help me through each day.
For some other strategies to manage your time, check out my post with these top time management tips!
Time management is a vital part of my own intentional lifestyle and I love a good quote to inspire and encourage me. So, this post is a combination of the two!
Here are my 30 favourite best time management quotes to inspire intentional living. I hope they help you focus on your own 24 hours in a day – to build on the important and let go of the unimportant.
30 BEST TIME MANAGEMENT QUOTES TO INSPIRE INTENTIONAL LIVING
- “You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.” (Charles Buxton)
- “People hurry so they can get to places faster, where they’d rather not be, so they can have more time to do things they’d rather not be doing.” (Peter Turla)
- “There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.” (Brian Tracy)
- “My goal is no longer to get more done, but rather to have less to do.” (Francine Jay)
- “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” (Andy Warhol)
- “Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you.” (Carl Sandburg)
- “Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.” (Peter Drucker)
- “Boundary setting is really a huge part of time management.” (Jim Loehr)
- “You will never ‘find’ time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” (Charles Buxton)
- “It’s surprising how much free time and productivity you gain when you lose the busyness in your mind.” (Brittany Burgunder)
- “The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day.” (Henry Ward Beecher)
- “If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it.” (Anthony J. D’Angelo)
- “Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” (William Penn)
- “One thing you can’t recycle is wasted time.” (Anonymous)
- “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
- “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” (Stephen R. Covey)
- “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” (Michael Altshuler)
- “It’s not how many things you start that make you successful. It’s how many worthwhile things you finish.” (Peter Turla)
- “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.” (H. Jackson Brown Junior)
- “In life, when presented with any situation, breathe, take your time, focus and then decide what to do.” (Rickson Gracie)
- “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
- “I always live in the present. The future I can’t know. The past I no longer have.” (Fernando Pessoa)
- “There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
- “Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.” (Coco Chanel)
- “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” (Harvey Mackay)
- “Those who make the worst of their time most complain about its shortness.” (La Bruyere)
- “Procrastination is the foundation of all disasters.” (Unknown)
- “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” (Yogi Berra)
- “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” (Alan Lakein)
- “Better three hours too soon, than one minute too late.” (William Shakespeare)
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
I hope you like these 30 best time management quotes to inspire intentional living.
Mull them over as you go about your day and let their meaning sink in! Maybe even use them as a journal prompt to help you find ways to simplify your calendar and get intentional with your time.
If you love quotes, here are 30 intentional living quotes to inspire your best life.
Let me know in the comments which is your favourite and if you have any other tips or quotes to share! I’d love to hear from you!