Your day does not "just get away from you." That is not a thing. It does not have legs. When you think of your time like this, as if it's happening to you, you will feel powerless to change it.
That's why it's so important to get clear on the facts of what really happened instead of continuing to tell yourself this story. You do this by zooming into a specific time when you think "my day just got away from me."
The facts of what actually happened will fall into one of seven categories:
1. At some point, you gave your power and control over your day away to other people or circumstances.
(Note: To be clear, this is does not apply to emergencies or terrible things that happen. I'm talking about the day-to-day like emails and phones, not illness, death, accidents etc. And yes, there are "real" circumstances that require more of your attention: babies and puppies come to mind.)
2. You got into flow and lost track of time.
3. You underestimated how long something would take and chose to keep working on it.
4. You chose to do something else instead of following your plan.
5. You're planning too many things to do in your day.
6. You didn't have a clear plan for your day.
7. You're spending your day feeling overwhelmed.
Instead of telling yourself this story of "my day got away from me" or just glossing over it and telling yourself that tomorrow will be better, get clear on the facts of exactly what happened when you felt like your day got away from you.
When you don't take the time to gather the facts and see what actually happened, you'll keep running into the same problems week after week. When you know the facts, you can solve for the problem, and feel in control of your time.
The number one way to feel in control of your time is by creating a reasonable plan for your time. When it comes to planning: less is more, specificity, and clarity are your BFFs.
If you want a specific jumping off point when it comes to planning, here is my number one recommendation:
Pick the one most important thing that you're 100% committed to getting done, write it down, and plan nothing else.
Example:
1 blog post written
And then put a little circle by that thing that you'll produce/create and when you're done, fill it in. It's a seemingly little thing but it's so motivating and satisfying.
WARNING: You will be tempted to think that planning one thing isn't enough. And what about everything else that you need to do?!
I strongly encourage you to try it & watch how much better you feel and how much more you get done. Your to-do list with 57 items isn't going anywhere. Promise.
If you keep getting stuck in the same place when it comes to managing your time and you want to know what to do about it, schedule a consult here.