How to Turn Your Stress Into Success (You Got This!)

When you think about it, Oprah and I have a lot in common.

We’re both former Chicagoans, we love dogs, and we have an unnatural obsession with bread. Yummm . . .

But there’s something else we have in common that I also share with every single person on the planet. Any guesses?

We only have 24 hours in a day.

Yep, I get 24 hours, you get 24 hours, and those Instagram dogs who earn more money than you only get 24 hours.

True, I might not have a billion dollars or a team of assistants catering to my every whim, but many successful people got that way by using their time wisely, not because success simply fell into their laps.

Think about it: if you were acting like the best Life Editor you can be, then there are probably some habits you’d drop. Maybe scrolling through social media or watching the same Friends reruns over and over again.

You DO have enough time to achieve your wildest dreams, and I’m going to show you how to do it.

In today’s video, you’ll learn how to turn your stress from lack of time into your biggest success.

The video transcript is below for your convenience.

Next Steps

Video Transcript

Just call me Super Sage because I’m here to save the day!

We’re going to turn your stress into success. Let’s go! Ka-pow!

Hey there! I’m Sage Grayson, a former book editor turned life coach. I help ambitious career women edit their habits, routines, and mindsets to balance their happiness at work and home. I’m a Life Editor . . . and so are you!

Before I tell you how to turn your stress into success, please give this video a big thumbs-up and hit that subscribe button so you won’t any of my life editing tips.

We’re human, and as flawed human beings, we sometimes lie. We might lie to ourselves or other people about how much time we actually have in our days.

Our biggest source of stress is that we don’t think we have enough time to do all the wonderful things we want to do. No matter what goals you have—starting a business, raising respectful kids, KonMari-ing your house—you can’t complete those tasks if you run out of minutes before it’s time to go to bed.

We somehow mistakenly think that wildly successful people like Oprah or Taylor Swift have more time than we do. Like there’s a secret stash of Time Turners that are only handed out to special people.

Here’s the truth: we all have the same number of hours and minutes every day. Yep, I get 24 hours, you get 24 hours, and those Instagram dogs who earn more money that you only get 24 hours.

We need to be honest with ourselves about where our time is going and if were using our time wisely. And I bet you’re not.

So don’t come complaining to me that you don’t have enough time to do what you really want to do. It doesn’t matter how colossally huge your goals are, you can do it and I’m going to show you how.

Here’s how you can turn your stress into success.

1. Get Honest About How Much Time You Really Have

Pull out your planner, digital calendar, or whatever project management app you might use.

Really look at your schedule and figure out how much time you’re wasting on things that don’t directly lead to your goals.

How much time are you scrolling through social media and feeling crappy about yourself?

How much time are you zoning out on your commute when you could be doing something productive at the same time like listening to an audiobook or learning a language?

How much time are you wasting hitting the snooze alarm every morning?

When you really get clear about how much time you’re letting slip through your fingers, you’ll probably be able to find pockets of usable time you never knew existed.

That 30 minutes of playing Candy Crush could be your time to conquer the world.

2. Block Off Your Time

Here’s what gets my panties in a bunch. People don’t block off their time to do their good work.

You think the garage is going to clean itself? Just because it’s on your to-do list doesn’t mean it’s gonna get done.

But weirdly, we do block off time for other important appointments like dental cleanings or when we have a meeting with our manager.

Why is that? It’s because we see the value in those things and we don’t want to let other people down.

Your goals have value too!

So treat ‘em like the rock stars they are and block off your time just like it was any other important appointment. Block off time to go to the gym, make those client calls, or talk to a financial planner.

Your goals deserve to have a proper space in your schedule.

3. Try a Pacing Schedule

If you’ve done my business course Startup In 60, then you understand the importance of a pacing schedule.

Now if this were a perfect world we would all have batched schedules because they’re the ideal.

A batched schedule is when do you group similar tasks together and do them for a long luxurious amount of time, such as taking 3 hours to write your blog post or taking 5 hours to clean your closet.

We like long stretches of time but that does doesn’t happen in the real world. I can’t remember the last time I had a 3-hour block of uninterrupted time to work on my goals. Maybe when I was 6 and was decorating my Barbie’s dream house just right.

For most of us, it’s more realistic to try a pacing schedule.

A pacing schedule means that you touch all your important priorities every day but only for a few minutes at a time.

All of your projects get attention but maybe they only get 10 minutes of your time. This is good because it means you’re inching forward every day on many different goals even if you don’t have a lot of time.

I’m your coach, and I’m giving you permission to do less work more consistently.

I would rather you make 5 minutes of progress every day than not get any of your work done for weeks because you’re upset that you don’t have huge chunks of time.

A pacing schedule creates an underlying sense of urgency so you work faster. You’ll find yourself racing the clock to see when you can accomplish in just a few minutes.

That’s it! This week, turn your stress from lack of time into your biggest success. What can you do to use every minute wisely?

If you like this video, please hit that subscribe button. And if you’re ready to maximize your time while avoiding burnout, please join my Startup In 60 program.

This is a supercharged time management course for busy women who are ready to finally start their own businesses whether they have 60 days, 60 minutes, or 60 seconds.

You heard that right! You CAN start your own business from scratch in just one minute per day.

Thanks for watching. I’ll see you soon.

This post focuses on Step 4 of the Life Editing Process, Rearrange Everything Into a Perfect Flow. For more about life editing and what it can do for you, click here.

3 Simple Steps to Become a Productivity Superstar

Dump your excuses, transform your habits, and become the most productive person you know.