How to make time for everything when you’ve been pulled into many different directions?

I’m sure many of us wonder how these people manage to do them all.

We have this one particular author who can write and publish a few books in a year while still having the time to learn new things in publishing.

New paid ad platform, the latest AI tools whatnot.

And then we have another breed of author who can still write and publish a few books in a year while having a coaching business on the side.

Oh, did I mention they even have the time to learn new things too?

How do these people make time for learning new things while many of us struggle to cope with the day-to-day grind in our author businesses?

Do they have a secret that we’re not aware of?

Well, you should know the answer by now – they don’t.

The key to how to make time for everything that matters to you, specifically learning new things

If there’s no secret then, what is it that allows them to do everything imaginable while still having the time to learn new things?

Do they replicate themselves or something?

Obviously not, of course.

How they make time for everything including learning new things is pretty simple – they add learning new things to their calendar.

Have it scheduled in your calendar and now you have dedicated time to learn something new.

5 minutes, 15 minutes, half an hour, or perhaps an hour long.

It doesn’t matter since learning new things in a bite-size manner is just as effective as dedicating hours to learning new things.

But consider doing these things to maximize the time you spend learning new things or acquiring new skills.

Identify the things you need to learn at this moment

Let’s be honest here, it can be overwhelming when you have so many things to learn as an indie author.

We need to know how to write and publish a professional-looking book. And we also need to learn how to market our book effectively.

And the list seems endless too especially because of the rapid changes in publishing over the last few years.

How can it be possible for us to learn so many things without checking ourselves into a mental asylum?

Well, you have to be picky with what you have to learn.

You have limited time. And you can’t possibly learn everything.

If email marketing is important to you right now, then learn as much as you can about email marketing.

You don’t have to learn how to use paid ads if it’s not your concern at the moment.

Narrow down on what skills you need to move the needle in your author business. And aim to learn that skill only until you succeed.

Take stock of what you have at your disposal

If you’re like me, then you probably bought tons of resources to learn those topics or got them for free.

You know, things like books, courses, or blog posts you come across on the Internet.

Lo and behold, you end up accumulating way too many of them and now you lose track of all the resources you have in your arsenal.

You even buy the same course again without realizing you already bought it years ago!

Yes, it’s important to learn as much as you can about the topic or skills.

But you don’t have to go crazy accumulating books and courses in the hope of mastering the topic or skills.

If anything, you already have the necessary resources needed to start learning.

Take note of what you already have and pick which one to start with.

You can buy other books and courses that get your attention later if you want to know more about the topic or learn the skill in-depth.

Dedicate your time to going through your chosen resource

Now you already know which resource you want to get started with, set aside the time to go through those materials.

And it doesn’t need to be that long.

Remember that going through the materials even for 5 minutes a day is just as sufficient as going through the same materials for hours.

Do it consistently and you’ll be surprised how much you learn even for 5 minutes a day.

Formulate the action plan based on what you learn

Completing the courses and finishing reading the book are meaningless if you don’t put what you learn into action.

List all the things you need to do based on what you learn.

You can always review what you’ve just learned for more clarity if necessary.

Of course, you can always opt to get another resource if whatever you have at your disposal is inadequate.

But keep in mind you can’t stay in the planning mode forever.

There will be a time when you have to stop planning and start throwing yourself into the unknown.

Dedicate the time to implement what you learn

You may have the most perfect plan thanks to the resources that you have pondered over the last few months.

But you won’t know how things will turn out until you dedicate the time to put your plan into action.

If there’s one thing that can make a huge difference in your author business in the next few months, it will have to be this one.

Dedicate the time needed to put your plan in motion and course-correct if you need to.

Find the plan you lay out doesn’t work as what you expect?

Well, go back to the drawing board and try a different approach if you must.

Repeat this process until you find something that works for you.

They just make time for it

How these people can still manage to learn new things while juggling with their day-to-day activities boils down to them setting aside the time needed to do those things.

Yes, there’s nothing groundbreaking about it.

But it’s also the simplest thing you can do if you want a breakthrough in your business and life.

Try to dedicate a few minutes to learning something new and you’ll be amazed at how much you learned as you look back.

Do this consistently and I promise your future you will thank you for it.