How can I make time for my friends when I'm so busy with work?

In this case, try prioritizing your activities/work based on its needs. Work is important, but its not necessary that you need to do all work at one time. Once you understand what work shall be given more importance and what shall be avoided, you can spare time for yourself. Work is important so as your family and friends too. Don't ignore your duties but try not to let it disturb your personal life.

The simple answer is: you can't. We all make choices about how we spend our time according to our circumstances and our priorities. If we decide that having friends is important enough to us to dedicate some time to pursuing, then we'll juggle other things around to make time for it. If we don't (can't may actually mean "don't" in this case), then perhaps it isn't as much of a priority as we would like to think.

It is always hard to find a balance between all of the important aspects of your life; however, it is most definitely possible. By planning out a weekly schedule allotting time slots to the things that are important to you, it will be easier to manage your time. If you actually stick to the schedule you set for yourself you will never let work overpower friends or friends overpower work.

I try to schedule lunch breaks with them if they work close or maybe ask them if we have the same errands to run so we do them together, that always gets in a little time to talk

The biggest thing I can think of to help is to talk to your friends and plan specific times where you guys can be together.

Find time where you aren't working to go out and be more social. don't let your fear get in the way either :)

It is important to work around the situation, in this case work. Planning and allocating time, after or before work, to spend time with friends can help with the situation. Sometimes meeting with friends can be an once a week or month situation, starting a project together will make spending time less monotonous. Thus balancing work and time for friends is important in ensuring a healthy lifestyle.

Life doesn't move without balance -- believe me, I know. Friends are a mirror to you, affirming what's best about you and showing you the sides of yourself that you need to improve. This existence doesn't make any demands of you you can't fulfill. Make the commitment to put aside the time, and you'll find that you can.

Book a day and time that you can give. Every week at least once for a few hours for your friends to hang out or just sit in with them.

Making time for friends is almost making time for yourself. Prioritising what needs attention right now will make you feel less burdened and know how to make time for both of them equally. So make sure you dont over work and give yourself less me-time.

Sometimes work can also take over a person's whole life. This isn't right and can end up taking its toll on the person's mental health. Finding the correct balance is important. Try and make a schedule to do chunks of work and then leave some free time for your social life. Timing everything can be really helpful as some times people waste a lot of time without even realising.

Get yourself a planner or scheduler book/app to begin managing your time. A social life contributes to your overall wellness and will be important to your work success and burnout rate as well!

Work life balance is equally important as your commitment with your employer. Try scheduling regular personal time on your work calendar to ensure it's given the same priority.

Don't think of it as making time for your friends, think of it as making time for your own self care and part of caring for yourself is taking time out of your week/month to spend with people who care about you and make you happy. No matter how important and time consuming your work may be, everyone can take the time for a phone call. Start there. Texting doesn't count. A real, honest to goodness phone conversation with a friend using your actual voice. If you really can't take the time to go out to see your friends for a meal or a movie and they are too busy to come and see you one week, invite a friend to watch a 1 hr stand up comedy over Netflix in each of your respective homes with your face-time going, or at least your speaker phone. That way you can see and/or hear each other's laughter. :)

Making time for your friends doesn't mean that you have to physically hangout with them. A simple text message and checking in goes a long way. Your friends just want to know you care and will always be there for them. I know with COVID and work, it's tough to make time for friends, but they are in the same boat as you. You aren't alone in that you feel you should make for time for them. What works for me is just sending a message in my group chat. It takes my friends 2 days to answer back, but at least I know they are there for me. So try just reaching out, you'll be surprised how much of an impact that makes.

Prioritizing is very important. Setting realistic goals and going after what you want in order to succeed is very important. Self care is also important, so nothing is wrong if you hang out with friends. I do understand that you're busy with work, however, at some point you must take a mini break for yourself to relax and talk to people you know and trust outside of work. Having friends are great, and It really doesn't matter if you show up 10/100 times, at least you showed up. It's important that you take breaks and socialize with friends. So please make the effort to show up whenever you can. It's better to show than not show.