Virginia WaltonAre you constantly rushing from one meeting to the next, rushing around outside of work to get the kids where they go, to get to your non-work commitments?
I’m sure you are, and you are not alone!
That was me too! I’d spend all day in back-to-back meetings. I mean there were days, I would look at my Outlook calendar and think, “When am I supposed to pee?” Of course, I had no time to get tea or water so I guess that solved that problem!
I am sure some of you laughed at that and some thought, I totally relate!
And this doesn’t stop at work, you just change the scenery as you rush around getting everyone where they need to be, supporting your kids at their games and competitions, and your never-ending list of demands on your time outside of work.
I often see posts by my friends with middle school and high school-aged children spending their entire weekend getting them to softball or field hockey tournaments, which are never close to home, dance recitals, and college tours.
Then we add in the adulting thing, running our homes, taxes, family obligations, errands.
It is rare you see anyone post on social media about downtime, a day without a device, time to be still. We have created a badge of honor in our go-go-go mindset!
It has to stop! You cannot keep that pace. You will crash and when you do, EVERYONE suffers!
It’s time to take control of your time back. It is a non-renewable resource.
Here are three simple things to start this shift.
- PLAN!
Look at your week. I recommend doing this Sunday evening. As a matter of fact, having a plan is so important, that I’ve sacrificed some sleep to make sure I’m starting my week with a plan.
You can think of this as a plan of attacks like an issue you would approach an issue you need to remediate at work or as a strategic plan to meet your goals and objectives. Whichever mindset motivates you.
- Stop blindly accepting every meeting.
When you just hit accept without reading the invite, questioning the timing, or confirming you are needed you are giving control of your precious resource, TIME, to another person.
At $4 a gallon for gas are you rethinking your driving routes? And other ways to conserve? If you said yes, of course! You should be doing the same with your time. It is worth more than $4!!!!’
- Build in time for tasks and downtime.
I will admit, I suck at time blocking.
In my corporate life, I would put time on my calendar to work on the dreaded annual compliance training. We know it is coming every year, and we have months to complete it. I’d block one hour a week for this but guess what. It never worked out. Someone else would book a meeting at that time, an ‘emergency’ would come up so that had to be dealt with or someone would just pop over to my desk to ask something, and the next thing I knew time for my next meeting.
Now I plan what I need to get done and which part of the day to do it rather than a specific time. This way I don’t feel defeated if it does not happen at the scheduled time and I make sure that there is a guide for when to work on it, rather than a firm time block.
Guess what, I get things done! Breaking out my to do list over the week makes it feel less daunting too!
These are not difficult changes to make, but you need to commit to making them a habit.
This is how a coach can help. Together, I will help you find how to implement these into your hectic schedule and make these new habits stick.
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