Time IS On Your Side
‘Tis spring, the season when the bees get busy! I wonder if the bees feel stressed as they buzz from one flower to the next? Or do they feel motivated and inspired as they go about their important work? How about you? Are your days full of busy buzzing, but lack clear direction and a sense of purpose? Do you give and serve and do more because that seems to be what life requires? Or do you choose your life?
I believe that HOW we experience what we do is often more important than WHAT we are doing. If you are like me, you’re busy! Not with one or two things, but with many things! You’ve chosen, at some level, the things on your plate. You are multi-passionate, responsible to others, and hope the “stuff” of your life to adds up a legacy you’ll be proud of. You sense there is more joy and purpose to life, and to you, than the simple sum of what you do.
It’s time to stop surviving life. It’s time to THRIVE! My secret weapon for a thriving, multi-dimensional life?
My calendar.
It know, it’s so mundane! But planning, scheduling, and creating time for goals and dreams is the closest thing I have found to a magic bullet for sustained success, less stress, and more fulfillment. Here are a few of my favorite strategies for maintaining sanity, inspiration, and joy while being busy:
- Start where you want to end. Getting clear about the what and when of your end goal allows you to avoid the urgent and stressful minutia that can so easily trap and sidetrack your best intentions. Once you’ve identified where you want to end up (and by when!), then work backwards, breaking your large goal into smaller milestones, each with an associated date. This type of planning puts you in the driver’s seat of your daily doing; you’re in control and empowered.
- Love your calendar.It is a truly amazing tool for people who have multiple projects and responsibilities. The more I have going on, the more detailed my calendar becomes. I know I want to exercise four times each week and have a date night with my hubby twice a month, but when life gets busy, things like this fall to the wayside if they’re not on my calendar. All the milestones and end dates for bigger projects go in my calendar, as do the smaller actions I need to take to move towards the next milestone.
- Once something goes on the calendar, it does not get deleted!It can be rescheduled, but not removed. This “rule” will help you be discerning about what you choose to take on. It helps you relate to yourself with trust and integrity. It also helps you have realistic and compassionate expectations. We each get the same 24 hours in a day.
- Create routines.Creating systematized routines frees up space in the heart and brain for creativity and innovation. This might look like creating a monthly or weekly calendar reminder for those ongoing to-do’s such as invoicing, updating your website, or watering your plants. For an entrepreneurial friend, it looked like asking her husband to put the kids to bed Monday and Wednesday nights so that she could have a regular time for the office component of her business. She wasn’t even aware how heavy her “normal” load of stress was until she created this system, which allowed for ease and partnership.
- Manage your focus. You can have hours and hours of time on your calendar for any one task and still not move your work forward if you’re not managing your focus. This looks different for everyone and I love helping clients notice and practice focus. For clients who are involved in creative work with lots of unknowns, it can help to break work into discreet chunks that each fit in a 30 to 50-minute period. Focus on the chunk of work at hand, then take a break, fuel your body, have a mini dance party. Then on to the next chunk of work. For some people, there is a time of day or a quality of work space that supports focus. Find out what works for you!
These strategies are meant to help you sustain your pursuit of a thriving live, even as the non-stop demands of life continue to call. I believe the world needs more people acting from a place of inspiration and empowered choice. If you’re realizing that you’ve lost your sense of purpose or identify in the weeds of life and you’re ready to bring back to the forefront the meaning behind all you do, then I invite you to contact me for a complimentary, no obligation exploration coaching session. Together we will explore what you want, what is getting in your way, and how I might serve you and the creation of a life you love. Click here to schedule your exploration session.
