Create the life you want - including time for you - with my #1 efficiency hack!
You know that feeling where you’ve spun your wheels like Mario Andretti all day and at the end of the day as you collapse, you see nothing checked off that you wanted to accomplish? That feeling you’ve worked your ass off all day but don’t really know where the time went, besides the fact you kept your children fed and schooled? The feeling nothing in your life is efficient and takes too long to do? Oh sister, so do I!
I was all of a sudden a mom to three, in a new city, building a new business, with my new husband, and when I added our fourth to the mix, my time management sh*t really hit the fan! I had to get really good at it, and fast.
And I didn’t just need to get good at managing my time between all my roles of mother, wife, daughter, sister, business-owner, friend, but I needed to figure out how to protect time for my soul.
Enter: The Calendar.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking. Calendars aren’t sexy. You already have a calendar full of all of the things and stuff you need to do. The last thing you probably want to do is open your calendar as it’s just a reminder of the fact you aren’t 10 people.
Stay with me, friends, because I promise you, owning your calendar = owning your calm.
Own your calendar, own your calm
Think about it, what stresses you out the most? It’s the fires, it’s feeling behind, it’s not knowing how you’ll fit it all into one day. Well, with a bit of planning and proactive work ahead of time, you’ll finally own your time again. You won’t say yes to things you don’t have time for, you will build in time for your own soul-filling activities. Owning your time means owning your calm.
If it’s not in the calendar, it doesn’t exist
I know you probably have an online calendar of some kind (I pray to the Google gods on that one), but I’m willing to bet you’re not maximizing its potential for creating efficiency in your life.
Your calendar is a living breathing entity, just like you. What you fill it with will be your life. And the best part? You get to decide!
Here are my top three tips on using your calendar to its fullest potential, so that your life starts working for you and not against you.
Efficient Calendar Tip #1
Don’t just put the big appointments in your calendar. Put ALL THE THINGS that fill your day in it. I’m serious. Things like:
- Commutes
- Transition time in between meetings or tasks
- Calling friends/family
- Having sex with your partner (yeah, I said it!)
- Focused time with your kids
- Time to think about projects or decisions you may be making
- Research on activities or traveling you might be planning
- Time for you – do not short yourself on this! Write in time for a bath, to read, to take a walk, to listen to a podcast, or just to lay down for 5 minutes and breathe.
Efficient Calendar Tip #2
Share your calendar with your partner/family. Encourage your partner to have the same calendar system as you. They can have theirs feeding into yours and vice versa (don’t worry, there are ways to hide this so it’s not overwhelming, but it makes it so. much. easier when your partner has visibility to all you’re handling in a day.
Efficient Calendar Tip #3
Make adjustments as needed! Chances are, you’ll find as you’re adding items in your calendar that there really isn’t time to do everything. Well, there isn’t! Everything is a choice. With your calendar, you can learn what projects may have taken you longer than anticipated and you’ll build more time for that project or meeting or task next time.
Bonus time-saver: Use an app like Calendly to get really serious about your time. The next time your long-lost high school friend wants to catch up over coffee, send them a link to your Calendly and avoid the 25 texts back and forth to finalize a time.
For more tips on how to own your calm, sign up for the Chaos to Calm newsletter!
