ON TIME MANAGEMENT
I recently polled my Instagram community, asking them what their go-to excuse was.
This wasn’t tongue-in-cheek, this was because I’ve noticed in my self-aware clients that sometimes just saying our excuses out loud is enough for us to see through them and move on.
Inside our heads excuses can feel huge, important and pivotal - shared out loud they’re often a little childish and more than simple to problem-solve.
That’s because when we’ve been leaning on an excuse for long enough we begin to self-identify with it, it becomes a deeply rooted part of our conditioning and limited mindset, it takes being called out and verbalising it to see it for what it is - our tool to remain small.
But enough on that, interestingly I noticed that most peoples go-to excuses were actually based in poor time management skills - this is more common that you’d think. 90% of my clients say they have no time, no time to action the shifts and changes that they know will transform their lives.
That is until I ask to see their screen time or request that they send me a detailed and honest outline of their week… you can imagine it’s pulling blood from a stone, but it’s incredibly worth it - any coach worth their weight will force you to do this as a foundational task. More often than not women tell me they don’t have any time because of the demands of family life but then we see their screen time is 4-8 hours per day+ and they actually spend loads of time scrolling other people’s content, passively watching tv or unnecessarily stressing about things.
This isn’t to say people shouldn’t watch tv or enjoy a good mindless scroll - of course not - but it is to say if you consider yourself conscious that should extend to your approach to media. And if your consumption of media is an obstacle to accessing your best energy, creativity or capacity to show up in present way for your family then it is something we need to overhaul. Not to mention it’s wrecking havoc on your nervous system to be constantly ingesting information and this might be sabotaging your capacity to show up in other areas of your life.
One way I get around mindless time wasting in my business and personal life is to live by my values.
Sounds simple but almost no one actually does it. I mean to deeply understand and acknowledge what is truly important to me then begin prioritising it in my day-to-day schedule.
For instance Health and Fitness is one of my highest values and to me that includes things like eating well, moving my body daily, hitting my steps goals (current average between 13-20K+! because I prioritise it!) and ensuring that I have carved out time for exercise. If my work starts to encroach on my exercise time, if I take 45 minutes to scroll tiktok in the morning instead of hopping on my Peleton or if I’m spending a few hours a night watching tv when I could be stretching out for a Restorative Yoga practice then I’m not embodied - I’m not living my values.
And a hot tip - especially for women - if you don’t prioritise your time according to your values your time will be filled with the priorities of others. You know what I’m talking about.. doing your parents admin, doing the laundry or comforting your bestie who has a horribly repetitive toxic dating cycle.
So the first step in this process is to know what’s important to you - what are you highest values?
And what would a calendar guided by them actually look like?
For me it means rising at 5.45am to go for a sunrise walk, leaving enough time for a bushwalk with my dogs (being an epic hyper loving and present pet mum is another value of mine) and space for a spin all before work!
It means routinely scheduling in time to practice meditation, have open thinking space, time to make things with my hands on the weekend (another value) and develop a sustainable weekly self-care menu.
You might decide that you are going to focus on deeply embodying a specific value for a set period of time (because you cannot prioritise everything at once, that’s the opposite of prioritising) and dedicate most of your spare time to that value. Ensuring that you’re committing to something sustainable to avoid erratic and inconsistent approaches which result in low self-worth and confidence.
So here’s my top level approach to time management (expect more blogs + resources on this coming soon!):
WORK OUT WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO YOU - THIS RESOURCE WILL GET YOU THERE
DECIDE WHICH OF THOSE VALUES IS LEAST EMBODIED AND LIVED IN YOUR CURRENT DAY-TO-DAY LIFE
DECIDE ON A SET PERIOD OF TIME THAT YOU WILL COMMIT TO CHANGING THAT
REJIG YOUR WEEKLY + MONTHLY SCHEDULE/CALENDAR TO PRIORITISE YOUR HIGHEST, MOST IN-NEED VALUE
BOOK IN A TIME TO REVIEW AT THE END OF THAT SET PERIOD AND CELEBRATE HOW MUCH MORE CONFIDENT, HAPPY AND EMOTIONALLY NOURISHED YOU FEEL AFTER DOING THIS!
If you’re a Business Owner struggling with fitting it all in check out my Conscious Business Calendar, it’s a 4.5 day work week including lots of time for visioning, creative open space, meditation and embodied rituals AND it’s a plug and play Google Calendar you can use infinitely!