You should feel at this step a bit more aware of what’s happening in your life. It’s that feeling of balancing the monthly bills. You suddenly feel a deep breath of relief and in control with some enthusiasm regardless if your lists proved that your schedule is impossible.
You must continue to remind yourself of the top reasons/justifications/realities that we use all too often: “I don’t have time” which ultimately ends with “I’m not a priority” are not going to stop you from taking time for yourself anymore. Because you’re learning that without “you” time you’re working at half the speed anyway. Your enthusiasm is low and the quality of your work suffers. Your time is fuel.
The idea of this lesson is to optimize your mind, body, and emotions. You’ve taken the time to write a bucket list, daily activities, sort your lists, and answer a bunch of questions. Now, it’s time to write a realistic to-do list and plan.
SET ASIDE MANDATORY “NO WORK” TIME
Pull up your Six Lists and create a new daily to-do list. But you will include prioritizing you with small steps and goals.
An example would be to add in 10-15 minutes for yourself in several places throughout the day. And starting with something special just for you once a week. You will announce it to your family or the appropriate people if it’s work-related. The reason being if you don’t, there will never be “you” time. Even considerate families need to be made aware.
- I’m going out with the girls on Thursday, so you’re on your own for dinner.
- I’ll be taking Thursday nights from 7-10 to write, please try not to interrupt me during this time.
- I’ll be staying after work this Wednesday to make points with my boss, so I’ll set up carpooling for soccer practice as I won’t be here.
Keep in mind that initially, some of the list won’t happen, but if you end up missing one of your planned “you” events, then a reschedule or compensation must be made, lest you get in the habit of canceling “you” again.
PURGING IS KEY TO SUCCEEDING
Yeah, it’s hard to purge. We just don’t want to cross off walking the neighbor’s dog, but in reality, we don’t have to. Find a replacement for yourself.
As you’re going over the list to create your new to-do list, purge more if possible. We can always purge more, we just don’t think we can. It’s hard with running a family or business, whether small or large, the challenge is relentless. To pull it off, you need to master key responsibilities, be flexible to change, and never take your eyes off your top priority goal. Commitment, my friend.
Perhaps you can sit back and take a deep breath right now — pat yourself on the back. The struggle to prioritize is a full-fledged war. It’s not a quick article on how to make a list. Your probably doing better than you thought you were. Once people write oup the lists and then catagorize them into the six, they see how high or challenging the mountain really is. Some don’t have a ton on their lists, but the subjects are complexed equalling the same in the end.
Over scheduling will kill every project. You’re basically drowning the whole ship if you don’t lighten the load.
Creating and maintaining your new strategy is not that hard, but you must continue to review it.
Look back on your 1-5 year goals.
Highlight areas in your journal that interest you as you proceed. The interesting thing is keeping notes for the next year will show you how your interests change. What you highlight initially might not be of interest 3 months from now and a year from now, you might be a totally different person — the real you, the better you.
When you’re done with this exercise, you should have not only a strong strategy but a logical plan of action with 2-5 goals to work towards over the next year. Remember, do not tackle more than one goal at a time and space out your goals accordingly.
Example: if your year has 4 goals, plan to add a new goal every 3 months rather than all four at once. You will find that at least one of these goals changes, is replaced or even eliminated by the end of the year. It’s normal as you will evolve into the better you. The better you will have more wisdom 6 months from now.
