Tag Archives: time management

On the life “scrub”

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Fall is always a season of renewal for me….with school and volleyball starting, I always feel the itch to try new things or switch up some patterns I had acquired during my slow summer season.

This year, it took a little longer for that itch to happen with some grief and other stressors but here we are with two months left in the year and I’m feeling motivated to make a few changes toward my better self and a more organized daily world!!

One of my favorite podcasts is publishing a week-long “scrub” of your device, calendar, home, etc. and I’ve been loving the practical ideas she has shared on staying focused and limiting distractions.

This first episode is about “scrubbing” your decide, turning off notifications, organizing your home screen, etc. and I loved taking 30 minutes during my morning routine to really evaluate how I used my phone. She shared a wonderful quote, saying “when you get back to someone right away, that is not showing leadership. That is showing that you are distracted.” This is how I’ve always viewed messages and notifications on my phone and loved the validation and common sense of what it communicates to the sender.

Are you an “eliminate all the red bubbles’ kind of person? Don’t look at my phone – they are everywhere!!! My husband cringes whenever he peeks over.

Even my new office needed a “scrubbing” after my move to a new location this Fall. The piles of papers and files were overwhelming me, so I turned off my phone, shut my door, laid everything out and finally got organized. It’s amazing how good that feels once it is done!!! I feel like I’ve gotten more work done in a faster period of time since getting my physical space and functioning organized!

Is there anything or process in your life that may need a good, clean “scrub”? Leave your idea below and inspire us all!!!

On getting control…

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of my calendar and our time!! I’ve been joking lately about the need for a personal assistant just to schedule and drive to the crazy amount of appointments our kiddos have. But since thats not a reality, Scott and I have been trying to stay on top of the schedule with weekly discussions around the calendar and recently with a new app we love called Cozi.

Each kiddo and family member (even the cats) get their own color and you can add all sorts of things to the calendar for everyone to see. What I love is that our teenage daughters can add things to their calendars and be in the know about all family events so they’re not surprised by any appointments. Plus they (and we) can add items to the grocery/Costco/Doterra shopping list as soon as they run out for everyone to see.I still love love love my paper planner and we reference both things when chatting about our schedule!!! But when scheduling with multiple people, the ease of the app that everyone can add to is amazing.

Calendar audit:
I got this idea from Rachel Hollis’ podcast (are you sick of me referencing her yet?) but she recommended looking at all of your appointments and activities from the previous year and assigning whether or not they were valuable and an effective use of your time. I did this with my professional calendar and it gave me great clarity on starting this new year with some purpose at work. I haven’t yet done it with our personal calendar but I plan on doing it soon!!! There are so many things we fill our time with and I am always looking for ways to make sure those choices are good ones.Any other suggestions for time and calendar organization???? Bring them on….also, since I’ve been looking at a computer screen WAY more than I ever have in my new role, more headaches have been popping up. I’m trying these LadyBoss blue light filter glasses at work to see if they help. Wish me (and my eyes) luck!!!

The choice of “busy”

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I love this quote and all that it implies. I get asked the question of “how do have time for ALL of that?” often. And while I don’t mind answering it, I find it funny that I don’t actually FEEL all that busy at all. Or at least I don’t feel busy in a negative way – I feel FULL because my family and I are blessed to have so many things to participate in on a daily or weekly basis. I strongly that I am in control of my time, including that of my family and my children. I get to choose what I do with my downtime and I also get to choose how many activities and extra-curriculars my kiddos participate in which severely impacts our nightly and weekend routines. I also believe that some of my “busy” activities are pieces of my self-care like this very blog, scrapbooking, essential oil madness, and extra coaching duties. My “bucket of energy” truly gets filled back up when I partake in these things and thus I can put my whole self into my work and my roles as mother and wife. Even right now, I am writing this post, catching up on the Bachelorette, and texting a few friends about some ailments that oils might help with and I don’t feel busy – I just love fitting all of this into my life when I CHOOSE to.

What I know for sure is that weekends is a time for restoration and downtime for us all. I try not to over-commit to events and I always make sure we are home in between events so that we can participate in a team nap OR just release the energy that being out in public entails for my little wonders. This sometimes means I say no or I don’t plan as many social events but the pay-off mentally and emotionally is so worth it. I also know that when I do make invites to social events or classes, they are extended with the same grace and intentions I hope others extend to me. Come if you can….absolutely no judgement or hard feelings if you can’t!

My other trick to staying engaged and choosing my time is to always keep my cell phone on silent. By doing so, I get to choose when I engage with text messages from others and/or social media, versus getting constant dings and rings when notifications pop up. And although this makes some people frustrated when I can’t text back right away (my Mom thinks she’s sneaky when she asks “if I got her last text” just to shame me from not texting her back….I’m on to you Mom).

I think that our culture can “glorify” this busy-ness with many parents responding with “we’re so busy” as a badge or pride and accomplishment which can then pressure others into filling up every free hour with activities to measure up. And while that might be great and wonderful for their family, it doesn’t work for me or my kiddos and thus I have CHOSEN a different schedule. And that means being particular about what we let our wonders commit to AND inserting passion projects and hobby time into the schedule for my husband and I to keep us fresh as well.

If you’re interested in some reading around this topic for some management inspiration, I would highly recommend the following reads:
The Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner
Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less by Marc Lesser