What Does Your Schedule Look Like?

What Does Your Schedule Look Like?

What does your schedule look like? When do you have time for a family meal much less date night with your spouse? When do you spend time taking care of yourself? WAIT! WHAT? “Time for myself, you say?” Yes, I do say! We spend our lives running around taking care of everyone else that ourselves are often neglected. Remember the airline precautionary training you get as you are gliding to the proper runway? Oxygen for the adult first, children second. This is because you need the oxygen to care for a frightened child.

So now that I have sold you on taking time for yourself, where in the world does that time come from? Let me say first, and foremost, that we never EVER sacrifice sleep for Me-Time. Now, if you lay awake in bed for three hours before actually rising, we might be able to make better use of said time, but do not stay up late just to have time to yourself.

A schedule (even a loose one) is going to help free up some time in your day. If you were to make a list of all the things that should be done in a day and group them together either by location or like items. “Errands” is erroneous. Be specific: pick up prescriptions, take dog to groomer, return library books, etc. This will help you better manage your mileage and therefore reduce windshield time. Imagine efficiently running errands then having ½ an hour before picking up the kids to sit at Starbucks with a good book and a latte. This is not only a reasonable goal but very attainable as well.

Now, when creating your schedule, only schedule 50% of your time. That’s right! Only ½ of all potentially fill-able daily minutes should be. Use the remaining 50% for unexpected possibilities. Could you imagine how much better our lives would be if our doctor’s office did this?! No offense, MD’s, we love you!

The 50% also provides some vital recovery time. When rushing from one meeting or appointment to the next we lose a lot of information from lack of processing time. I would recommend a ½ hour recovery period between appointments. This would include time for a healthy snack, potty break, and travel time.

Most important is remember to take it slowly. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you eat an elephant one bite at a time. Start by being conscious of your current schedule and try to implement some of these changes into your routine as you add new ToDos. You can download Time Journals from Google or I can send you mine. If you want mine, simply send an email to jennifer@neatasapin.net or by message on Facebook or Twitter. Information is power…take the power back from your calendar!

Have a NEAT day!
Jennifer Snyder, CPO
Chief Executive Organizer
Neat as a Pin Organizing Experts
http://www.neatasapin.net
Facebook & Pinterest: Neat as a Pin Organizing Experts
Twitter: @Neatasapin

Photo Credits: Pinterest.com