There is nothing more stressful than finding ways to fit it all in.
Everyone wants to do it all and I am certainly not the expert on fitting everything into your schedule. What I do know is that with a little bit of pre-planning, and a whole of support, it's possible to get most things done in the day - at least enough of them to make the day feel like a success!
Here are a few of my favorite tips on fitting it all in:
I live by my calendar. I know a lot of people don’t like that, but I’m a control freak and I like to know where and when I’m supposed to be somewhere. This also allows me the freedom to do all of the things that I love in addition to excelling in my full-time job.
I can’t say it enough – think ahead. A typical day for me looks like waking up, attempting to work out (it's a 50/50 chance of happening), bringing my breakfast, lunch and snacks to work, working a full 8-hour day, going straight to a board meeting, dinner with friends or volunteer event, coming home, working a few hours on my side gigs, then heading to bed after a 12 hour day. So, planning plays an important role in my world. Every night I’ll lay out two outfits that I could wear. I’m indecisive when it comes to outfits and I generally have a different feeling in the morning than I did at night. Plus, then you always have an additional outfit set out for the following day if you got lazy and didn’t put something out. I also write down all of the snacks I’m going to bring to work (no one wants to see me hangry). This prevents me from walking out the door without coffee, lunch or fruit. I also look ahead at what my day is shaping up to be like. I take into account travel time and make necessary arrangements with Peter to ensure that we’e both fed for dinner and that we have an idea of when we’ll both be home. These tiny steps take me 20 minutes max, but help me go so much further each day.
Know your trigger days. Thursdays and Fridays are hard for me. That’s when I have the least energy. Coincidently enough, those are also the days I have the most stuff to get done. Knowing that it’s hard for me to wake up on Thursdays and Fridays AND that I still have to perform, Peter and I have a mutual understanding that those are my “don’t mess with me days.” We typically try not to schedule personal functions on those days (if we can) and we try to have an idea of what’s for dinner by Wednesday, so we don’t have to worry about getting hangry (do you see the pattern here?). Knowing that these two days are always rough for me helps me find time to recharge on days when others may be go go go. This allows allows me to be fresh and ready come the weekend (which is usually filled with non stop madness anyway).
Always have a car charger. Enough said. No one wants to go without power to their most precious device – and for me, that’s my fit bit and cell phone.
What tips do you use to stay organized, raring to go and focused on the goals at hand?
/Hill
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