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Time Wasters | Be Mindful Of Your Time

Time Wasters | Be Mindful Of Your Time

by | Planning-Organization-Productivity

Are you mindful of your time? Do you know where you waste time? Our minds like to hide these from us, to keep us safe and comfortable. To find your time wasters, you need to keep tabs on where you spend your time. I know this is not something people love to do. I’ve heard so many excuses when it comes to tracking time.

Tracking your Time

As I mentioned above, I hear so many excuses from my client when I ask them to track their time. They do not want to shine a light on areas where they are not mindful of their time.

Why do I ask them to track their time? Because what you pay attention to improves.

Would you like to create more time in your day? Figuring out where you spend your time is the first step.

Be mindful of the time you spend in your email.

Email, email, email. Never closing down your email will cause you to feel busy. You’ll always feel as if you're in reaction mode. You are reacting to all the emails coming from others.

David Allen talks about email as other people's agenda for your time. Have a process for going through your email. Do not derail your priorities for the priorities of others. I work with my clients on creating boundaries and business rules in regards to email.

You need to be a steward of your time. All those minutes add up, negatively impacting your goals and priorities.

I know what you’re thinking; how do I do this. Block time in your calendar to go through your inbox. Here’s an example of how to handle email.

You receive a message from a client, friend, colleague of a task that you most complete for them.

Next, open your calendar and block time when you’ll do the work. Now, this is important, fit the work into your schedule. Reply to the sender with a specific date and time you blocked on your calendar to work on their request. But there’s a catch; you must do the work when you say you’re doing the work.

Time Wasters | Be Mindful Of Your Time

You guessed it, social media.

I know social media gets brought up a lot, and it should.

Social media is a massive time-waster.

Can you think of a time when you were mindful of your time when scrolling social media feeds?

Some people don't consider all-time wasted on these platforms. It should come as no surprise social media platforms do things to keep us engaged on their media because this is how they make money. With ads.

Generally, anything offered by a business for free has some way of making money. Know how much time you're giving away to social media. Where could that time be better to spend?

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Little Side Note

Monica Drake said, “The only value of wasted time is knowledge.”

I encourage you to look at your time wasters and use that knowledge to be mindful of your time.

Create Time

If you genuinely want to create space to work on your goals and priorities, I encourage you to find the little sneak place where you’re not being mindful of your time.

Is keeping track of your time hard. It may be if you choose to think of it as hard. Or you may decide to come at it with an open-minded. You are excited to figure out where to be mindful of your time and stop the sneaky little time wasters. The choice is always up to you.

I know you’re ready to get out of your head and choose thoughts that create the future of your dreams. The link to my private coaching application is below.

Private Coaching

Why do I believe in the power of private coaching?

Because it is truly life-changing. When your coach asks you that mind-blowing question that suddenly allows you to see what you've been missing all along that was literally right in front of your face.

You just need someone with a different perspective to help you see it.

Are you ready to experience life from a different perspective?

Spots Limited Apply Today!
Find Balance Digital Download
Say Bye-Bye Stress and Busyness when you create routines

Say Bye-Bye Stress and Busyness when you create routines

by | Planning-Organization-Productivity

Stop. Are you running around feeling stressed and busy all the time? After all, we love to add more and more to our day. Have you ever paused to pay attention to the actions that you do routinely? Do you find yourself doing the same steps in your day? Such as getting ready in the morning to what you do before you go to bed and everything in between. How do you clean your house? Also, my personal favorite is a meal planning routine. These are perfect areas to create mindful routines. If you’re thinking, heck no, Michele, I’m a hot mess, it’s time to consider adding a few mindful routines to your life.

Why I love to create routines

As a matter of fact, what I love about creating mindful routines is it cuts down on the number of decisions you need to make. You’ve invested the time upfront in creating the routine. All you have to do is repeat all the steps, so you’ve already done the planning and deciding ahead of time. I don’t know about you; it makes me happy to cut back on decisions.

You see, when you sit down to create a routine for cleaning, meals, any weekly or daily repeatable activities, you are no longer required to make decisions around this. Instead, you kind of go into auto-pilot. 

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Daily Routines

It’s funny; my morning routine was pretty extensive. In the past, it made me stressed and overwhelmed. You guessed it; I based it on what others said they did in the morning instead of tapping into what felt good to me. 

After that, here are the things in my morning routine that do not change from day to day: time with the LORD and drinking a quart of water when I awake. I get ready for the day, a quick walk outside with the dogs, which I refer to as my daily commute to the office. Once in my office, with my first cup of coffee, I spend time journaling. This simple routine allows me to feel centered. 

Of course, this works for me. You do you, create a routine that allows you to feel at ease and centered. 

Just in case you’re wondering, when do you exercise if I do not exercise in the morning? The answer? In the afternoon, specifically at 3 pm each workday. When I worked in corporate, I did this during my lunch break. As a work-from-home entrepreneur, I’ve played around with this time, and 3 pm is my magic time. You see, this is when my mind begins to lose focus, and I get antsy. Oh, and so do the dogs! You may have seen my Reel on Saylor if you follow me on Instagram. She knows it's time for a walk. What do you think your magic time is to exercise? 

Let’s look at a typical evening routine if we are at home and not sitting in a bleacher.  Accordingly, I’ve created a habit of setting myself up for a morning that feels at ease. 

The coffee maker is ready to go, my first-quart jar of water is sitting on the counter to grab along with my iPad, I’ve filled the dogs’ food dishes before I head off to bed, a quick mind sweep of all the random thoughts and to-dos in my mind. 

I think you’ll agree with me that a morning that feels at ease sets the tone for the day. Do I have you wondering how you can create an evening routine that provides for a stress-free morning? 

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Say Bye-Bye Stress and Busyness when you create routines

Create A Sunday Routine

Sunday is a big routine day for me. This routine is when I set myself up for the whole week. To be honest, if I do not get this, my Monday doesn’t go very smoothly until I get organized. Of course, if I know my Sunday will be chaos, I’ll map out at least Monday, if not the whole week on Friday afternoon. 

Here is how I lay out my Sunday routine. 

Clean all the bathrooms.

Clean the kitchen.

Plan the meals for the week, and the grocery order is put in for my son to pick up on his way home from classes at the community college. 

I write out the week's schedule and meals on the kitchen chalkboard. You may agree with me; I do not have enough decision-making power for this dreaded question after making decisions all day. Mom, what’s for dinner? 

Review the work week and create a schedule and a list of to-do items. 

These routines create space in my mind, I know when it will get done, and I do not have to decide or think about it. 

Yes, preparing for the week ahead is what I consider Sunday Funday. 

After all, having an organized and clean home allows me to feel calm and at ease in my mind.

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Little Side Note

A routine can be a simple checklist with a few notes on ideas to make it go smoother. 

How about a laundry routine?

Let’s discuss creating a laundry routine. Without a system, this may cause the feeling of busyness. This laundry system works for me; it may not work for you. Create a strategy and routine that meets your needs.

My laundry routine:

Tuesday is for washing my clothes. Because I’m a work-for-home entrepreneur, this day works for me. Since I use the Pomodoro Method, I can fold and put things away during my five-minute breaks. I race to see how much I can get done in my five minutes.

Thursday is for washing towels.

Sunday is for washing bedding.

Everyone else in this household washes their laundry.

My husband always has washed his laundry.

Once our children were in fourth grade, I showed them wash laundry. My oldest daughter documented the process for washing laundry with photos the first time she washed her laundry. If you’re wondering, when my kids were younger, I traveled for work 50-75% of the time. When you’re only home two days a week, you figure out how to get things done. Basically, my husband was a single parent, and I looked for ways to make his life more manageable when I was gone.

I know that you’re ready right now to ditch your crappy thoughts of overwhelm and busyness. I can 100% help you! The link to apply for private coaching is below.

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Private Coaching

Why do I believe in the power of private coaching?

Because it is truly life-changing. When your coach asks you that mind-blowing question that suddenly allows you to see what you've been missing all along that was literally right in front of your face.

You just need someone with a different perspective to help you see it.

Are you ready to experience life from a different perspective?

Spots Limited Apply Today!
Find Balance Digital Download
Do you know what is important to you?

Do you know what is important to you?

by | Planning-Organization-Productivity

Do you know what makes you happy? If asked would you be able to list off all the things that make you feel peaceful and at ease? Do you know what is important to you? What most people don’t realize is that defining your priorities is a key to the thought of being less busy.

Do you know what makes you happy? 

While we think that happiness can only be achieved when we have reached a goal or we have (insert the big shiny object you’re longing for). When really we only need to stay in the present moment and begin to figure out what brings us happiness. 

I finally understood that happiness is found every day when I look for it. 

In a similar fashion to when you purchase a new vehicle and start to see that vehicle everywhere you look. It’s because it’s now in your consciousness. Our minds begin to pay attention and we will see that vehicle everywhere we turn. 

Here’s the secret, if you want to feel happier in your life. Start to pay attention to the little moments of happiness that you have throughout your day. 

Here are a few examples for me, it’s the vivid colors of the sunrise and sunset. Starting my day quietly read scripture to hear God speak to me. The very first sip of coffee in the morning, feeling the warm mug in my hands and that yummy coffee smell. The look of excitement on my clients’ faces when they have a breakthrough. Case in point, even bringing those thoughts into my mind brings a smile to my face. 

Do you know what is important to you? 

Have you investigated your thoughts on what you consider to be your priorities? What do you feel in your heart of hearts is important to you? When my clients do know the answer to what is important and a priority to them, I encourage them to spend time in their journals. 

Here is the journaling prompt for you: If I did know what is important to me what would they be?

You hold the key to stop being so busy.

You guessed it, that comes down to defining your priorities. What do you truly want to give your time to?

Why is defining your priorities a key to feeling less busy? If you know where your true priorities are and you say yes to those over areas you consider to have a lower priority you’ll be consciously spending time in areas that fill you with joy. 

Let me ask, can you remember a time when you felt totally at ease? Can you remember a specific time? As you go back to that time now, go right back to that time, float down into your body and see what you saw, hear what you heard, and really feel the feelings of feeling totally at ease? 

What were you doing? Is this important to you? If it’s not, why? You see my point right? If you felt totally at ease why are you consciously not spending time here? 

Important To You

Busy Badge

Do you love your busy badge so much? What thoughts do you have around being busy? Lastly, does it build you up in some way?

Be that as it may, do you wonder what it would be like to not feel busy all the time?

Do a mind sweep on what is important to you. What are your priorities? Then put them in order.

You want to fill your time with what fills you up.

Are your top priorities causing busyness and stress?

Let me ask, what are your thoughts on that priority? Why is that? The solution is simple, figure out how you can shift your thinking to be in alignment with the priority.

It all boils down to this our perception is our reality, and we can change that if we choose.

Here is an article on well+good as an additional resource. 

Most important, life is all about how we perceive it. Here's what I mean we perceive life based on our experiences.

Some are good, like do not touch a hot stove. On the other hand, we hold on to thoughts that keep us stuck in the mindset of busyness and overwhelm.

It starts in our thoughts, with the willingness to see things differently. You guessed it to get out of our own heads and be willing to step outside our comfort zone.

I know you’re ready to throw away your busy badge and begin to see your life from a new perspective. Is this something you’d like for your life? Below is the link to my private coaching application.

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Little Side Note

Above all be kind to yourself. All good things start with self-compassion and self-love.

✁ Just a Snippet 

Here is just a snippet of the important points, you know for the skimmer in you. 🤪

  • Defining your priorities I feel is a key to the thought of less busy.
  • Do you know what makes you happy?
  • Have you investigated your thoughts on what you consider to be your priorities?
  • You hold the key to stop being so busy. That comes down to defining your priorities. What do you truly want gets your time. 
  • Journal on this, if you did know your priorities what would they be?
  • Why is defining your priorities a key to feeling less busy? If you know what truly is important to you and you say yes to those over areas you consider to have a lower priority you’ll be consciously spending time in areas that fill you with joy.
  • Above all be kind to yourself. All good things start with self-compassion and self-love. 
  • Did you miss last week? Here is the link.