To create a new habit, it takes effort. Effort will add up over time, but not if you keep listening to the excuses to NOT change things
If you want to create some changes in your life, you must become aware of what you are believing about your time. Time management is not about just popping some time slot in to the calendar and hoping you will tick off at least half of the tasks.
Time management is not about making huge ‘To Do’ Lists and then getting overwhelmed when you look at it. To make a change, I recommend starting to do the following steps to begin with.
1. Schedule JOY FIRST into your Calendar
Have you only ever done the fun things in life when the chores are done? Run out of time to do the fun things? Yeah, I did too!
There is always going to be housework, so it will be there every day. Have you noticed that chores actually never end?
I have been guilty of prioritising the chores (with a lot of resistance) and telling myself that I can’t have fun until the work is done. I soon discovered that this does not work! In fact, it makes me more resentful, snappy at those I love & sad.
But when I put those things that I really enjoy, that fill up my personal love cup, that make me feel lighter and happy… I’m actually WAY more productive (and way nicer to everyone around me) and I get the chores done faster!
Try adding even one fun thing in your calendar first and then schedule your ‘work’ around this. This will ensure that you wont run out of time to have fun & fill up your own cup.
2. Recognise that Effort Compounds
Did you know that when we practise something over and over again, it creates a neurological pathway in our Nervous System so the new ‘habit’ becomes permanent? You’ve put a lot of effort in creating the beliefs that you even have now. There are many focused thoughts over time that solidify those statements in your mind that have now become a belief that you perceive as true. In a nutshell, that means that what ever effort you put in will pay off in the end. You must decide if it paying off in a positive way in your life, or actually creating more disharmony & keeping you further away from what you want.
Effort compounds over time and the hardest steps is always the first one. Effort is not just the action that we do, but also the energy we put into our mindset, body work, and where we focus our energy.
We must decide we want to change particular parts of our life if it doesn’t feel great, and then take the actual internal and external steps to work toward it. This is why I recommend committing to those practises that may even feel like they aren’t making much change yet, but are ON THE WAY to what you want.
Meditation is one of these practises. It can take a while to choose a time, settle in and practise connecting to your deeper self or mindfully connect with what you want to create more of. We can tell ourselves “it’s too hard”, “I don’t have time”, “I’m not good at meditating”. But if you could only eat once a day at 7am, would you commit to making the time to do that? Things like meditation are like food to your Soul. If we keep depleting our energy, we end up heavy, tired and moody, just like when we get ‘H-angry’! Life will reflect back to you when you haven’t regularly taken the time to put the effort in to the RIGHT tasks for your mind, body & energy, so what can you commit to as a small step toward what you want to create instead right now?
Then go and DO that!
3. Make 3 Short List – Do, Delegate (or automate), Delete rather than Big ‘To Do’ Lists
Have you got lists or post it notes laying around everywhere and when you look at them, you feel worse rather than better? Don’t get me wrong, I still use notes (my clients will tell you how much I love sticky notes!), but I make smaller, more manageable lists for myself,
I used to make endless lists of what I needed to get done & before I even began, I was feeling overwhelmed, I would procrastinate or distract myself with tasks that weren’t really that important at the time.
Then, I discovered that making a ‘Doing’ List for me, that had no more than 3-5 tasks for that day on it, was all my mind could commit to. Everything else I would ask myself “how & to whom could I delegate this to?” or “does this REALLY need to be done?” I found myself actually deleting those things that made hardly any difference to my life and finding people who really liked doing those tasks that I did not like!
Automating tasks these days is easier than ever too, so I recommend finding apps, experts, automation for paying the bills, and even getting family members on board who can help you out with making the process more automatic and enjoyable for you. This will free up your time more than you know! Lately, I’ve been offering my son some ‘pocket money’ to check links are working for me and doing little tasks for my business that I know he can handle (he is 11 years old).
Plus, don’t forget about everything being energy, so if you don’t have someone who can step in and do a task for you, or you don’t know HOW to do it, delegate it to the Universe! By that I mean consciously pop it on the Universe’s Doing List! May sound silly to some, but you’ll be amazed at how things are ‘just taken care of’ when you do this. The right timing, people, opportunities show up to help you achieve that one thing because you’ve dropped the resistance to it by taking the pressure of yourself!