Getting creative to get it all in.

There are 24 hours in a day, and hopefully, we are sleeping through 6-8 of them.  That leaves 16-18 hours to get it all in – work, school, appointments, hobbies, kids’ activities, cleaning, meals, exercise, mindfulness/self-care, time with family/friends/pets, etc.

Necessity drives, so the solid appointments on our calendars- where someone is expecting us to show up- take up a huge amount of our day.  That means we must get creative with the remaining time to avoid sacrificing the things that are actually fueling our wellbeing and thus our ability to show up fully and help others.

The best way to make the most of our time is to plan.  There is no right or wrong way to plan, however one thing is essential- documentation.  It can be in a Task App, Outlook, Google Calendar, Excel, a physical planner or whatever works best for you.  Capturing our time is a proven way to stay on track and be successful in accomplishing all that we set out to do in a day.  It also allows us to look back and reflect on better timing for certain things or the possibility of combining activities, such as taking a walking meeting with a colleague, listening to book or podcast while cleaning, helping a child with homework while cooking dinner, etc.

Visibility is everything!  What you can’t see clearly, you can’t change.  Start simple.  Log and color code your activities and make adjustments week by week until you find a rhythm that allows you to get it all in and thrive.