Finding Time To Better Ourselves: Additional Thoughts

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog on personal development and the struggle with time, and since then, I’ve had some additional thoughts I wanted to share with you.

I’m currently participating in the Janes Agenda Masterplan Productivity Course (you can read my blog about it here).

I’ve been reading some interesting books that Jane had picked for the course. (She had a main book, and then an additional book for those who wanted the extra material, or for those who really enjoyed reading). Well, I have picked up both books for as long as I’ve been participating, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the material.

I find a lot of similarities between the material we are learning, the information in the books and my real every day life.

One of the things that I’m coming to realize is that I pride myself on my productivity and effectiveness. As I check off items on my to do list every day, I get this little thrill that I’ve accomplished an entire day of checked off items.

Part of me wonders if this is a good thing, or just a means to an end? It’s scientific knowledge that the more productive and effective you feel, you increase those things even more so that it’s like a giant snowball moving rapidly downhill.

Then I have to stop myself and ask, is that a good thing? I wonder if I’m so productive, fast and efficient that I’m not slowing down enough to stop and smell the roses, so to speak. Am I giving myself enough rest and relaxation? Technically, if you allow yourself those rest moments, you are supposed to become even more productive (note here that productive doesn’t necessarily mean more tasks done, but maybe higher quality work done).

This is one more thing I’ve yet to learn: as long as something appears on my to do list, it usually gets done at some point in the day. So, if I write “take a walk”, or “lay down for five minutes”, will it help me relax more? I already know that I need more sleep - that is one of my health goals for 2024, but I haven’t had much success with it yet this year.

In the book I’m currently reading, Making Time, by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, one of their ideas is to name a “highlight” of your day - one area or priority to focus on. To my consternation, I realized I was already doing this with my day-theming technique. Specifically for my business, I have one theme I focus on each day of the week, except for Friday which is a rest/catch-up day. For example, Monday, I used to go hard and found that I would quickly burn out. I also noticed in my corporate job that I quickly grew to hate Mondays because it would mean my weekend and my rest and relaxation time was over.

I changed my week so that Monday has become a journaling day as a way to “ease” into the week and not make it so stressful and crazy on myself. Tuesday I focus on writing my blog, Wednesday I create shop content (stickers or planner charms), and Thursday is my planner filming and editing day. That leaves Friday to catch up on unfinished tasks or other projects.

So this is not to say that I don’t do other tasks throughout the day. If you have ever watched my planner videos, in my review of the previous week, I have a multitude of daily tasks. It just means that I focus on that main thing, and as long as I get it done (or at least work on it), I celebrate my success because that one thing is going to move the needle forward in my business.

Now I’ve also thought about doing the same thing for my personal development and my self care. Technically, I have one major goal entitled “Work On Self” , and this is broken down further into health goals, personal development goals and mental wellness/self-care. So for example, Monday is a journaling day and I attend my Masterplan class with Janes Agenda. Tuesday, I write my blog and maybe I take a walk. Wednesday I create shop content and take a bath in the evening. Currently, I don’t have the personal goals as a concrete planned thing; I just find myself making more time for them in my life.

I’ve also been trying to reflect more on the things I do throughout the week. I usually do a weekly, monthly and quarterly reflection, but I’m trying to be more intentionally reflective to actually figure out what I need to change for the next week or month. I reflect on what went well, what didn’t go so well, best use of my time, whether I was successful at my main focus task for the day, and how I felt and whether my mood/energy level affected my ability to work well that day.

Last week in our Productivity course, as Jane said, reflection is one of the most important parts of planning. Without knowing how or where to improve, we never will.

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week!

🌸 Sandra