Budgeting Time

One of the things I'm struggling with this week is budgeting time. If I focus attention 15 min here, 5 min there, 20 min elsewhere, I actually feel more exhausted. Who can't relate? See, no hands went up! 

This has been a struggle for me in general recently.  I am passionate about what I do. And when that fire in my belly starts, all I want to do is shut the world out and do what I need to do. It's never a case of my 'not' knowing what needs to get accomplished. That part is easy! I just write it down. It's the getting over that initial crunch, that groaning-uncomfortable-I-don't-want-to-be-here-in-this-moment feeling and subsequently getting discouraged when it's still on my bullet list from last week. That just makes me insane. 

Charlene Johnson has said 'You are only in competition with yourself.' I feel that to be true. I know I'm squandering precious minutes and could cut that way back by doing a power hour. But at least in my current situation I have not been able to be consistent with it. The organizational skills are there lying beneath the surface waiting to come out, much like abs trying to peek out from that outer layer of fat. 

I was listening this morning to some personal development podcasts and one in particular spoke of the importance of removing distractors! Yes, even this Blog is one. Facebook is worse, obviously because it takes time and effort to manipulate the controls of the newsfeed and notifications, and words/ads/photos are continually spilling over to you. 

So we all might want to consider waiting to turn those phones on, and do our reading first thing in the morning. Or in my case it's that I walk my dog and tune in before I start my day. At that point the cell phone is otherwise occupied with a podcast. 

In other words examine how you slice up the day. Maybe there's room for redirection. 

Writing it down solidifies it, just like my clients write out their meal plans each day. I firmly believe once something goes in writing, it's binding :)

When April 1 rolls around, I'll be honing in on that "power hour" to see how channeling my energies works out. Stay tuned. 

~Jedi