Episode 16 transcript: Take control of your schedule and create more balance

 Episode 16: Take control of your schedule and create more balance with Aneta Ardelian Kuzma

Podcast Introduction

We often hear people wishing us a long, happy, and healthy life. But what if the length isn't what matters most? What if instead? It's the breath, depth, and purpose of each day that matters most. Welcome to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My name is Aneta Ardelian kuzma. Join me weekly as I interview guests who make changes in their own lives to live more fully with intention, gratitude, and joy. Be prepared to be inspired by their stories of how they shifted their mindset, took courageous action, and designed the life that they always wanted to live.

Hey there, it's Aneta and I wanted to come on and do the solo episode because something's really been on my heart lately, and even in the past few podcast episodes. We've heard some folks talk about just taking control of their days and structuring and planning, and it's so critical and important.

What I'm noticing right now is that many of my clients are working harder than ever before and they're still struggling to get all their work done. Maybe they find themselves burned out, stressed, and anxious. Their minds have a lot of chatter, and part of the reason is that we've allowed others to take control of our schedule, to take control of the day instead of being in control ourselves.

We're more reactive than we are proactive and making some tiny little changes can make the world of difference, I promise. You don't have to do everything all at once. It doesn't have to be a big overhaul, but you can start with a couple of changes. So, I wanted to talk about that today and share a couple of tips with you, and then I hope that you are able to share what worked best for you.

So, the first thing I want to talk about is just the need to take control of your schedule. Many of us sleep maybe eight hours of the 24 hours, which means we have 16 waking hours. That's 960 minutes, and what I hear people tell me over and over again is that they don't have time to exercise or sleep properly or make time for self-care, or to be social, whatever it is. The things that really do make up a well-lived life for themselves. They're saying they don't have time because their schedule is too jam-packed with things that are outside of their control. But I'm telling you that if you have 16 waking hours, you absolutely can make time for one hour or 60 minutes out of those 960 minutes to focus on yourself.

Then, we'll give you some tips on what you can do to actually structure your day better so you even find even more time available. The first -thing is that I'm noticing that people are in a reactive mode, so their nervous systems are overactive because they're in a constant state of adrenaline.

They're running from meeting to meeting, maybe there are no breaks in between, and it's too hard to shift right now. Especially on Zoom calls or with people working from home. Sometimes they're doing these 30-minute calls with even less time in between. So you could have 12, 13, and sometimes even more meetings in the course of just one day. Which is really exhausting and it's very difficult to feel like you can ever catch up.

So, the first thing I would say is it's really important to know what your life values are and then choose daily to align with those values. When we make choices daily that don't align with what we say is important to us. We feel out of balance. So for example, if we say that our family is important but we don't have time to spend with family.

It doesn't feel very good if we say that our health is really important. But we don't have time to focus on exercising or sleeping properly or eating nutritious foods. We're going to feel out of balance. So, it's important to know what your values are. Then, make sure you make time for it.

One of the things that you can do is start by identifying what are the self-care things or things tied to your health and wellness that you enjoy. Is it meditation or breathwork? Or maybe it's walking or exercising for a certain amount of time during the day? Maybe for you, it means taking breaks, whatever it is. Identify what those things are. Then, put them on your calendar. Figure out when you have the most energy and when you can exercise when you can schedule these things.

Put them on your calendar and just be accountable to yourself. So many of us would never break promises to other people. But we find it so much easier to do it to ourselves. So, really try to stick and be committed to it, and then you can add more.

Next thing is to do this in advance. So, not the day or the morning of which is too late. But if you could start to get into a cadence where you're doing this at least a week in advance, You'll feel so much better. So take a look at your calendar, find time to be able to do this, move some things around, and even if you can't do it in this present week. Look ahead and then decide what your new schedule is going to be. Knowing your energy's the greatest, block the time up for yourself self-care.

Next, I want you to start your morning with an intention. So, every morning when you wake up. Focus on a couple of things that make you feel good. Take a little bit of time to look at your schedule to reflect. Start with an intention and ask yourself. Who do I need to be today? For myself? For my team at work? For my family? For my friends? How do I want to show up? And then take a look at your schedule and say, am I setting myself up for success or failure? Will I be able to fulfill these things? What are my priorities today? Do I feel prepared? And if not, try to start making some of those changes once again, it's going to be hard to start right now, especially if your day’s jam-packed, but you can start looking forward and do it then.

Take a look at your to-do list. Many people have this long to-do list instead of a priorities list. So, instead of making a list of 30 things, 20 things that you need to get done today or you need to get done at some point, and then you hope you get as many things done as possible.

Focus on two or three priorities for the day. What are the things that you absolutely want to focus on to get done or to make some progress? Then, have some of those other lists that are maybe tasks or things that are a bit more tactical that you can work on as well. But focus on the priorities and then give yourself enough time on the calendar when you're actually going to work on them.

Schedule breaks, take a look throughout the day, and even if it's just a couple of minutes. If it's a mindful minute. Giving yourself some breaks to stretch your legs, to stand up, to go get some water, to get some food, to be able to stretch to whatever it is that you need that gives you a moment to just rest and renew and refresh is so important.

At the end of the day, make a clean break. At the end of the day, shut down. Close the door, put your devices away, and then take a couple of moments just in reflection and take a look and say, how do I feel today? How did the day go? Was I able to focus on the priorities? How did I show up? Did I fulfill the intention that I set for myself? Then, be able to self-identify. What worked? What didn't? And then decide how you're going to show up differently tomorrow so that you do feel even more successful, have more energy, or feel more focused, whatever the goal was for you.

In the evenings, give yourself time before you go to sleep, to just rest in knowing that you've done everything that you need to prepare for tomorrow. If you need to look at your schedule again, or maybe you need to write something down before you go to sleep so you don't have to worry about it. That's a great thing to do and then really create some good nighttime rituals so you're sleeping well. Could be taking a shower. It could be maybe diffusing some oil reading for a bit, putting your devices away 90 minutes before so that you actually have time to rest and not be overly stimulated, or anything that really allows you to just relax before you go to sleep. Make a cup of tea, maybe put on some good music that's relaxing, and listen to a bedtime meditation. Whatever works for you and try these tactics and see what works best.

And this is one of my favorite ones that really has worked well with clients at the end of the week on Friday. Spend some time reflecting and looking ahead. What I found with many of my clients is that they would start to get stressed on Sunday afternoons or Sunday evenings because they knew Monday was coming along. They weren't sure what the week was going to hold and so instead I suggested that people start doing this on Friday. So, take a look at Friday afternoon, and block some time off.

Hopefully, you're not going into the weekend with too many people and just saying what worked well and it doesn't have to take a long time. Just what worked well, and what priorities was I able to make traction on? How did I show up for myself? For my family? For my team at work? Etcetera.

And then also look at the week ahead. Make a list of your priorities. What are my big rocks for the week? And then take a look at your schedule and see, do I have time to focus on these? Do I have enough time to focus on myself, to be the healthiest version of myself so I can show up and do the things that I want to do personally and professionally?

And if you don't, you have time to schedule those things, and if you still want to look on Friday night, refresh yourself, refresh your mind, what do you need to do for Monday? You have time to do it, but you can go into the weekend knowing that you're in such a great place and you don't have to worry anymore about the week ahead.

So finally, I just want to say the way we spend each day is the way we spend our life, and it can seem daunting and overwhelming to start to make some of these changes, but it makes such a huge difference. So, the first step I would say is to identify whether you like to use a paper planner, which is actually what I use.

I still use a paper planner. I love the one that I use. It's a high-performance planner. It gives me time to reflect in the morning and in the evening. I'm able to schedule everything throughout the day. I have a week view and a month view. There are also some digital or hybrid planners. There's something called a Rocket book, which one of my clients is using that you actually can write, and then you can erase it. But you can take a picture of it and upload it. There's a QR code and upload it to your OneNote or to your calendar. There are also other digital tablets that do something very similar. So, investigate what would work best for you. But it really, for most people, requires more than just using your calendar, or digital calendar to be able to do the priority and the focus and the reflection, et cetera, which is really important.

And then make a list of the things that you want to add. Once you are efficient with your time and with your schedule, what's going to bring you joy? We need to add more joy to our life. When I ask people what their state of joy is, sometimes I get people to laugh or they might say, not really joyful right now.

It doesn't have to be that way. Make a list of the things that bring you joy. And I always say start with the basic stuff, maybe good coffee or having good chocolate on hand. Maybe, it's being able to go out to a nice dinner or a meal with your loved one or with some friends. Maybe it's engaging with your friends at least once a week or having a couple of trips planned throughout the year, something to look forward to, or getting a new book, whatever it is.

It doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to be time-consuming. It doesn't have to be extravagant. It could be tiny little things. Make your list and then sprinkle them in throughout your day, throughout the week, throughout the month, and throughout the year. You're going to feel so good when you're able to really take part in these activities and then be able to celebrate them because they feel so good.

If you still think that time is a challenge. Take a look and see how much time you're spending on your phone. Most of us are spending way more time than we are aware of. Set some time blocks, maybe turn your notifications off, which is something I do. Do not disturb me when I'm working and give yourself time to really work without any distractions. So you could focus and have more clarity. This will start to free up some more time as well.

And remember, you are in control unless you believe that you're not. And the first step is choosing to be in control to make some of these changes. You could start today, start small. You just have to begin.

I'm very curious about what you're going to try and, or if you've tried any of these things and you're loving them, please let me know and if you found today's episode to be helpful like it or review it and share it with a friend and I hope to see you next week. Have an amazing day.

 Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you have lost your zest for life and wondering if there's more to life than this, I want you to know that there is, if you are tired of being burned out and overworked, I was there. And now I want to help you. Download my free, easy-to-implement Daily Routines checklist to empower you to take control of your personal health and well-being and start to feel good again.

Head out to my website for your copy, and I will see you next week.

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