ON ROTA
“I don’t have time for this!” How many times have you heard that, felt that in your head, exclaimed that out loud recently?
Modern life is BUSY. Not by any innate design, or mandatory component. Just because, as complexities of home or work life expanded, technologies innovated, we don’t tend to stop and make fully conscious decisions about the costs and benefits of any of those new features that have crept in.
If you’re the kind of person who says yes to your friends or boss whenever they ask something, someone who is determined to make things work and find creative solutions, there’s nothing wrong with that. But, if you are also trying to care for a sick relative, deal with an admin issue with a service provider, help your child do their homework, respond to messages and emails the day they arrive…this can all create a feeling of there not being enough time in the day.
Here's the thing that you already know, if you weren’t spending time beating yourself up about various aspects of the above: there’s always going to be the same amount of hours in the day. Another thing you already know: if you run yourself ragged trying to please everyone without looking after yourself, there’s not going to be a magic day where suddenly the accumulation of overstretching yourself leads to you waking up feeling refreshed and healthy.
But, I hear you cry, I have to do these things. That is probably true for most of those things (except for life admin and responding to emails and messages the same day you get them, unless they are a matter of health and safety). I get this (as do MMAP’s ScreenFree SuperPlanners, who pop up on our social media each Saturday to help you take a breath and aquaint yourself with a wholesome hobby).
This hectic time of the year, this Philosopher-in-Residence is prescribing taking back a feeling of control by making yourself a rota. You HAVE to schedule time for yourself. Maybe this is a 10 minute relax doing absolutely nothing after each 2 hours of toil. Maybe this is setting a time and a duration for your lunch break, rather than skipping it, having it whenever you’ve done “more important” stuff, eating it on the go. Maybe this is talking to the people within your “responsibilities network” about how you can create some ringfenced time for deep work/time out.
Think about this today, and a great way to start your first “you time” is to fix a day and date you’re going to spend half an hour making your very first rota that plans and prioritises these myriad responsibilities. Good luck!
Next fortnight, I’ll be writing On Small. It’ll only take a little time to pop by and read it so bookmark that beverage break!
Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this subject you’d like me to write about.
In the meantime,
Happy Planning
PS If you want some other free tips for your business life, check out the Working Well blog – out fortnightly on Wednesdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Productivity Expert, Penny Le Kelly. Browse the latest edition here:
