Feelings Fitness Podcast
Feelings Fitness Podcast
223. Transformative Techniques for Effective Time Use
Ever caught yourself wondering where the hours go? This week's Feelings Fitness episode will transform your relationship with the clock, as I take you through my own journey of mastering time management. With life's pace quickening, especially after parenthood, I've stumbled upon strategies that shifted my daily grind into a well-oiled machine of productivity and purpose. Imagine starting your day already poised for success because you've embraced the art of 'mise en place'—a culinary concept that, when applied to life, means setting your intentions and tools for the next day before your head hits the pillow. This isn't just about getting things done; it's a deeper dive into living with intention, letting go of chaos and embracing the moments that truly matter.
We're nearing the end of our year-long quest for holistic fitness, and this 51st episode is a heartfelt call to action to take control of your time. Learn how tracking your day can be illuminating, putting 'big rocks' first can revolutionize your to-do list, and how batching tasks might just be the productivity hack you've been seeking. But that's not all—time blocking could be the game-changer you need to carve out space for your priorities. As we share and reflect on these time management revelations, I encourage you to join me in this commitment to make every tick of the clock count towards a more fulfilling, balanced, and intentional life.
Welcome to the Feelings Fitness Podcast. Let's flash back to 2023, when we took a 52 week road trip together to discuss home health, happiness and habits. We created a road trip to work towards feeling fit mind, body and spirit. Now we'll revisit those 52 weeks in just 52 days. There are many more adventures in store for 2024, but let's look back on how far we've come and set ourselves up for more success. Welcome to week 51 of our 52 week road trip through 2023 together. One more week and we will be at our destination week 52. But, as we all know, life is about the journey, not about a final destination. So, although next week we will accomplish our goal of having spent 52 weeks together, there's so much more in store for 2024.
Speaker 1:If you missed the memo, the Feelings Fitness Podcast will take January 1 through March 18th to relax, regroup, refocus, then reboot. I'll be meditating with my vision board, I'll be fine-tuning my smart goals and I will be using my planner to plug in my priorities for 2024, all in the effort to use my time wisely and live life on purpose. Time is our currency and time is a non-renewable resource that we need to take very seriously, which segues perfectly into the main topic for this week time management. I used to think I had such command of my time because I plugged everything into a planner. I was so sorely mistaken. I really didn't not have great command of my time, and I've realized over the course of the last decade that, as my life got wilder and crazier with kids, I'm not very good with time management, and there's so much to learn, and there it really is a skill that not everyone has. So I'm working on it and I hope you will work on it with me too.
Speaker 1:Being intentional with time is the most important thing building your calendar around the things that matter the most and building your calendar around the way that you want to feel, seeing your values highlighted in how you spend your time. It goes without saying that we all have tedious tasks that we must do housework, laundry, dishes, fixing things, paying bills, et cetera. We all should be taking care of ourselves too, like doctor's appointments, exercise, preparing and eating healthy meals. All of these things take time. So how do we manage our time? Well, some suggestions that I learned over the course of the last year and that I plan to take with me into 2024.
Speaker 1:One time tracking. So start by knowing how you are currently spending your time. Identify the tiny time socks, like scrolling social media, et cetera. Identify the priorities as well. And there was this example of a jar how many rocks you could fit in this jar, and the way that it worked out the best was if you put the big rocks in first and then the small rocks and the sand could filter in around the big rocks. So if you put in the small sand and you put in the small rocks, then there's no room for the big rocks, right? So think about that little visual, that little analogy.
Speaker 1:As you are putting things onto your calendar. Think about putting the big rocks, your top priorities, onto your calendar first and really only choosing, like, three main goals for the day. Don't try to come up with too many, otherwise you'll just feel unsuccessful at the end of the day. So choose three main goals, three big rocks, to put onto your calendar for the day. Then think about batching tasks, for example, one thing at a time, like perhaps you're going to spend a chunk of time paying bills Don't get distracted, only pay the bills. Perhaps you're going to write emails only write emails, don't get distracted and start online shopping as you're writing those emails.
Speaker 1:For me it might be recording episodes for the podcast. Sit down and do several episodes at one time, not just one per week. Batch them together. Do a bunch of recordings all at one time. Make phone calls. Maybe you're make out a list of people and places that you need to call and only make phone calls. Don't start scrolling social media in between each phone call. Then, once you have kind of identified the priorities and you've batched them together into groups, like to get a bunch of stuff that in the same category done at one time and then block out sufficient time windows on your calendar with these most important tasks. Now be realistic about your time and remember that you also need to weave in these tedious tasks as well, or just your routine tasks as well. So make sure that you aren't blocking out these windows of time and not being realistic about the other things that have to get woven in between.
Speaker 1:Then, on top of these, the time tracking, the batching tasks and the time blocking then what you want to do is you want to set yourself up for success the night before. The example that I love, the visual that I love, is to think about chefs when they're cooking. It's called mise en place and it's everything in place. So, before they cook, they're going to prep their kitchen station with the tools that they need, with the ingredients that they need, all the things that they need, whether, if they need a recipe, whatever it is that they need to create this meal. It's all set up in one place and ready to go. So it just makes it that much easier to stay focused on the task at hand and get it done and to have it go smoothly and have it be enjoyable.
Speaker 1:So this idea is to set yourself up for success the night before with all of the things that you need for the next day Clothing, whatever the first task is that you're going to do. Maybe you're going to write in a journal first thing in the morning, have a cup of tea in the morning, have those things out in place where you can get to them easily, and then it will just feel smooth and successful and you will start your morning off with ease. So setting yourself up for success the night before, having all these things set out, this mise en place, like the chefs do when they're cooking. So get yourself all set up and then know your morning ritual, and this will save the cognitive fuel needed for other, more important tasks. So there's not this decision fatigue on what you are going to do first thing in the morning. You know your morning ritual, you've set yourself up the night before and then the cognitive fuel is all set up and saved for your important tasks that you have to complete for the day.
Speaker 1:So I could go on and on about the importance of time management and how tricky it can be as well.
Speaker 1:I am a work in progress when it comes to time management, and this is why I wanted to talk about the way that it makes me feel overwhelmed sometimes and the tools that I have learned along the way to ease that overwhelm.
Speaker 1:So I hope that you, too, will think about ways that you can not get derailed when it comes to time management, because life will throw us all kinds of curveballs, whether it's a kid gets sick and you have to pick them up from school early, like I did today, or whether you lose a loved one and you're going through grief and just time seems to kind of stand still and you're almost like paralyzed and can't move forward until you get through the, the grief of all of it. Whatever it may be that stands in your way of managing your time. I'm here with you, I'm here and I am in it with you, so my invitation to you is to take some time this week and really think about your own time management. I hope you're enjoying 52 weeks and 52 days, a compact version of the transformational road trip we took through 2023. We're revisiting those 52 episodes and it's a review of home health, happiness and the habits that guide the way to feeling fit mind, body and spirit. It's also a food for thought for how you want to feel.