Back in school, we had these planners given to us each year, that we had to use. In middle school, our teachers checked to see we were filling them out. At that point, I thought it was ridiculous. I filled them out, but never used them.
I thought I had it all together.
Boy, do I wish I’d gotten in the habit of actually using a planner then rather than having to teach myself how to do it now!
For those who don’t know, I’m an author, a photographer, an aspiring cover designer, a mediocre musician, a YouTube content creator, an all around artistic hobbyist, a…you get the picture. I dabble in a lot of things.
One of my biggest struggles has been overwhelming myself with all the different things I just love to do. And a big part of that is figuring out what is most important, and what I have to sacrifice.
And then I realized, I don’t have to sacrifice one thing I love for another.
It is possible, given the amount of time I have each day, to do everything I love without stressing myself out, and it all comes down to scheduling.
I get it, this isn’t a new concept, people make schedules all the time. But, I don’t?
My wife was raised by neat freaks, and I was raised by hoarders. We grew up in incredibly different situations, developing entirely different habits, but overall, we wanted to live the same kind of lifestyle that fell somewhere in the middle of our very drastically different upbringings.
Managing that lifestyle on top of all of my different career goals has also taken scheduling. In the form of a cleaning schedule. Which is how I knew it works!
Once I saw some incredible improvement in my stress level when it came to keeping our house clean and tidy, and managing that tidiness on a daily level, without becoming overwhelmed, I knew I could apply the same concepts to my long list of passions.
Scheduling my Professional Life
I wouldn’t say I’m a professional anything. But, when it comes to any career, people consider it a profession, so I suppose I will too, but only for these reasons.
When I took the week, laid it out by days, spread all my goals out into seven separate categories, and allotted specific items per day, I realized my goals were entirely manageable, and stressing over them like I had been was just silly.
As a stay at home wife, I have so much time on my hands, which means I do have time to do all the things I love, it just took proper management for me to see that. And since applying these concepts, I’ve been able to get more done in less time!
Work smarter, not harder!
Now, I can’t begin to tell you how to schedule your life, whether it be personal or professional because we all have different lives and journeys, but I can say that when you look at the picture zoomed out a little, and give yourself tiny nibbles of work each day, you’ll see a drastic difference in your life.
Good luck!