Do you have a challenging time with your schedule?
Well, you’re not alone! Nearly everyone I know and nearly everyone I’ve ever coached can relate to this in some way. This includes: feeling like there is too much to do, feeling like there is not enough to do, feeling overworked, overtired, not knowing how to fit everything in, not leaving enough time for important things, getting places late, and so on.
Most people have at least one obstacle or challenge around how they use their time and manage their schedule.
And here’s the good news!: There are a lot of wonderful, useful tools out there for time management and schedule creating. There are in fact a number of Woman Wisdom Time Management Tools I’ve developed myself that work wonders for people who are ready to move through their lives at a different pace and in a different way. They can be really helpful in allowing you to prioritize and make space and time.
However, before you dive into the practical how-tos of time management, there is a VERY important yet nearly always overlooked first step to managing your time and schedule.
This is the foundational building block to creating a healthy and effective pace in your life that no one really tells you about:
It is vital that you understand your relationship with time and create healthy beliefs around how time functions and how you move through it.
Let me explain a little more: if you are having trouble managing your time, you are most likely operating under some limiting beliefs about time that are so deeply embedded within you that you don’t even realize you hold these restrictive and sometimes damaging beliefs. However your limiting beliefs are getting in the way of feeling balanced and energized, and allowing you to accomplish what you want to. These beliefs are causing your bad habits and harried experiences around managing your time and schedule.
Here are some of the most common limiting beliefs around time:
* There isn’t enough time for everything I need to do
* There isn’t enough time for everything I want to do
* I need to work hard in order to succeed
* People will think I’m lazy if I’m not busy
* In order for “it” to be done well, I need to give it a lot of time
* Time is fleeting
* Time is passing me by
* Doing is much more important than Being
As long as you harbor a limiting belief like one (or more) of those above, it doesn’t matter how many calendars you use, how well you schedule yourself, prioritize, make to-do lists, etc., because you will still find yourself feeling overwhelmed, running around like crazy trying to get things done, letting important things slip through the cracks, and feeling bullied by time.
On the flip side, once you let go of your limiting beliefs around time, then you are ready to move on to and make use of all of the amazing time management tools out there, and make them work for you!
Now you are probably wondering: how can I actually go about transforming my limiting beliefs around time? Here is a 4-step process for you:
1. Identify the pace of your life and your relationship with time by asking yourself the following questions:
* What is the pace of my life?
* What does is feel like to move through my day?
* How busy am I?
* Do I feel I am able to accomplish all the things I want to?
* Do I have open space in my day, or do I run from thing to thing?
* Do I feel rested or exhausted?
* Do I take care of myself?
2. Uncover your limiting belief around time
Based on what you discover about your relationship with time, begin to formulate a succinct one sentence statement that captures your limiting belief. For example, let’s say you are an extremely busy working mom who feels guilty about being so busy but at the same time feels useless when you aren’t busy. So, your limiting belief around time might be: “I believe that I am useless unless I’m busy.”
3. Get clear on how your limiting belief has been serving you
The belief is there for a reason. Get clear on WHY you’ve been holding on to this belief for so long, what is has done for you, where it has come from.
To use the example above: maybe you are able to make the connection between the prejudices you held against your mother being a stay-at-home mother which made you want to launch into a career in order to not be like her. You realize that you fill up your time with work while not allowing yourself to also respect your natural motherly instincts. Working makes you feel “successful” and as if you are doing something worthwhile with your time while tending to motherly duties makes you feel simple, uninteresting, and as if you are wasting your time.
4. Create new beliefs for yourself around time
Now that you have made the incredibly important discovery of what limiting beliefs you harbor, you can “rewrite” the internal script you have been unknowingly living by.
To continue the example I used above, now that you realize why you have not been respecting your own motherly instincts you might create the following NEW belief for yourself: “I believe that creating time for myself and my family will make my professional life even better.”
Once you create your new beliefs around time and start living them, then you can start implementing practical time management tools as well, for long-lasting habits to a healthier, happier and more balanced way of approaching the way you spend your time!
Joanna, another GREAT post. I like the fact you addressed what lies beneath! Getting to the core of your thoughts, behaviors, actions is essential. Otherwise, if you don’t, you simply address the “symptoms” of what is being manifested. Great insights Joanna.
Great four-step process! These are questions we need to ask ourselves and so seldom do.
I agree with Zenobia. We cover ourselves with so many layers of nonessentials and reasons for why we can’t do certain things we want or need to do, it’s no wonder time management has us in a loop. When you look at what you do make time for, you may find you’re spending too much time on things that don’t help you at all.
Part of the way I look on our relationship with time is how I look at goals: Once you see that all those big, seemingly-insurmountable goals are made up of little pieces, you realize that those pieces are all manageable and all lead to getting the big project done.
It’s the same with managing time. If you look at it as one giant lump instead of breaking it into manageable chunks, of course you’re not going to get anything done because it’s far too much for anyone to handle.