There are times of the day or the life when one could do with four arms, a second pair of eyes plus at least 20 more hours each day. I’m moving houses in two weeks’ time, so I’m sure you understand what I mean! ’The temptation to hyperventilate is sometimes a very real one.
Recently I realised that I had been starting the last days on autopilot. First thing after opening my eyes was checking my schedule. The wake-up call was when I caught myself hissing through the teeth at the sight of my agenda.
Magical moment? Nope.
Ease and elegance? Erm…
Luckily I caught myself then and there, closed my laptop with a bang and indulged in a loooong shower. Whilst I took time for – and enjoyed! – my morning coffee, I thought about how I could organise my time in a way that would draw a more pleasurable reaction than making sounds like an enraged snake!
Looking at my schedule, I realised that it looked like the content of my backpack when I was travelling as a teenager (do I need to become more graphic?) Whenever something that needs to be done sprang to mind, I had stuffed it in wherever I had found a bit of time. 100% reactive, 0% proactive. There was no flow, no ease, no streamlining, heck, there was no logic whatsoever! It would be embarrassing to reveal more details, but I’m sure you can imagine.
Asking the right questions
The other thing that had wreaked havoc with my time, my scheduling and my mind was that I had stopped asking the right questions before scheduling:
How do I want to feel at the end of the event/day/week/month?
What do I need to have done in order to be sure to feel that way?
What are the best ways to schedule those actions?
These questions are easy enough to overlook, once we are caught in the downward spiral of “too much to do” and feel that we don’t have the time “right now”. But ask these questions every morning and I promise that your life will change dramatically!
Do you own your schedule or does your schedule own you?
Because: whenever you schedule something, you are making an appointment either with someone else or with yourself. How are you showing up at this appointment? Are you showing up as the person you are striving to be or are you just automatically going through the moves?
If you want to feel elegant, then show up as an elegant woman. This doesn’t necessarily mean dressing up in order to wash the dishes (although it surely wouldn’t hurt :), but it certainly means that you connect to the attitude of an elegant woman.
If you want to be successful, draw on your experience of success and then go through the day with the assurance of the successful woman you are.
Decide how you want to go through the day and your schedule and your life will follow!
PS: I’m curious now: what are your ideas about elegant scheduling? Please share in the comments.
