It often takes a while for us to get to the point of “overwhelm” so it makes sense that it will take some time to escape the overwhelm. Our next practical action is proactively creating your own “ideal week” (thank you again, Michael Hyatt and Company!) This action creates boundaries and margin to guide your decisions and allow you to be able to fulfill existing commitments to coalition members and other priorities in all areas of life. Join me this week as I provide three next steps you can take to create your ideal week.
Review your existing calendar
Are all of your meetings on one or two days or are they spread out throughout the week? When do your coalition members prefer meeting? Do you have time to work on your most important projects or commitments? If you find that you struggle finding time to follow-through with commitments and are weary from moving from one meeting to another, it’s time to make a change. As you reflect on your calendar, consider both your work and non-work time. If we are going to escape the overwhelm, we need to spend time on non-work activities, including rest and play!
Consider when you are at your best
If you are a morning person and your best ideas, thoughts and products are created in the morning, then block time on your calendar for one or more mornings each week for focused time to write, create and think. Alternatively, if you work best in the afternoon, then block that time. Also, treat these time blocks as meetings (with yourself) and work diligently to keep those appointments. If you are going to escape the overwhelm, you have to create and protect time to work on those “desire zone” activities. When you have already scheduled time on your calendar, it is much easier to protect that time when the next meeting request or doodle poll is in your email.
Fill in details for the ideal week
Consider both work and non-work time. If you are leading coalitions, then you are leading and participating in meetings. Consider blocking time on specific days or times of day when you host or attend meetings. If you have feedback from your coalition team on days/times that work best for meetings, then use that information to inform your meeting days. However, be cautious that you keep blocking time when you at your best to get other things done (see #2 above).
Apply it
As someone who facilitates meetings and loves a great meeting, I enjoy meeting with partners and working on projects together. However, I also know that if I’m always meeting, that I’m not able to do the follow-up from those meetings. In addition, I do not have the capacity to develop the products, deliverables and deep work that accomplish our priorities. After reviewing my own calendar and evaluation results from our coalition, the best days for meetings are usually Tuesdays and Thursdays.
As a result, I’ve designated those days as my primary meeting days. I also realized late last year that I want to spend more focused time with my daughter so I am including Friday time for her. When I become overwhelmed again, it usually is because I start to accept meeting invitations on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays. In addition, I have been working with my husband to figure out how we develop and implement an ideal week for our evening and weekend time. In order for me to rest, I usually have to schedule rest time! 🙂
So what about you? What will you do next to create your ideal week?
Click here to watch the replay of my FREE Masterclass, Escape the Overwhelm.
If you would like more support in applying this practical action, check out my newest free resource, Escape the Overwhelm Checklist.
Photo by Emma Matthews Digital Content Production on Unsplash
