Happy Sunday Everyone:
There seems to be a common theme around everyone being stressed out right now, would you agree?. Too much on the plate, too many commitments, too many travel plans, too many meetings, too many problems to be solved. In all reality-I agree. I’m feeling stretched thin right now. When I get stretched thin, the first things to go are the important things…morning runs, morning meditation, morning journaling…gone, healthy lunch, gone, great and present husband/father when I get home, gone. Clearly can’t be that important to me, or I’d do something about it, right? Then I look on my calendar, the one that is stressing me out, and I’m signed up for stuff I don’t really want to be doing. Hard to explain this without sounding like a greedy jack ass but I’m signed up for stuff that’s important to other people, but it’s not all that important to me. The problem with this, is then something that is important to me comes down the line, and I don’t have time for it. I was trying to explain it to Kim, and I said “I need to be more greedy with my time”….she thought I should choose a different word…she suggested I need to “prioritize” my time. So the politically correct answer is I think we all need to make a science out of “prioritizing” our time. Being more purposeful with our time. Being more purposeful with our time requires some very hard and honest conversations with people. Being more purposeful with our time requires direct, and impactful conversations. You can’t say yes to everyone and everything, and I’m realizing that’s my biggest struggle, is simply saying “no”. It is not easy for me to say “no”, I like saying “yes” to people but I also need to realize the world is not my oyster. X, Y, and Z, are my oyster, and if the situation or the person fits into those buckets of X, Y, and Z, then I need to be all in. If the person or situation does not fit into X, Y, and Z, then I need to be all out, and simply say “no”. This doesn’t mean I don’t want to help people, it doesn’t mean my mindset is “if this doesn’t benefit me, I’m not doing it”…it just means I don’t want the things that are important to my family, my team, and my clients, to slip through the cracks to handle a bunch of things that are not important to my family, my team, or my clients. The wrong people and the wrong situations will occupy the majority of our days if we allow it to happen. General thoughts for me to remember and perhaps you as well:
1. Kim’s message about friends “there are people that give energy and there are people that take it, we need to be with people that give us energy”….my new point-the same rings true for business partners and clients. Understand what you’re dealing with early, and punt often if you have to.
2. Never neglect the people who play by your rules for the people who don’t. The squeaky wheel will not win in our world.
3. know what your oyster looks like. IF you don’t, the tail will wag the dog.
4. Question everything that goes into my calendar. If I know I’m going regret putting this in my calendar when the time comes to be there, say NO now.
5. Clear, concise, and direct with expectations and next steps. This prevents back and forth. no big deal with one situation, add 20, and you’ll blow up.
6. Change my mindset on items in my calendar that are sacred and never replace them with items that are urgent, but not important.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!!