FIRST IN LAST OUT
TAKE BACK YOUR CALENDAR | Todd Elliott
Photo by Gaining Visuals on Unsplash
I keep joking with people that, as someone who is basically in charge and can decide how to spend my time, you’ d think I would have more control over my schedule. Instead, I’ ve somehow chosen to let the demands of my schedule run my life rather than being intentional with the time I’ ve been given.
All this to say, it is difficult to take care of and prioritize myself. And I imagine the same goes for you.
So what do we do about it? I have a couple of potentially counterintuitive thoughts.
SCHEDULE MORE STUFF I know. It doesn’ t exactly sound like the solution for getting control over an already busy life. But I’ m realizing how important it is to fill some of my time with things that matter before my calendar gets filled with everything else.
The problem with my current schedule isn’ t that it’ s loaded with things I shouldn’ t be doing. Quite the opposite. Most of what fills my calendar is meaningful. Most of it is worth the time I’ m spending on it. The challenge is getting to my own calendar before someone else does.
That requires actual planning. And if you get there first, everything else has to schedule itself around the things you’ ve already decided are important. Some of what you schedule might be work related. Some might be family related. And some of it might simply be for you. An example from my own life: I’ m learning to fly an airplane.
Now, when I say that, I mean I’ m learning to fly an airplane on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. I wanted to try it out to see if I would like it enough to eventually try it for real. Instead of actually learning to fly, though, I spend a lot of time walking by my simulator setup wishing I had more time to devote to learning to fly.
See the problem? I need to make time for it or the rest of my life will squeeze it out. I need to schedule it. Is there a hobby you need to make time for? Something you’ ve wanted to learn or try? The clarinet, maybe?
The same thing happens at work. I need to be writing more often, and it always seems to slip
to the bottom of the list. On one hand, writing isn’ t easy, so it’ s easy for me to put it off. On the other hand, if I don’ t intentionally make time for it, it simply won’ t happen.
What project do you have that just keeps getting pushed off? Maybe the answer isn’ t waiting until you have more time. Maybe you need to put it on the calendar.
FIGURE OUT WHAT MATTERS TO YOU OK, this is definitely something that needs to happen before you start adding things to your schedule willy-nilly. What is important to you?
What will enrich your life personally? How do you want to invest in your family? Where do you want to grow at work? How do you want to be more intentional about your spiritual life? To take control of our schedules, we need a good understanding of what is important and what isn’ t. Not what is important to everyone else.
What is important to you?
When I don’ t have a grasp on that, I usually work really hard and then plop myself down in
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