Thanks to Ashley S. Freeman, MBA and Flourishing Work LLC for having me as a guest blogger to write about how to thrive in challenging times! Ashley is a thoughtful and caring collaborator and an example of how to choose joy in your career. #careers #careerpivot #choosejoy #jobsearch
Does the thought of your schedule overwhelm you or make you want to ignore it all together? I have worked with clients that have a hard time managing all the moving parts of their work and life. And I’ve been there myself! It’s easy to see how things quickly get to be too much with all we have going on at any given time. Here are 2 tips to apply to your schedule if you are feeling the schedule overwhelm blues:
Tip 1: Give your schedule a structure. In this Fast Company article, Andee Love suggests that you create an A/B schedule so you don’t do every type of task every day. For example, meet with clients on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and set aside Tuesdays for administrative work and Thursdays for creative/strategic planning work. There are lots of ways you could structure this approach. There are even planners that have a structure built in for you. Here’s a list of some of those types of planners.
Tip 2: Be intentional about everything you put on your schedule. I put almost everything I actually do on my schedule because I can see how I actually spend my time (and I love a good completed task list). I also use color coding for different types of tasks to make it reader-friendly. To be intentional, I ask myself the following:
These questions help keep me intentional (and honest) and keep unnecessary things off of my schedule. And that is the stuff of joy making for me!
If you are suffering from the schedule blues, try these 2 tips for the next month and see if they help you regain some control over your time (and bring you joy).
For any scheduling gurus out there, do you have any scheduling tips that work for you that might help someone else struggling with this issue?
How could you start to choose joy today? It’s a new way of being for many of us but you can grow your choice muscles. Start today. Choose one moment, one feeling, one person, or one thing that brings you joy. Then rinse and repeat tomorrow. Before you know it, you’ll be a pro at flexing those choice muscles. #choosejoy @glennondoyle
Out of curiosity to learn more about a current popular coach, I attended a “training” last week that promised job search tips, insider secrets and lots of other too good to be true promises. You know the kind. All fluff and no substance that are really just a marketing ploy to get you to buy some way overpriced something. Several hundred others were also in attendance. All eager for help. Many expressed frustration in the chat with being dupped into having their time wasted.
After being hollered at and learning nothing in that experience, I vowed to offer something that actually helps the people in my network. We could all use some extra support right now, right?!
I will listen and offer support and advice through complementary virtual 30 minute mini-sessions for the month of September. Whether you want to talk about your career or life in general, I am here for you! Spaces are limited since I am also currently IT support and lunch lady for my 13 year old daughter. Sign up here. And I swear there will be no empty promises or gimmicks involved! Just joyful support of whatever you want to discuss!
Last week in one of my local mom groups, a mom reached out to ask if she could help match those in need of help with expenses with those who have extra funds to share. In that simple (and thoughtfully kind) message, she was able to coordinate helping 24 community members with over $3,000 in support in a matter of hours. That experience inspired me to find a way to share resources with a mom in my community this weekend. Having been the receiver of many acts of kindness throughout my life, I know the value of receiving and being inspired to pay it forward in kindness.
Times are surely tough right now and so many are hurting in so many ways. It’s easy to turn inward and focus on self during difficult times. I have found that focusing on others actually makes difficult times a little less difficult. When I focus on others, I am less focused on my problems and the related fears that create noise in my spirit.
My personal challenge for myself and to you is to find one way each day that we can pay it forward to someone else. What can we do or say to bring a little joy to someone else? To remind them that hope and joy abound even in the midst of the difficult times. Try it today and see what happens! #choosejoy
