Does Your Schedule Need A Reality Check?

Does your summer schedule look the same as the rest of the year? 

Are kids in summer school or are you project managing 24 camps schedules?
Are you only taking short weekend trips or are you peacing out for a full week at a time?
Do the long summer days creep into the kids' bedtime routine or are you shutting those black-out curtains as fast as you can? 

I thought our summer was going to be similar to the previous months as Ellie is in summer school in June and July, but then I got smacked in the face with reality :) 

Her typical Thursday night gymnastics are Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8-12 which means earlier mornings, my work sessions at the gym, and time for traveling to and from. 

Then there's Gracie needing naps and fed and things like that, that are important. Thankfully, we found an amazing sitter but the same day each week doesn't align so it's adjusting to that. 

Add in building the house and all the meetings and communication that goes along with that. 

Before you think I'm complaining (where is the line between stating all the things and making it sound like I'm complaining?) I say this because my expectations did not meet my new reality. 

I was trying to keep my normal work schedule/task list the same while all the things around me were simply not the same. This hit me on Saturday and I took a big deep breath. So what now?

A Brain Dump...of everything. 

My work tasks, my personal/self-care tasks, and our household tasks. 

This is not the first time I've done this and I'm sure the list is somewhere and the tasks are in Asana, but I needed a fresh one because things needed to be adjusted. 

What did my brain dump do? 

It helped me see that there's a lot going on! Whew, to feel seen...by my own self is nice as typically I'm like, eh you're fine. I'm now going through that list to assign when things "need" to be done. 

Examples:

A daily list: pick up the house/wipe counters down, reply to any social comments, walk the dog/drink my water, email any client homework
A weekly list: take out the trash, sort mail, check social media plan, client sessions, update family QB
A monthly list: family meeting agenda + meeting, business QuickBooks review, Nugs flea/tick pills, an overview of schedule availability
Then quarterly and then yearly...

I'll then go to my schedule and map out where things can fit-ish (Gracie is 7 months old so some days are definitely not as productive!) 

And again, I've done this before - but by recognizing that I feel more overwhelmed than normal or I'm staying up too late to finish stuff - things need to change. 

This also means more house chores are delegated or pushed off - which is hard as I do prefer a picked-up house to have a clear mind for work. But the vacuuming may have to wait until tomorrow as client work (and Gracie snuggles) is more important! 

So, if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed take a pause and see if you can pinpoint where it's coming from. 

Different schedule? Lack of boundaries? Kids home allllll day? 

Then look at what you're expecting yourself to accomplish vs. what you really can accomplish. Shorten your list. Delegate some tasks. Hire it out. 

Cliche quote from Albert Einstein: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result" :)

Challenge: Go through your list. Make sure you're filling your cup. Enjoy the sunshine!

And if you need some more help I have a masterclass where I break this down and this is also something I do with 1:1 and VIP Day clients!