Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Back to School


 Back to School

Regardless of whether or not you have a direct connection to school schedules, in some way, we are all affected by the shift from summer to fall.  Even corporate and enterprise worlds reflect a more casual and loose attitude through the summer months as they respond to employee and client vacation schedules.  As we near Labor Day, the official marker of summer’s conclusion, it might be helpful to return to “school” for a little refresher on how to manage the additional stress that comes with new fall schedules, projects, deadlines and expectations.

·         Get clear as to what really matters to you.  Know what is working for you right now with your priorities.  If you are enjoying a renewed sense of balance as a result of more summer exercise, family time or self-care, recognize how it feels to you and what it would take in the way of scheduling to continue it into your new fall calendar.

·         Establish boundaries to protect what matters to you.   Establishing boundaries contain solid best practice policies that allow you to check requests and demands on your time against your values and priorities before committing. 

·         Institute a 24HR window of time before you agree to any commitment.  No immediate response policy will allow you to evaluate the choice and how it matches your priorities in a timely and respectful manner.

·         Don’t allow others to create urgency by transferring their issues and crisis to you.  Short of a medical emergency, you have the power of choice to select how and when you will accomplish a task.  Utilize this power by owning your time.

·         Resist feeling validated by “busyness” and having a heavy schedule.  Practice allowing yourself the freedom and restoration of “open” time.

·         Recognize FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and make sure you are not falling into the trap.  We have a culture that rewards frantic busyness that leads to over-whelm and exhaustion.  Make sure that you value how you spend your time.

·         Learn to say NO!  In her book, Find Your Courage, Margie Warrell suggests there are two key blockers that prevent us from finding the courage to say no: 1. Lack of clarity about what you want to say yes to.  2. “Shoulding” on yourself…how we think we should be seen by others.

As a member of your work and family communities, you have requirements on your time that are non-negotiable.  Consequently, it is imperative that you become even more selective and intentional with the remaining hours of your days, they are precious.  As Holly Mosier writes…”Our culture encourages us to plan every moment and fill our schedules with one activity and obligation after the next, with no time to just be.  But the human body and mind require downtime to rejuvenate.  Learn to say no to demands, requests, invitations, and activities that leave you with no time for yourself.  Until I learned to say no, and mean it, I was always overloaded by stress.”

If once and for all you would like to eliminate over-whelm, over-booked and stressed out from your life, pop me an email to schedule a complimentary coaching session.    Cheers!  ~   Jan

fulchersolutions.com