Okay, this isn’t really an ode. I just wanted to express how amazingly great it is to have a few hours to myself. My son recently started going to preschool two mornings a week. I’m getting a lot done in those few hours while he is playing with his new friends and learning about circle time and sharing and caring.
But that’s not the biggest benefit. The biggest benefit is how free I feel when he’s not at preschool.
Free to stay in the moment.
Free to let him take 10 minutes to get into his car seat because he’s pretending there’s a monster already sitting there.
Free to cook and clean when I’m cooking and cleaning.
Having discrete blocks of time that I know I can use to write, talk to clients, or learn new tools and techniques, allows me to enjoy every part of my life even more.
Now I know that I need to schedule blocks of time to work on my business. I used to do this, or say I did this, but I was never really firm about the time, so it ended up getting eaten up by other tasks. At times I’d think about what I wanted to get done while I was doing other things, and end up feeling frustrated.
If I had looked at my day and seen that I was free during my son’s nap time or from 7:30 to 9 PM and then let it go, I would have felt more relaxed and still gotten my important tasks done.
My morning routine, which consisted of two questions, now has a third question added to it:
- How do I want to feel today?
- What do I have to think in order to feel this way?
- What’s the one thing I can do today that will help me feel this way?
Most days the way I want to feel is “relaxed,” and I have found that looking ahead and figuring out what the one thing that is most important to me is and putting that into my schedule makes me a more relaxed woman. I block the time out and honor the commitment.
One thing is enough, although many times I get more done. It’s not writing or coaching every day, but many days it is, and making sure I make room for that one thing early–okay, earlier–in the day than 10 PM (when all I really want to do is go to bed) has made a big difference for me.
Such a simple change, but it’s been very helpful–every day, not just the days when my son goes to preschool.
What’s the one thing you want to get done tomorrow? Where does it fit into your schedule?