Taking ownership

Shaping a schedule to own my time and create space

For the last few months I have been rehearsing for a show. This has meant a couple of hours every Tuesday and Thursday night and up to five hours every Saturday. On top of this was practicing at home between rehearsals and then the slightly longer sessions as we got closer to the performance. It was all worth it, the show was fabulous fun, I loved spending time with my castmates and the team around the show, I was stretched in lots of ways, and I was singing and dancing which is great for the soul.

To be fair it was stressful too managing my workload at the same time but we got there!

Now the show is over and done.

No more rehearsals.

I’ve got this time back.

The interesting thing is that if we don’t take ownership of the time we have then whatever tasks we have will expand to fit the time available. This is Parkinson’s Law. I often fall into inefficient patterns, a long list with no parameters to help manage it, overthinking or under focusing. These are classic things that happen when we don’t take responsibility for how we spend our time.

A few years ago, in my former teaching position, I developed a routine that was helpful to manage the workload and it did make a difference.

First I worked out what I needed to do each week- these are tasks that don’t necessarily need to go on a to-do list as they routine, for me these tasks are school planning and assessment tasks, meetings, newsletter writing etc.

Then I looked at our family routines and what is healthy for me. This means having a day off every week, so where possible Saturday is my day off. I also need time each day for my wellbeing. Reality check- I know it seems hard to do and often this drops off the list when we are busy but if I can find a minimum of nine hours a week for rehearsals then in reality it has never been an issue of not enough time, just not enough priority!!!

If we have routines it is so much easier to just do the things so establishing routines that chunks my tasks is where I felt empowered. Here’s the weekly action plan I came up with:

This works for me as it creates space for flexibility, if there are things going on I can work around it. For me I know that consistency is easier to maintain if I have wiggle room. I have made a rule for myself that my wrap up time for the week days is 10.30pm.

There is space that I can add in other things that are going on in a particular week and space to ensure that I have time each day for my wellbeing. This term I am committing to making space for an hour a day to do things that help me grow or stay well personally and/or professionally- some of these are locked in like the singing lessons, gym sessions and bookclub but there are other days and space to do something that brings me joy or stretches me in some way.

Values are an important driver for the choices that we make so writing in the values that I am focusing on for the week helps to keep it present for me. It is a reminder of who I want to be and how I want to show up. I can choose to sprinkle values aligned tasks through my week and it helps me stay accountable.

Reflection is also really important and taking a few minutes at the end of each week to reflect on how the week has been, how I have lived the values that are important to me, and what I’ve learned helps to keep me honest.

Taking time to work out your priorities and take ownership of your time is a powerful way to take responsibility for your life. It is too easy to have a big ol’ to-do list that just keeps growing and becomes overwhelming as you try to prioritise on the hoof… this when things drop off the list, when stress takes over, when you start living like you are always nearly going to be run over by the treadmill you are running on. This is not really living, not being, just caught in a cycle of doing, doing, doing.

So, I am committing to using the time I am gifted well; taking ownership of my time, taking responsibility for how I use it.