Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Most of my friends don’t and I get it. They can feel contrived, shallow or self-defeating, and hardly anyone keeps them anyway. But I love the fresh start a new year brings. After all the revelry of the holidays, the idea of cleaning up my act and establishing positive routines in January is really appealing.
(Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com)
I’m kind of a self-help junkie, and at this time of year I get especially enthusiastic about all the ways I can improve my life. I can eat better, cook better, exercise more, develop more meaningful relationships, take my creative work to the next level, read more books, learn a language. Be a better citizen of the world! The problem is, I have a limited attention span. I can’t focus on more than a couple things at once and I don’t want to set myself up for failure. So for 2024, I’m committing to one simple practice—scheduling my week and following that schedule every day.
“The challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves. The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” —Stephen Covey
Most of you busy, productive women probably already manage your time with the precision of an air traffic controller. But I don’t have a boss or clients, I don’t have kids at home, and my schedule is very flexible. Also, I think the pandemic played a role, making it normal to cancel plans at any moment while busying myself with comforting little pursuits. Last year I used my calendar to record appointments, trips and birthdays, but not much else. I’ve been operating mainly from a to-do list. I love a list—everything is front and center in one place. But a list doesn’t prioritize big projects, which are complex and require sustained focus over time.
If I want to read more books, speak French, get stronger, post on my blog more frequently and redesign my website, when will I do those things? Instead of doing what? How do I learn the skills I lack? All of those activities require consistent effort and accountability. If I don’t set aside specific blocks of time to pursue those things, they aren’t going to happen. One lesson I learned in 2023 is that life is short and unpredictable. At 60, I am going to make the most of my time while I can.
So for the first quarter of 2024 I’ve created a weekly schedule that prioritizes the things that are important to me, including my people. I’ve scheduled time in the evenings to read (help, I’ve become such a lazy reader). I’ve blocked out three mornings and one afternoon to devote to Fully Fabulous. I’ve scheduled weekly appointments with a personal trainer, a French instructor, a date night with Liam and a Sunday beach walk with my mom.
“You must learn how to become a deeply disciplined half-ass.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
I haven’t booked every hour because I know I’ll never keep to something so rigid. Nor have I scheduled routine chores and errands—I trust myself to get those things done. It has just been one week, but I feel more purposeful and efficient following my schedule, and have cut so much wasted time out of my day. For example, this is the first week in months that I’ve posted here twice!
Having one big goal (which encompasses many smaller changes) follows the “Habit Stacking” technique Laura Hine and I learned about in our Healthy Habits Challenge three years ago. To read about the power of bundling little positive changes together under the umbrella of one bigger action, check out this earlier post:
And hey, don’t give up on resolutions! Change is hard, but people who make resolutions are still more likely to succeed than people who don’t, especially if they follow the SMART Framework and make them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound. You can read more about that in this Forbes article.
If you work-from-home entrepreneurial/creative types have any suggestions for effective time management, I’d love to hear them.
Happy New Year!
Fully Fabulous 
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