Recently, we had Kev’s parents over for dinner to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
No big shakes, you might think - but I had a really busy day coaching clients, as well as a hypnotherapy case study due to arrive at 4pm, and the party started at 6.30 pm.
What did this mean for me?
Military. Grade. Planning.
I’d worked out everything I needed to do, from shopping and cooking to cleaning the downstairs loo and laying the table, and estimated how long each task will take.
I then looked at the time I had available to fit the little tasks in. I could easily run the hoover around in fifteen minutes or lay the table between coaching calls. Shopping had to happen during lunch break, but I needed to have a good list written (also a 15-minute task) so I could just whiz around supermarket-sweep style rather than my usual absent-minded dawdle.
Before I discovered the joys of planning, I wouldn’t even have bothered to ask people over for dinner on a really busy work day, but there is something weirdly exhilarating about pulling a dinner party out of my arse, so to speak, on one of my busiest days.
I wouldn’t want to do it every day, but the thought of seeing Mum and Dad’s little faces enjoying celebrating their anniversary makes it feel worthwhile.
This type of planning - listing tasks, estimating how long they will take, and planning them into your calendar is time-management 101.
Sometimes, it can feel scary when we come out of our safe delusion that we have all the time in the world to do everything, but on the flipside fitting lots in to very little time can be a buzz all of its own.