I have a confession to make…but before I do…
I have a question.
What’s the hardest thing about sticking to your plan?
This is a question that comes up a lot in coaching sessions.
Some of us have a hard time making a plan, but more often the issue is sticking to it, especially when the inevitable distractions show up.
Will-power is great for starting, but—for many of us—not always so great for sustaining! It’s so easy to lose focus, rhythm, and steam. And hard to pick back up again.
With a BIG nod to Nir Eyal, author of Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, I’ve become a big fan of timeboxing one’s calendar to support sticking to your plan.
Eyal suggests organizing your time by using this sequence of domains:
- Yourself
- Your relationships
- Your work
And blocking time in your calendar for each.
Did you notice? He puts “YOU” first!
Why?
Because, as he writes, “Taking care of yourself is at the core of the three domains since the other two depend on your health and wellness.”
He is not saying anything new…we know this!
But I wonder if you might have winced, or felt a pang of guilt, or thought “that’s nice, but that’s a fantasy as far I’m concerned!”
Here’s a story to help you change your mind.
This came up strongly for me this past month when I was in a session with a client—a VP in her forties with a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, and a mom of two teenage boys. She’s also a runner. She had just returned from a check-up with a blood pressure result that put her at risk of not living to see her kids celebrate their 20th birthdays. Yes, I was shocked too!
We got down to business. We listed everything that’s a stress in her life right now. It was not a short list.
I suggested we prioritize according to Eyal’s sequence of domains, starting with herself, and timeboxing to start getting that blood pressure under control.
My client found starting with herself so difficult to do!
In my coaching experience, I can attest that this client isn’t alone.
But, here’s my point.
We must CHOOSE!
Do the hard work of making our life work so that we protect the value, quality, and longevity of our life. Claim that priority!
Perhaps it’s time to look at your calendar again and do some serious timeboxing…
Here’s my confession: I know this is hard.
I’ve timeboxed a very conservative 20 minutes a weekday for a goal that may not impact my blood pressure, but does have the long term benefit of promoting the acuity of my mind and my desire to live and travel more in Central and South America.
That 20 minutes is set to learn Spanish. So far, my record at execution is not so great!
Back to Eyal. Again, he writes: “Being indistractable means striving to do what you say you are going to do…it does not mean being perfect or never failing.”
The point is to stand up, brush off, and try again!
So, after writing this, next on my agenda is opening my Spanish lesson!
What is next for you?
Yours on the journey,
Martha