Repeating Patterns, Like Habits, can be Pleasing or Annoying
“How many people are trapped in their everyday habits: part numb, part frightened, part indifferent? To have a better life, we must keep choosing how we’re living.”
Albert Einstein
If you aren’t bouncing out of bed in the morning, or finding laughter and happiness intermingled throughout your day, it’s time to step back and take a look at what you are doing and how you are doing it.
Does your life feel a bit like you are running on and on, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel? Does it feel as if the joy and fun are seeping out of your life? Is it possible depression is seeping into your life?
The tug-o-war between your home or social demands and your business demands can have your head swimming, your blood pressure up and… you can be just downright grumpy and tense with everyone. Not great for business and definitely not great for either social or family life.
Is there a cure? There is, but it’s not necessarily easy. It takes self-discipline and persistence. (Did I just lose you with this statement? Stay, and read on.)
There are two simple – and not so simple – answers to the apparent dilemma:
- Scheduling, and
- Priorities.
You may yawn. This is not new news; but again, stay and read on. Before you get to schedules and priorities you need to take a look at your values, and how closely your habits and daily routines keep you to the values you hold.
If you are beginning to feel overwhelmed by the life you are leading, or out of control, take time out to get a grip on what is most important to you, decide what you want first and most, then sort out the rest of the priorities. Your values are the starting point. Then – the priorities.
If you have done that and are then still slogging through your days, it’s time to evaluate how you are doing what you are doing. It’s time to change up what you are doing. Your brain and body will thank you and, in the end, so will those around you.
“People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness.”
John Wannamaker
Set priorities! Decide what is important to you, and what your bottom line is. This act can be vital to your ability to keep on tackling the things that make you feel accomplished, and those activities that bring fun and laughter back into your life.
“Start when you scheduled a start, and stop when you scheduled the stop. This is part of the discipline of getting your life under control.”
Annette Hamm
Sit down now (or schedule a concrete time), and put down ‘on paper’ what is most important to you value-wise (find values lists online), and what is most important to get done – today – to achieve your short and long-range goals – both personal and business. (If you have not set concrete, time-framed personal and business goals – it is definitely time!) Schedule them into your calendar! Create time frames throughout the day for doing what needs to get done. (Calendar scheduling from Kevin Kruse!)
Stick to the schedule; stick to your commitment to yourself. Schedule work, schedule family time, social time, and exercise. Schedule it all! If it is important to you, it deserves to have a scheduled time. It is not written in stone; life happens. But if something happens to that schedule you laid out, do reschedule what didn’t get done.
