Good Morning, everyone.

Happy Tuesday!

I hope you had a relaxing weekend and possibly a long weekend for MLK day. My weekend was wonderful with a short hike with my new hiking shoes and an outside day at the Zoo with the family to celebrate my amazing niece, Andrea’s, birthday. 🙂 

As we move through January and into the first quarter of 2021, it can help us to reach the vision for our life this year to purposely create the time we need to follow our dreams and meet our goals.

I have never had a problem meeting my daily responsibilities; I am naturally responsible. Yet it took many years, decades even, to realize that a life by design requires a certain amount of planning.Planing by the day, week, and month. If we don’t plan out our day, we may go to work, make dinner, and watch a tv show at the end of the day but we will not find the time to workout, sign up for that art class, or tackle a pile of must read books. Something else will almost certainly find a way to occupy our time. Then, One day it will dawn on us that we let life happen to use rather than creating a life of purpose. The good news is that it is never too late to start creating our life.

One technique I have learned over the years is time blocking. Simply explained, time blocking is sectioning out blocks of time to complete designated tasks. I personally have a morning block, work block, and evening block for the work week.

My morning block contains everything I need to do in the morning to have a productive day. It includes purposeful quiet time and finding a podcast to listen to on my way to work that inspires me to start my day. ( I commute almost 2 hrs a day so I need to make my car time inspiring and informative.) No news in the morning. I save checking the headlines until  later.

My work day block is a pretty set schedule being a teacher. However, I  have learned to use my plan time well. It is easy to blow plan time when I am  stopping to chat in the hall for a few minutes or decide to “just check” the news or social media. I make a list for what I need to get done for the week and pick the top three each day to accomplish during my plan. I also take a few minutes during my plan time to remind myself why it is that I chose education and appreciate  my career. It is very easy for me to get caught up in the daily frustrations and lose sight of my purpose in education. 

My evening routine is what has changed the most since Covid. I used to run from here to there with various activities and commitments after the work day. . After a period of adjustment, I have decided my evenings are now infinitely more peaceful. Driving home I listen to several shows that make me laugh and help me separate my work day from my home time. Once I am home I put on some relaxing music and take care of little things around the house, do my evening workout and eat dinner. Around 7:00 pm I get my work clothes out for the next day and pack my lunch. From 7:30 until 9:00 I am able to relax With something I enjoy. Sometimes it is a movie, a puzzle, working on the blog, or journaling.

My weekend block routine is pretty easy and flexible. I block out time for errands, online church,  and my rosary group. Then, I block out time for hiking or another outdoor activity and touching base with friends. I block out time to plan for the week ahead and write a blog post. There is generally lots of spare time to just hang out and relax or do something spontaneous when the mood strikes.

When using time blocking you can add anything to your schedule that helps you meet your goals. Time to research, plan healthy menus, read a chapter in a book, or anything you choose. I have found it is much easier to grow and accomplish things  when I see steps towards my goals on a schedule.

How about you? Have you ever tried block scheduling? Do you plan out your days or weeks ahead of time?

As always, I would love to hear from you!

Until next time,

Laura