Amplify Your Schedule

Everyone wants to get the most out of their day- to rush towards projects with zeal and enthusiasm to get them done efficiently. What do you do though when you’re drained, exhausted and lacking the creativity to really kick a$$? You can work more efficiently by scheduling in time for yourself.

Being the awesome go-getters we try to be, it seems totally logical that “after work comes play.” If you’re not having enough time in the day to get everything done, you obviously don’t have time to schedule in some personal time- right? Not necessarily.

Let me make the point of time variability and potency. Have you ever noticed that you make things happen in the time allotted? A project that only needs an hour can take weeks if you have no urgency. In fact, isn’t true that cleaning the house could take all day but can be jam packed into an hour or two if your relatives are stopping in for an unexpected visit? One of my favorite cards I ever received was when I was president of a non-profit, it was a great piece of advice that read: “If you put things off to the last minute, they only take a minute to do!”

You totally have the time to get things done and schedule time for yourself. Now, this formula doesn’t work all of the time- I’m not one to advocate balance….busy people sometimes have to put work and projects first for a time- but the fact is, if you want to be your best self and amplify your time, you have to schedule time for yourself. You will find that even if you cut an hour out for something “unproductive”, you will find the energy to make up for the lost time. So while knitting, Skyping with a friend, yoga or organizing your closet isn’t work- it will totally amp up your worktime. Approach your life like you would preparing for a big test: Get your head right, get lots of sleep and eat well and you’ll perform better.

The best advice I ever got from a professor was when I asked him how he got through the stress of grad school.  He told me this:

“Well, I drank…no, no…don’t do that. You have to treat school like a job. Clock in, clock out. Don’t let it control your life and schedule time for yourself.”

In short- you can look up all of the productivity hacks, get the best day planner and wake up an hour earlier to get it all done, but if you don’t recharge your batteries, you’re not making the most effective use of your time by running through it with anything less than exuberance.