074: Take Back Your Time

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“Show me your calendar and I'll tell you what you value.” ~ Anon

One thing about that quote is that it’s one of those bits of wisdom that can't be sourced. I've done enough research and from what I’ve seen, it's attributed in some form or another to a lot of different people.

The other thing is that it falls under the “annoying but true” category of personal growth wisdom. So buckle up for an annoying but true episode about what your calendar is trying to tell you.

Way back when I worked at Microsoft, my calendar was full of meetings, and I’ve got to admit – I kind of liked it, even though everybody else complained about all the meetings they had. I think it made me feel kind of important and proud that people wanted me in their meetings, and maybe some of that was FOMO.

But really, looking back at my patterns of behavior, a lot of it was me not deciding for myself what I wanted to create in my career or life. I just gave my time away to anyone who wanted or asked instead of thinking about how I actually wanted to use it, as if it was something as tangible as money.

It took me years, even after I left corporate America and had my own clients, but I finally realized how precious my time really is. I run a little observation experiment with my calendar (which I’m talking about in this episode) and the insights were nearly instantaneous. It completely transformed how I served my clients.

What do you think you'd observe by looking at how you really use your time?

Find out in Your Weekly Shift: Observe your time. At the end of each day this week, look at your calendar and reflect back on how you used your time...bonus points for printing it out and filling in stuff you worked on or did during the blank spaces in your calendar

Ask yourself: What was one thing missing from today that I wish I would have spent time on? Write that down!

**The Productivity Shift is lovingly created by me, Elise Enriquez, and produced by Rachael Sanya