In June, I finished up my second one-year term as the president of NAWBO Cleveland.

In July, I took some time to breathe.

In August, I realized I had about 8 hours a week “extra” in my schedule, so I vowed to use each and every one of those hours wisely. See, I know ALL about Parkinson’s Law . . . and realized that if I didn’t deliberately dedicate those hours, I’d just fill them up with fluff!

Step #1 – I blocked out strategic thinking time in my calendar – time for marketing, for developing new content for clients, for adapting current workshops to a virtual environment.

Step #2 – I identified what I wanted to add to my schedule. I started a podcast. I joined another networking group. I became a member of Mike Michalowicz’s Legacy League. I joined a Mastermind. I registered for two virtual conferences. I ordered every book on my “read someday” list from the library. I created a video onboarding sequence for new team members.

Step #3 – I became more and more and more and more grumpy, frazzled, and frustrated.

Fooled you didn’t I?!  You thought Step #3 was going to be “I lived happily ever after”!

The good news is I’m a human just like you – and you can learn from my experiences!

Here’s what happened.

I opened up white space on my calendar to create thinking time. The only open spots in my calendar were the white spaces, so obviously I put these new activities into the white space. I filled my calendar with “stuff” and ended up eliminating most of the thinking time!

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t intend to fill up all the white space. Each time I chiseled away at the open blocks of time, I told myself this was an exception, and I made a case why “just this once” it would be ok to “just take an hour” out of the thinking block.

I had the best of intentions . . . but I did exactly what I set out NOT to do!

Now, I get that you probably aren’t finishing up a term serving on a board. But you are in a place where your time demands are different.

  • Maybe your kids are back in school instead of virtually learning at home…
  • Or you finished a big project…
  • Or you hired a new team member and moved items off YOUR to-do list…
  • Or you are realizing that you have a bunch of junk on your calendar that isn’t serving you.

Whatever the reason, schedules change. Priorities change.

Here’s what you can do.

Follow my steps #1 and #2 above, and then create a new Step #3 – decide WHERE to input the extra activities into your calendar BEFORE it becomes relevant. You may find (like I did) that you are trying to add about 20 hours of stuff to an 8-hour block!

Want help figuring out your “don’t let Parkinson’s Law take over my calendar” plan? Let’s chat. Together, we can create your very own action plan – please click the button below to schedule a time to talk.

NOTE:  When we chat, we will be focused on identifying the right action steps for you.  This truly is an ACTION CALL – you’ll walk away with a specialized plan unique to your situation.

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