In the trenches - week 5 - Intention!

Happy Monday fabulous people.?My Mondays seem to roll around very quickly, which leads nicely into my post this week.?It’s been a week or huge realisations with some big decisions and some great change. ??This week’s post is going to be a little lighter, why because if you implement any of the tools I am about to share I promise you will have a better week and achieve more that you possibly might have!

?Do you ever have one of the weeks that has been mentally busy where you feel like you didn’t have 2 minutes to yourself and reflect back on the week and go – what the hell did I achieve? Or even worse still, feel like you have been going around in circles like a headless chicken and now you’re an exhausted, frustrated, tired headless chicken? Welcome to my world!

?Life has been a little chaotic of late and I have had weeks where I felt just wiped, a little like a pawn in a game of snakes and ladders.?Now don’t get me wrong I do get some things done but they seem to be in isolation and not getting the traction that I would have liked.?Over the last 3 years I have focused on becoming more productive and I have to say I am way further along in that process but I do find if I’m not mindful or if I become overwhelmed I slip back into old habits and time seems to run away from me! I feel exhausted but all I’m being is a ‘busy fool’ I do mean that tongue and cheek and not in a judgemental way! Over the last month or so my productivity wasn’t where is could have been and as a result it had an impact on my emotions and my mental health and so it was time to re-evaluate.?Before I continue I do need to say that we all need to remind ourselves that we are human ‘being’s and not human ‘doings’ and that life is not a race of ?‘to do’ lists to check off.?It’s about making progress every day in the direction of your dreams but also taking time to smell the roses, laugh and dance in the rain (you know what I mean).?I have definitely learnt that you do need to slow down to speed up, something that is a work in progress for me.

?So at the end of the week before last I decided to take some time to reflect and create some intention for the following week, so I asked myself the following questions:

?How did I want to feel at the end of the week? This question was a bit of perspective shift for me, I was now focused on how I wanted to feel as opposed to what did I want to have achieved.?

?I wanted to feel rested, happy and motivated.?How was I going to achieve that? By being intentional with how I planned my time. So this is what I did.??I sat each morning and filled my ‘to do’ list in Notion (if you haven’t heard of Notion check out www. Notion.so) Notion has been the most amazing tool for productivity and so much more (I will do a separate article on it this week).?

?Once I had written my ‘to do’ list then I went to my google calendar. ?I have a calendar created called ‘my day’ where I plan my day, I love that you can create multiple calendars and hide them when you don’t need them.?For me the key in planning my day is to put in my lunch, breaks and finishing times first and then the chores I want to get done.?I schedule doing laundry every day, it litterly takes me 10 mins to put on a wash and unload and fold a wash.?I spent years letting it pile up! Once I know these things are planned then I get intentional about my ‘to do’ list and making it happen.?I prioritise what I need to get done from quick task, to 1st priority, 2nd and so on! I block out my slot in 1 hr stints and start with my quick tasks, they get done so quick and for me they are often the ones that I put off and they never seem to get done.

?The rule I have is that I am not allowed skip an item on the list or change its order, that has been a game changer for me, it stops the procrastination right there and then! A bit like being my own best friend and accountability partner all rolled into one.?It has had another really great impact for me, when I come up against something I don’t really want to do and I can feel resistance, I take a minute and ask myself firstly, why do I think I feel this way? And secondly what is the story I am telling myself? (these stories will more than likely be from your sub conscious).?I find this allows space for how I feel as opposed to pushing through and forcing myself to get on with it.?It allows me identify patterns in my thinking and create some new patterns.?Once I have identified the story I am telling myself, I ask myself the following questions – Is it empowering me, is it motivating me, is it allowing me to take action? If the answer is no then I ask myself what story could I tell myself?

?I work the way through my ‘to do’ list in the hours I have allotted to work! For the tasks that require me to concentrate or where I want to give it 100% I put my phone on aeroplane mode and turn off all notifications – you would be amazed what a difference this can make. When I first started doing this I deleted Instagram from my phone and was shocked the amount of times I went to pick it up!

?But the magic happens at the end of the day! I sit with my ‘to list’ for that day and look at what I achieved and reflect on what allowed me to do that, I reflect with regard to what I had on the list and how much of it I got done.?I don’t ask myself could I have done better because I did the best I could and if there were any reflections I note them i.e someone rang that I probably didn’t need to speak to – remind myself to not be afraid to hold my boundaries ( I used to be a really bad people pleaser). That all I need to do is not take the call and pop them a quick message to say that I will call them later.??

?I look at the list of items I didn’t get completed that day and if there are any, ?I schedule them for tomorrow, with higher importance.?I also take the time to reflect and ensure that I am being realistic with the amount of items I put on my ‘to do’ list for that day and ask myself does it need to be done that day?

?I have spent years living a life of constantly feeling like I am chasing my tail, running in circles, always in a hurry, late, frustrated, one step forward, ten steps back etc.?Why because I lived a life in reaction as opposed to creation.?It has been the work of the last few years to understand why I was that way, by the way there is always a ‘why’ to every single behaviour we have! Taking the time to understand that is the most precious gift we can give ourselves.

?So if you want to have a week where you take care of all that you need to take care of – ask yourself How do I want to feel at the end of the week? As opposed to what do I want to achieve! Ensure you schedule time to rest, have fun, connect and then the ‘to do’ list because I know for sure when I am on my death bed I won’t be glad I finished my ‘to do’ list but I will be glad that I was intentional with my time.

Hope you all have a fab week x