Schedule Your Life First, Then Your Business

November 16, 2017

Hot on the heels of Tuesday’s #TomFerryShow about designing your 2022 business plan, it’s time to start mapping out your calendar as well.
I want to help you make it a great year!
My definition of a great year is one that surpasses your personal goals in production…
AND ALSO…
…finds you enjoying the fruits of your labor and enjoying your life more than ever.
That’s why we do what we do, anyway, right?
We don’t work this hard just so we can work even more.
So in 2018, I want to make sure you get your time off, your vacations, your “me” time, your family time, etc., etc.
Here’s how to make this happen:
Schedule your life first, then your business.

I Hear Some of You Laughing

“Tom, I’m so busy I can’t schedule time off next week, let alone all of next year!”
Even if that’s how it feels now, that’s not the life you want for yourself, is it?
Changing it starts by making a commitment to yourself.
Here’s what we know:
Work expands to fill the time we allow for its completion.
If we don’t set strict parameters, work will expand and end up dominating every minute we allow it to.
That’s why your personal time should be the first thing added to your 2018 calendar.

Questions to Ask Yourself

• How many days off do you want?
• How many vacations do you want to take?
• When do you want to take them?
• How much time off around the holidays do you want?
• How much training/education are you committing to attending? (I hope to see you — at a minimum — at Summit August 6-9)
• If you have kids, how many school events do you want to attend?
• How many of your kids’ activities/games/recitals do you want to attend?
PLUS anything else you can think of…
Put it all on your calendar and make that personal time sacred.
This isn’t to say you can’t be flexible if a situation warrants it, but to achieve maximum fulfillment, you have to make yourself and your life’s enjoyment your first priority.

You’ve Already Proven You Can Do It

If you doubt this will work, I’d like you to think back to the last time you had a vacation coming up.
What happened during the last few days before you left?
I’m willing to bet you became super-efficient, full of energy and got everything done just in the nick of time.
If you can do it then, why couldn’t you do that regularly in order to enjoy your life more?
The key is applying that same mindset to every day you work. Honor your scheduled time off!
When you schedule your life first, you limit the amount of time you have for work. As a result, you will automatically improve your focus, your efficiency, your HBUT (highest and best use of time) tasks, your productivity as a whole.
This will also help you identify tasks in your business that should be delegated rather than doing them yourself.

Have Fun with It!

This should be an exciting exercise. Get out your 2018 calendar sometime in the next week and start marking the days and times you want to take off. Sit down with your family or significant other and start planning vacation time.
Write it all down and make it visual. It’s a powerful thing to see how much time you actually have to conduct your business and achieve your goals.
I guarantee if you do this, you’ll be one step closer to making 2018 your best year ever!

If all of this still seems impossible, it might be time to take a step back and assess where your career is at… and where it’s headed. Request a Free Coaching Consultation today.

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