Find time to make energy changes into energy boosts!
Energy changes abound, as autumn transforms our corner of New Hampshire. Temperatures dip and morning mist rises over the ponds. Swamp maples are starting to turn fiery red. And turkeys and their young forage behind the house in the early morning.
What energy changes, challenges and opportunities do you face as the season changes? Night comes earlier (or later, if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere), and your routines shift with the shifting light.
Well, today I’m going to share a tip and action step that offers ideas about how you can make the very best use of your time and energy during this — and any — transitional period. We’ll use going back to school as the frame, and work from there …
Energy Changes and Your Time
Tip: The rhythm of the school season may shape your life directly or indirectly.
Fall marks the entry of thousands into classrooms, and to courses online. Perhaps you or family members are preparing to resume teaching or learning. Or maybe school is simply a memory. Either way, this is an ideal time to chart out your activities for the upcoming “semester” …
Action Step: Look ahead.
You might want to take advantage of how energy naturally shifts, from summer sociability to autumn’s thoughtful planning. What an ideal time to adjust your time choices with a fall tune-up.
Set aside an hour or so to brainstorm how to modify your schedule to meet autumn’s demands. Also call to mind what excited you at the onset of your school year. Perhaps there were skills you enjoyed developing, or projects that intrigued you. Maybe extracurricular activities led you to current pastimes. See if you can carry some of that anticipation into planning activities for the upcoming months.
Energy Changes — Digging Deeper
Exploration: Select and protect.
You may experience energetic shifts in any number of ways as the fall season progresses. Perhaps you are drawn to the kitchen to prepare aromatic soups and stews. You might increase your aerobic exercise as the weather cools. Or you may seek a quiet corner to recall your summer outings and edit your photo
collections. And then there are the outside chores …
Some of these projects require considerable initiative. Others require follow-through, so that a season’s work in the garden is rewarded by the harvest. Whether these activities seem tempting or obligatory, they will go more smoothly if you approach them mindfully.
Planning for Priorities
First, visualize your time choices this year for an autumn you feel happy and fulfilled by. List essential tasks in one column, and pleasurable events in another. Then review your list.
Remove secondary activities that would introduce needless pressure. Notice how your interests have evolved. Finally, ask yourself where new boundaries need to be established to protect your top priorities.
Generously estimate how much time these top priority activities will require. Block those out on a calendar, along with transition time. In this way you support the natural flow of your productivity with essential “breathing space.” Validate yourself for each step you take to ensure that your top choices will be enacted.
Wherever you live, and whatever your lifestyle, I hope you plan and find time to embrace this wonderful season!
And here’s something to help you reinforce your best time and energy choices. This is so important, because time is pure potential. You decide how to use it; and once you do, it’s gone.
So if you feel like your time slips through your fingers, then you’ll want to claim your copy of my FREE “Daily Choices Template: Proven Strategies for Tracking Your Best Time Choices Today, Tomorrow & All Year!” There’s no time like the present – to start moving toward the future you envision for yourself.
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