New Journal Entry: Time Management

New Journal Entry: Time Management

12 August 2016

Hey all! Happy Friday. I’ve had such a fab week, I hope you have too.

I’ve been toying with the idea of keeping an online journal of sorts for a while – a place to let you know what I’ve been up to in the week. I want to do this to help me document my journey, to help build more meaningful connections with you and to show you what happens behind the DARETOGROW scenes. So many people have expressed their interest and support for what I’m doing so I think it will be a great way to keep the conversation going each week.

This week has been buuusssy, and challenging. I still run my marketing agency, although a much smaller version of it and I am very serious about ensuring all my clients feel they get value every single week. On top of this, I’m busy writing the content for an all new online programme and I’ve just started writing my first ever book. Ahh, all so exciting.

So you see, I know what you mean when you say: “I’m busy” and “I just don’t have the time”.

Time management is a skill I was not born with! In those personality profiling tests, I come out as direct, decisive and to the point (go figure) and happy and energetic with lots of stories (again, no surprise). In fact, that reminds me of a time…just kidding haha.

What this all means is that I’m a starter and not a finisher. I love being where the action is. I love making decisions. I get excited when I launch a new project. I do not enjoy the detail. Routine kills my energy and I don’t always finish what I start. Hmm. Tricky.

We all have a ‘type’; a go to preference we revert to when we’re tired or bored or fed up. What’s yours? Do you love the detail? Are you an ideas person? Do you like the chat and the process but avoid the final decision? Are you the directing type that just likes to get sh*t done quickly and efficiently?

Whatever your type, it’s important to recognise it and even more important to keep this in mind when working on your dreams. Loving the detail may mean you never launch – you’re too busy doing the research. Being an ideas person may mean you start ten ideas and finish none. Being the directing type may mean you miss the details because you dive straight in. Avoiding the decision may mean you never get off the ground because you’re unsure which idea to take forward.

As I said, I’m a mix of ‘big ideas’ and ‘directing’. For this reason, I work very hard on planning and time management. I set goals every week and I break them down into the steps I need to take to make them my new reality. I also have a coach who is helping me to write my book (she keeps me accountable and on track) and I’ve even engaged the help of a virtual PA recently.

One thing I love doing at the moment (well, I say ‘love’ – I mean one thing that really helps at the moment…) is writing my to do list the night before. The first thing I write down is the one step I need to take to move forward with my goals. Once I’ve done this, I write down the game changing actions for clients. Then, I fill in the rest – the admin, the details, the stuff we can’t avoid. This is important because it’s far too easy to spend days and weeks and years on the ‘admin’ and never really move forward with our dreams. Am I right?

What’s your strategy for moving forward with your goals?

Meanwhile, I still have family and friends. This week, I spent two days at home with Alice, my parents, my little bro, his girlfriend and of course Betsy – the family cockaspaniel. She’s beaut.

I’m 30 and my bro is 28 but my parents still think we’re kids. For this reason, my dad hired a mini-van, told us to pack warm clothes and refused to tell us where we were going. On day one he took us all on a boat (yes, a bloody boat!!) to the Farne Islands to see puffins and seals. (These are some of the pics he snapped.)

On day two they took us to butterfly world. (Here are some more snaps taken by Billy Bean – my dad.)

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and loved spending time with my family. I never missed the opportunity, mind, and quickly snapped my brother in a new T-shirt design from our client Ernest Clothing.

We all switched off, had a laugh and made some funny memories. Did I mention it was chucking it down on the day of the boat trip and glorious sunshine the day we were inside at Butterfly World?

Betsy couldn’t come on the trips, sadly. But, she did spend two days on a farm with her dog sitter. Win win.

Something else HUuuuggee has happened this week! As I mentioned above, I’ve begun writing my very first book. Yikes, typing here I can feel that surge of excitement building in me. I’ve decided to get professional support and have invested in a coach who specialises in helping people to write their first book. She’s written three amazon best sellers and knows her stuff. I’m now on her 10 week course and have already begun.

Each week, I get a new video to watch, homework to complete and a coaching call to review progress – you see what I mean by getting help for my ‘excitable starter not finisher’ energy? Right now, I’m at the stage of researching existing books, asking my followers what they’d like to read about and generating lots of different ideas. It’s good fun and I’m so happy to be tacking a lifelong goal I’ve held.

If you’d like to support me with this new goal, you can fill in this survey it would mean the world to me. I’m aiming to get 100 responses. Let’s see 🙂

That’s it for this week’s instalment. I just wanted to give you a little insight behind the scenes and share some personal tips I use for making my dreams my new reality.

Let me know what this prompts in the comments…I’d love to hear your tips for time management too!

What I’m reading:

I’m currently reading “Willpower for Dummies“. I always thought these ‘for Dummies’ guides were a bit simplistic and a bit condescending. Who wants ‘for Dummies’ on their bookshelves? But, I have to say I’m thoroughly enjoying it and I’m learning a lot about what willpower is, why it depletes so quickly and how to build it up for important life changes. Handy stuff.

What I’m listening to:

Alice has pointed me in the direction of an amazing You Tube video recently. It’s given me such comfort through the idea that we never really see the result of our positive actions right away…they compound over time. Lots of great examples about how we self sabotage, and how tiny positive changes can make a huge difference in the long term. Well worth a watch!