What's Your Speed Limit? Find Your Groove.

Depending on what state you are driving through, there could be speed limit maximums of 65, 75, or (if you live in one Texas county) even 85 mph! Have you ever thought about your own personal speed limit? Do you exceed it often or are you on cruise control? Although a state trooper might not pull you over for speeding in life, you can suffer other consequences, like missing a deadline, over-booking yourself, letting someone down, or going through life like a zombie - none of which are desirable! Stay on the road and find your groove.

Inspiration for this topic came from Brigid Shute and Mark Strong, who penned works with slightly different themes, but complementing messages: Schedule your life to create balance. Brigid stresses finding the balance between Work, Love, and Play while Mark asserts that “A Scheduled Life is a Productive Life.” By incorporating scheduling in our lives, we can perform better at work and be more present in life.


Think about your daily routine and habits…
--Are you always in a rush?
--Are you productive or just busy?
--What time of the day are you most productive?
--What are your top 5 values? How do you prioritize them?
--How often to you re-charge or disconnect from technology?
--Do you have a good balance of work, love, and play in your life?
--How well do you set boundaries?
--How well do you apply the principles you use at work (plan, implement, evaluate, etc.) to your life outside of work?

Top Five Ways to Find Your Groove:
1. Pause, take breaks – Slow down. Attempting to cram more in can result in getting less accomplished. Schedule down time. Take breaks in between tasks.

2. Brainstorm, brain-dump, make lists – Write down the things you need to do, separate between or categorize work tasks, errands vs. purchases, home activities, etc.

3. Plan, do, review – Once you have your lists, make time to schedule & prioritize… if you take a few minutes to map out a plan, you can accomplish things more efficiently. I.E. Bring your gym bag to work, go to the gym when the day is done, then stop by the grocery store or post office on the way home. (Side note: Don’t forget to review!!! How did your plans go? Are you feeling spent at the end of the day? Did you cram too much in?)

4. Chunk time, focus – Experts agree, breaking up activities is key… multi-tasking takes away from your productivity. Have morning meetings? Plan to do easy, quick tasks and save the bigger projects for later. Brigid recommends working on one task for no more than 90 minutes then step away with a ten minute break minimum, more is better here. If you aren’t on a tight deadline, come back to it the next day.

5. Take care of yourself – Sleep habits, eating right, and working out all fall into this category. Research proves that you can give more when you are well rested and healthy. You might get the job done while sleep deprived but imagine how much better the end result could have been!

Still having trouble? Learn to say “no” - politely!
Feel like you don’t have an inch of wiggle room? Be spontaneous. It’s OK to bend the rules from time to time!
Are you on cruise control? Pick up the pace. Start a new activity, join a club, ask for a side project at work, volunteer, do something fun – this is your life, live it to the fullest!


One last thought: 
Everyone has their own personal speed limit – yours may even change from day-to-day. Notice what works for you, be open to other (people’s) paces, and occasionally try something new. I am often reminded of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s wise observation, “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”

What tools do you use to schedule? Share your tips and experiences!


Additional Resources:Quizzes and Planning Tools from Brigid Schulte
Being Productive vs. Being Busy
27 Ways to Get More Done
Multitasking & How to Stop


Originally composed by Lauren Myrick on 20 May 2014.  References within body.
Image courtesy of http://wallpaperswide.com/high_speed_on_the_road-wallpapers.html