Master Your Schedule: Quick Wins for a Happier Life

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 224. Today, we're gonna do a really fun exercise together. We're going to really, I think, spice up your schedule and your plans for the next couple of days. I have found that it is all too easy to look at our to do list as a pile of responsibilities and things that we might be resistant to getting to. And I have found that when we very purposefully decide that we can sprinkle in some of the good stuff of life into our plans, that it makes everything that much more enjoyable, easy to get through, and light. And so you're gonna hear some of my ideas for making your everyday to do list stuff go much more smoothly, quickly, and joyfully. I'm going to describe some techniques that will help you to infuse your health and connectedness and what drives you into your daily life.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:15]:
Let's go listen to this episode together now.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:23]:
Hi. I'm doctor Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped thousands of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they could begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn powerful strategies for getting your mind, body, and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the Make time for success podcast.

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:06]:
Today, we're going to do an exercise that I shared with my success lab clients over the weekend. I meet with these clients on Saturday mornings and oftentimes I'm giving them a prompt and we have a discussion. Sometimes I change it up. And this past session, I decided I had so many different things on my own mind that I needed a bit of structure to help myself make the most out of my time and my energy. And I on the spot put together 10 ideas for creating an effective game plan for a span of about two or three days. And my success lab members kindly helped me to fill out the last few items on this 10 item list, and I'm sharing the 10 items with you here today now. So this would be useful for you if it's Friday and you're interested in making the most out of your precious weekend, or if it's middle of the week, you're feeling a little bit drained from work and everything that life has to give us, and you wanna make really good use out of the rest of the work week. No matter where you are, no matter what your energy level is, I believe using these 10 strategies to plan out a couple of days is going to be really helpful for you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:03:33]:
You're gonna feel more productive. You're gonna feel like things are cruising, and you're gonna feel like you're more energized as you're doing your daily chores. So the first idea is to plan something for your health. You may have a lot of things on your to do list, including things for your health, but I wanna make sure that your health goals remain at the top of the list. For me lately, the health goal that I wanna pursue is drinking more water. I just heard my friend Amy Lang on an Instagram live. I invited her to come on to my Instagram channel, and one of the things that she emphasized was the importance of hydration. Our brains are 80% water and the rest of our bodies are majority made up of water as well, and she suggested that we drink half of our body weight in ounces in water every single day.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:29]:
So that is my example of what you could do to schedule just an extra couple of glasses of water in your game plan for the next two or three days. Whatever it is for you, make sure you write it down, make sure you identify it, and then go deploy it. The second idea that I have for you for scheduling is to schedule movement. Now I know movement is a subset of being healthy and going towards our health goals, but I find that so often when we're trying to be productive, we are sedentary. We are sitting in our little chairs, in our little spots, in our little spaces, and we're not really moving. So I do believe that planning actual movement is going to be really productive for you, and we don't wanna forget that. We don't wanna go to bedtime checking our Oura rings or whatever kind of tracker you're using and finding that we've only had 400 steps. That is just not not fun, and our bodies really need us to support it as much as the bodies support us.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:34]:
So the first step is a health goal. The second thing you wanna plan is some sort of movement or continuous movement as you're doing your chores throughout the days. The third idea is what do you need to be doing? What should you be doing? I don't often enjoy using the word should, but we all have things that we know we really should be doing, and sometimes those are the things that we tend to put off. So whatever that category is for you, it's tax season, maybe you should be putting together some tax documents now, whatever it is for you, put that down. And it doesn't have to be a gigantic task, but it might be just that entry first micro step that will help you to get to that thing that you should be doing so that you're not avoiding it anymore. So the third idea is do something that you should be doing. The fourth idea is to do something that helps you to connect to other people. This could be as simple as sending a text to your aunt, or sending an email to your accountant, or getting together with your girlfriends for some tea.

Dr. Christine Li [00:06:47]:
Whatever it is, schedule that in, make sure that happens because we don't wanna go a whole two or three days without connecting, being social. It's a real value of mine to be social, and I'm encouraging you to think about how you could be more social in the next few days as well. The fifth idea that I have for you is to do something that is stress reducing. So that could be getting the taxes done. That could be clearing your way for a new challenge or a new class that you wanna take. It could be just identifying a habit of yours that you would like to stop or try to stop for the next two or three days. That can be stress reducing. It might be that you allow yourself more TV time at the end of the day, if that is something that helps you to curb your stress.

Dr. Christine Li [00:07:43]:
Whatever it is, tailor a plan for you, but make sure there's something in step five that helps you to reduce your stress. Step number six is connected to step number five, and that is you wanna do something that is either calming or fun or both. So this is something that kind of counterbalances your work stress energy, and you wanna make sure, let's say, keeping your plants alive. So maybe you're doing a run on your plants and you are saying, I'm gonna keep all of my plants alive. It's gonna be nurture the plant stay, or it could be I am taking my niece out for lunch day. Do something spontaneous. Do something so that your nervous system isn't really activated. It's actually getting a message from you that you have everything under control and that you know how to balance your energy.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:41]:
Step number seven, you need to get outside. So definitely, I think it's a must that every single day, we spend some time outside. Again, it does not have to be a whole half a day or anything extensive, but I think daylight is just such a a heartwarming thing to connect with. The days are getting warmer and brighter, and let's take advantage of that and make sure you're also moving. You can do step number two and step number seven, get outside and be doing your movement altogether. It does not have to be complicated. I think when we think things are complicated, they end up feeling complicated and then they become complicated. So have a better mindset about all of this.

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:30]:
See all of these steps as nurturing your well-being, as nurturing your productivity, as nurturing your nervous system so that you don't feel like everything that you're looking at on your to do list is a pure obligation, something that drives you down, something that blows your energy, something that makes you sad. No. No. No. No. No. We don't want a sad day. We don't want a draining day.

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:55]:
We want a day where we feel in control. We want a day where we feel regulated in our nervous system. We want a day where we know we're gonna end the day feeling very successful and even more healthy than when we started the day. Those are our ideals. Those are our goals. Those are our protective strategies for our willpower, our energy, the time that we have, and our attitudes. Let's keep them really running well and really running high while also knowing that we don't wanna overdo things. The eighth step that I have for you is I would love for you to declutter one to three items every single day.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:43]:
If you've been a participant in any of my reenergize your home five day challenges, you know that the secret sauce to decluttering is to get your hands on your clutter. It's no use to just think about how cluttered you are or to think about how you're gonna get to the decluttering at some point. What really does make the difference is when you actually touch your clutter, you say to yourself, as soon as I pass by something that is out of place, I'm gonna touch it and I'm gonna remove it and I'm gonna restore it to its normal home or its comfortable home. And then guess what happens? You get to reclaim the energy of your space for yourself. You get to say, I am living in a clear and clean and supportive environment. And I have a big role in maintaining that cleanliness and clarity. And I think if you're not used to decluttering on a regular basis that you're gonna fall in love with this technique. I know my students and clients have, and I certainly try to make it part of my daily routine.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:56]:
It doesn't have to be every single day. We don't have to get rigid about any of these ideas, but of course, when we schedule these things ahead of time, we end up feeling like, well, you know, I did say I was gonna do that. And, you know, I did get all of these things done already because I was planning to get these things done. So I will do the decluttering, and I will feel proud of myself and my space afterwards. So number eight, declutter one to three items and do not make a big deal out of this because it's just not a big deal. Anybody can do this, I promise. Number nine, you want to develop a continuation mantra. And what that means is very simple actually.

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:39]:
It just means you're gonna have something that you say to yourself when you feel like quitting, when you feel like you don't have time or energy, when you feel like this is not worth today's energy. I want you to have something that you say to yourself. So in terms of decluttering, you might say, oh, it's easy for me to declutter one to three items daily. Right? So you might have a slip up, you might skip a day, but then you remind yourself, oh, it is easy for me to declutter one to three items daily. Make it light, make it fun, make it something that maybe you have written down somewhere, or you might even have a list of mantras. I know oftentimes when it comes to physical exercise, we often have to boost ourselves into getting to the gym or getting to the run or getting onto the bike. Whatever it is, make sure it is something that is easy to connect with. Right? That list of mantras, make sure those sneakers are by the door so you're not searching for them before heading out to the gym and get these routines together.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:45]:
They take a little bit of time upfront, but then they save you all this time and energy throughout the day. Alright? So you will develop a continuation mantra. And then number 10, you're just gonna get off the struggle bus. My wonderful success lab students helped me to design step number 10, which is you just want to remove that attitude of everything is a struggle from your daily performance. Life can be difficult. Life can be easy. Let's lean towards the easy. Let's let go of the stories that we don't have what it takes, that we're running out of time, that everything is overwhelming and you can't see straight and you don't know where to begin.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:35]:
Let's let go of the comparisons to other people who might be running faster than you are at the moment because they are running their own race. You are running yours. These 10 items on this list will help to keep you running in your lane and running straight to your goals and running without exhaustion. And I think all of those elements are really important to pay attention to. Remind yourself of why you're trying to keep yourself healthy. Remind yourself what should you be doing. Remind yourself who you love to connect with. Remind yourself that it's important to keep your nervous system regulated to make sure you have endurance and resilience when you are taking on the world with whatever you're taking on the world with and whatever you're trying to create in this beautiful life of yours.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:31]:
I fully believe in you. I wish you health, happiness, lots of speed and productivity, and lots of joy as you're going about these planning exercises and as you're going about your day. If you have any questions for me about anything on this podcast, anything related to productivity, anxiety, getting things done, being a woman in midlife, let me know by sending me a direct message over on Instagram. And if we're not friends there, let's be friends. You can follow me at procrastination coach on Instagram. And after you do that, maybe you'd like a free download to just summarize and help you plan the next two or three days. I will prepare one for you and that will be available at maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/10steps. Again, that will be maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/10steps.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:37]:
That'll be the number 10 and steps. And then you'll have a review of everything that I just taught you, and you'll be off to the races. Alright, everyone. Let's get going with our business. I can't wait to see you next week on the Make Time for Success podcast. Thanks so much for being here.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:57]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website, maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to, And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. Talk to you soon.