Hola and happy Monday! I got an incredible night’s sleep and managed to wake up before my ever elusive 2 year old. She miraculously wakes up right before my alarm. Every. time. On the subject of being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I can’t stop thinking about a podcast I listened to awhile back. It has really transformed how I approach my week. The host, Brooke Castillo talks about how in reality, “busy” people are really just “sloppy” with their time. Daaaaayuuum. Calling me out.

Her theory says if you honor your calendar and really show up for yourself every week, there is no need to be running around frantically trying to get things done. I’ve been implementing her system of “throwing away your to-do list” for several months and it has made SUCH. A. DIFFERENCE. The fact that I am even writing this post goes to show you that when you organize your week, you can choose what you have time for, prioritize it, put it on a calendar and move on when that shit is done.

Let me walk you through it. First off, you sit with a blank sheet of paper in front of you on Monday morning BEFORE you check your email. On that blank sheet, write down a column of what you have to do for work, for home, writing a birthday card, getting your oil changed, everything. Every single damn thing that takes up space in your brain. Write it down, get it on paper. Spend a good 10 minutes dumping everything out of your brain. Then you will look at the list and realize there is no way you will get it all done in one week. And that is OK. Now is the time when you realize that you are an adult, and that you can choose what you have time for and what you don’t. #priorities

Now is when you open your iCalendar. Start populating your week with everything you prioritized, allocating exactly how much time you think you will need. I put everything in the calendar, from workouts to time for lunch. Once you populate the week you will find you have a start time and an end time for projects. This becomes the secret sauce for me, as I find I finish tasks early and then have a few minutes to tidy up, check social media, grab a snack (my favorite past time). There are way more details in the podcast, I highly highly recommend it. Here’s to a keeping that new year momentum rolling!