How busy are you? I know for me I am BUSY! I mean, sometimes I think if I had an assistant wouldn’t that be amazing. But, then I realize that my assistant can only do so much. I mean, my assistant cannot get my massages or do my workouts. Well, I guess she could but it wouldn’t help me feel strong or relaxed! And, so then I go back to just feeling overwhelmed and busy as busy can be and realizing that I need to put myself first. And, if you are anything like me then you too need to put yourself first! But, how do you do that? How do you put yourself first?
Well, first you have to know what you want in this life and if that is too big of a question then you need to at least know what you want out of this week or even this day.
So, grab a piece of paper and write down what you want out of this (insert timeline here).
Ok, now that you have that desire or goal written down, and by the way, you can want more than one thing! I need you to grab a blank calendar. Do you have one? If not just write down each day of the week and every hour of the day under each day.
Now, write in the things that you cannot move. You cannot move appts, job schedule, kids etc. Then write in your desires. Yep, while they are not first (and trust me I wish they could go in first but I am trying to help you actually put yourself first not just on paper). After you put your desires in around the things you cannot change then you can write in the other stuff. The admins of life. Those things, emails, grocery shopping, meetings that could happen at any time, social media checking, etc All that stuff goes in after you have put your goals for the week in your schedule.
This is not something I made up! I wish I could claim it. But, it’s from this idea of a jar filled with rocks, pebbles, and sand. If on the table you have a jar and all these rocks, pebbles and sand have to go in it and you’re allowed to put them in any order you want but they only all fit if they go in one order. What goes in first, second and third?
The rocks represent the obligations you cannot move. Sometimes we think some things are rocks and we actually find out they are sand, but that is a whole other blog post. But, the rocks go in first and they are the things you cannot move.
The sand is the admin. It’s your grocery shopping, emails, bills, housekeeping etc. Things that do have to get done but they can get done pretty much any day of the week as long as they get done. You know what I am talking about? This sand stuff goes in LAST.
The pebbles are what makes you grow further, father, your desires, your goals and what you want to be your rocks in the future!! And these go in second. But, most often we treat these pebbles as sand and try to do them after we do the rocks and the sand. But, guess what, there is only so much time in the day and if you put the rocks in and then the sand the pebbles will not fit in the jar. Which means the things that make you happy, the things that put you first don’t make it into the jar. They don’t make it into your life.
To put yourself first you have to put you before the sand. Are you ready?
If you could put you first what would you do? I would love to hear from you!
xx~LL
