Monday morning is weekly planning time. This Monday morning also happens to be post-vacation and I’ve every intention of riding this relaxed feeling as long as possible. Happily, it gave me a refreshed perspective of scheduling using Roles.

Part of the relaxed feeling is from not being overwhelmed by daily details, from not feeling the weight of the never ending ToDo list. With this awareness, I want my week to be productive in moving me closer to my Goals. Goals, not the Todo list, are my benchmarks for the week. The day to day stuff will fill in the space between Goals.

To do planning time “right” requires quiet, relaxed time. This allows priorities to float up to the forefront and allows for easy designation of A & B priorities.

Planning time began spontaneously this morning, smoothly following my dream and spontaneous writing session. It flowed so smoothly, I didn’t call on my Roles to proceed. Several items were quickly jotted down on the list for the week. With satisfaction, I thought how easy it was. But on second read through, I realized that the list was almost exclusively business oriented.

One of the gifts of vacation is the reminder of a balanced life. Do I want to focus on my business to the exclusion of the other things in my life? No! What else should I include?

Ah-ha, I thought. I already have my reference points–my Roles! As I recalled my other Roles, a few more items popped onto the list for the week. And then a few more…. oops, my list of goals for the week was turning into a ToDo list. Halt right there! What’s missing? My Vision.

This is why being calm is so important for planning time. How can I recall and feel my Vision with a racing, multi-tasking mind? Deep breath, slow down, close the eyes… What does my ideal life look like? Feel like? What do I want for myself? (I know that my Perfect life is best for me and the world.) Once connected to this Vision, only then do I review Roles and allow Goals for the week to emerge.

Over time, the Roles become mere reminders to touch on all of the important aspects of your life. Once you automatically begin your weekly (or monthly or annual) planning sessions by recalling your Vision, it becomes ever easier to identify Goals in all (rather than 1 or 2) of the important areas of your life.

After several days of 80 degree weather, many sets of tennis, doing “gymnastics” in a perfect temperature pool, delicious food, excellent company (Mom, Dad, sister Erin, and Erin’s new beau Dave) I thoroughly relaxed. Ahhhhh, feels good to get out of the daily patterns. It’s like hitting the “reset” button. Amazing how calming perfect weather is after weeks of rain, snow, and sub 45 degree weather (ya’ll outside of California are probably screeching “45 degree weather!?! You Wuss!!” ’tis relative, my friend, ’tis relative.

I had forgotten how fun a good game of tennis is–and what a head game it is. Back in high school I had a short-fused temper. (My Mom had threatened to pull me off the court during a high school match if I didn’t chill out and be a better sport!) While there is someone on the other side of the net hitting the ball back to me, my success is almost soley defined by how calm my mind stays (except on the 3rd day in a row of tennis when my long neglected tennis muscles finally gave out with a feeble cry, “Enough!”) As soon as I lose the objective vantage, which allows me to self-correct my strokes, and get down on myself, forget it. This weekend my Mom said she was grateful that we could have fun playing family doubles. I replied to her that I was so grateful she had driven us to all the lessons and tournaments as kids which allowed us to grow into good players so that we could play family doubles!

It’s now Monday morning and Erin is back in front of her 5th grade class at school, the folks back home, Dave at work, and I’m taking a day to meander through San Francisco on my way home.

I am so grateful for my wonderful family. I feel so supported in what I do, and feel the space and freedom to experiment free of their criticism and judgement. I am so grateful for my Dad’s patient listening, acceptance and good humor; my Mom’s spiciness, free laughter, and drive to go for what she wants; my sister’s open friendliness, sincerity, and dedication to fun. The energy of these qualities give me the strength and courage to make my way in the world. Thank you!!

Today my sister Erin and I drove from 5:15 am until about 1:30 pm to get to family vacation location in Palm Desert (east of Los Angeles). We had many conversations about subjects all over the map :)

The one I’ll relay here was a story about going in to work yesterday. She is a 5th grade teacher and the school is out for the week. She felt like she had a bunch of work ready to bombard her upon her return next Monday, so she went in to school yesterday. Her plan was to list out everything that needed to get done and indicate when the different items needed to be done by.

At first she thought, ugh, what a drag. But then she started enjoying the peace and quiet of not being interrupted by the kids. And then she realized she had the photocopier all to herself (a hot commodity during the school day). Not only that, she had the time and peace of mind to fix a copier that had been jammed up for weeks.

After completing all the items on her list that were due on Monday, she had a decision to make. Keep plowing through the ToDo list, or call it good. She decided to wrap up and head out.

Yay! I rejoiced when she told me this. A wonderful show of dedication to a balanced life! She didn’t stay clear of “work” just because she was on “vacation.” She stayed tuned in to her intuition, didn’t “O.D.” on the ToDo list, and ensured that her week would start off with cool calm confidence.

She also bucked the current work trend to be a slave to the never ending ToDo list. There is always more to get done. You’ve heard the saying, “Work smarter, not harder.” Working to check a gazillion items off her list is not as smart as taking care of a number of specific items that will simplify her week.

Thanks for the reminder, Erin!

I’ll be hanging with the fam this weekend for a long needed several days of R&R. Website posting may, or may not, have a bit of a reprieve. I’ll be back in lovely Nevada County on Monday.

Cheers!

My dear friend Scott, who is currently in Belgium through the Fulbright Program, asked me about Toastmasters and what I do as Area Governor. I was hoping this would interest him because he is lecturing.

Hi Scotty,

Toastmasters is International–around for 80 years and is now in 40 countries. The most obvious reason someone might join is to improve their public speaking skills. What goes along with this is improved self-confidence, more concise speaking abilities, leadership skill development, improved spontaneous speaking skills, personal growth (via moving through internal blocks because public speaking is such a HUGE fear for a lot of people).

The goal of Toastmasters is to help people with the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking (simplified version).

As Area Governor, I serve the clubs in their efforts to achieve higher status in the DCP (Distinguished Club Program) which is basically a quantifiable way of measuring a healthy club. My primary responsibilities (as I see them) is to make sure the Club officers go through training, 2 club visits per club per year, put on 2 Area contests, and then help with whatever needs help. There are some other things but those are the main duties.

Interesting mix of people, and all in all, I can’t say enough good about the organization. Some of the weekly meetings are borderline spiritual experiences. One person gets up in front of a group of peers. They have prepared a speech, and in some cases have done some real soul searching in the process. The audience simply listens and supports the speaker with their attention & gives gentle and encouraging feed back. I’ve felt so much love in the room at times. And then we all go on to whatever we do in the world. I’m not sure if my group is a regularity or not. I do know that some people have been with the organization for over 20 years and that says something :)

XO Shawn

Happy clients make me happy. Simple as that.

Much appreciation to those who have shared their experience on the testimonials page for others to know about. Artist Leah Wilson, Jason Rainey, Executive Director of SYRCL, & Suzie Daggett, Publisher of the INSIGHT Directory have all recently added their thoughts to the website. Thank you!

…to do what? That depends on what time of day it is! Acknowledge and play to your Strengths.

For example, I know that early morning is the best time for me to write and do big-picture planning. If I try to do it later in the day, it’s forced, takes a lot longer than it should, or it just doesn’t happen.

Self-care appointments, i.e. for haircut, dentist, etc., are best (for me) in the mid-afternoon because I have that post-lunch, “nap time or caffeine?” relaxed feeling. I don’t feel like I should be doing something else. (You know, siesta time in some countries.)

Late night is my preferred time for wesbite updating and going through the inbox. It’s a quiet time of day, the phone isn’t ringing, and it doesn’t require too many brain cells.

What best time of day time+activities work well for you?