This week’s podcast  started off with a shout out to a Facebook Fan of the I Simply Am Page. I then shared a very personal and tragic story of a close friend of mine who died this past week. While it was difficult for me to share, my hope is through this podcast and blog that I’m able to help others who may feel overwhelmed and unwanted.

This is the first week I started answering listener/reader questions and Paula from www.TheWayofTheMommy.com wrote to us on Facebook with 3 questions that I answered. I then introduced the topic of this weeks podcast which is “7 Ways To Get Hours Back in Your Day”. Finally, I went over this weeks ISA Challenge! Below, find the show notes from the podcast but I highly encourage you to listen to it yourself for this and much more!

ISA Community Shout Out

Paula Lundquist: Paula has been a contributing member to the ISA Facebook page for some time now. I really appreciate how honest, vulnerable, and courageous she is. She shares openly and does an amazing job modeling what it looks like to truly want life change. She contributes often and I appreciate and celebrate you Paula.

If you’d like to get an appreciation and a shout out join us on FB, Facebook.com/isimplyam and let me hear from you. I’ll be happy to mention your business or site here on the show.

Losing A Friend

One of my best friends for the last 15 years died this week. While we’re still awaiting the autopsy results it appears to be that he took his own life. He had everything on the outside but something was still eating away at him on the inside. He wound up coping and isolating as a means to get some relief.

The problem with coping and isolating is that while it temporarily takes the pain away it’s never resolving any of it. At some point, it’s just too much for even the coping mechanisms to be able to bear. He left behind a beautiful wife and 3 small beautiful children.

If you feel like something is missing from you. If you ever feel that you are not worthwhile or that you don’t matter please reach out. I realize the first instinct is to retract and claim that others don’t care, don’t have time, or you don’t want to bother them consider those red flags. Consider that the natural and appropriate thing to do is reach out. I realize that the norm in our society is to pull away or cope but I’m inviting you to consider this is a red flag that you’re going down the wrong path.

I’ll likely dedicate another show to this topic but wanted you to know I am grieving now for the loss of my friend and in addition to reaching out for support I’m also looking to the gifts that my friend left me along the way.

ISA Community Questions

Paula from TheWayofTheMommy.com wrote in on Facebook with the following questions:

1. How do I get into the zone so that time freezes? When I hear this question it reminds me of what being in the present looks like. There are some tips and suggestions I have here. First, forget about the notion of multi-tasking. It used to be the thing to do and we had this idea that we could do more things at once. The problem is, you may be doing multiple things but you’re not doing any one of them very well. Even worse, you’re not in the present when you’re multi-tasking because there’s part of you that’s focused on what’s next and that’s spread out across multiple different things. So the key here is to set aside some time to do just one thing. Another important thing to put in place is an intentional transition between tasks. If you were playing with the kids but have now set aside 30 minutes to focus on writing make sure you transition. It could include some deep breaths or even some light brushing off. Finally, if you find yourself focusing on the “what’s next” just gently bring yourself back to the present task at hand.

2. What kind of tips do you have so that I can experience more time or enoughness of time during the day and week? Everyone has the exact same amount of time every week. So no matter how you slice it we all get 168 hours in a week. Even if you get 8 hours of sleep every night and have a 40-hour a week job that still leaves you with 72 hours. Having said that instead of focusing on how much time you have or don’t have I would focus on what you’re doing with your time. Consider everything you do during a given week. Write down all of the major ways you spend your time. For example, work, spending time with the kids, writing, exercise, food shopping, watching tv, etc. Now look at the things that don’t align with your real goals. This may be a great exercise for you to not only redefine your goals and dreams but see where the time you are spending is going. For example, if you’re spending an hour a night watching TV maybe consider taking 4 of those 7 nights to focus on doing what you’re passionate about. Even if you do that it will still leave you with 3 hours a week of TV watching. That’s just one example. Remember, it’s not about how much time you have or don’t have, it’s about how you choose to spend your time.

3. Is planning really necessary or is there another way? I don’t think there’s one right answer here. I think for most people planning is the best route. This gives some structure and safety to your week while still allowing flexibility to change if something comes up. It’s also a nice way to track how your week is going relative to how you planned it. However, if planning isn’t quite your thing I would still consider assessing your week on Sunday’s. For example, take 30 minutes on a Sunday and write down how you spent most of your time. Consider what you accomplished and didn’t accomplish. You may have to revise how you tackle the next week based on your assessment.

Next week our focus will be on the topic of Blame. If you struggle with blaming others or find that others are blaming you please send in your questions and I’ll be sure to answer them on the podcast. Simply send me an email to [email protected] with your questions or on Facebook and I’ll answer your questions on the show!

Show Topic: 7 Ways To Get Hours Back in Your Day

1. Surrender to outcome and let intention guide you. Focus on the bigger picture (of intention) and don’t get so caught up in what it’s supposed to look like. Go through your day focusing on whether or not what your’e doing is in alignment with your “bigger picture” (your intention) and less about how the outcome looks. This is a great tip for those perfectionists out there who are overly focused on the outcome.
2. Learn to say No. You don’t have to take on everything. A No to someone else is really a Yes to yourself.
3. Learn to say Yes and commit. This makes your Yes’ real and solidifies what you’ll be doing during the day and what you won’t be doing. Only doing what you say Yes too!
4. Being vs Doing. Remember, you are enough, whole, and important just because you’re here. The things you do are important and have value but they don’t define who you are. When you’re able to separate who you are from what you do, you’ll be amazed at how much time you get back in your day.
5. Get a Team. Not just to help with tasks but to help with support, encouragement and accountability.
6. Flexibility and Forgiveness. Allowing yourself to shift gears mid stream is key to not only living with intention but also to ensure you’re not stuck spending hours on something that’s just not right. Forgive yourself from having to stick to some unchangeable schedule or to other people expectations of you. Go back to intention, back to the bigger picture.
7. Self Care. Start off the day with a meditation or light brushing off and set your intentions. Doing so will free you up from all the other stuff that can bog you down throughout the day.

Weekly Challenge:

Step 1: Create a Goal Setting and Action Plan. This will help you set your Intention or the Big Picture. You can make your own or you could do what I did and visit Scott Dinsmore’s site. He’s got an amazing template you can fill out. The site is www.liveyourlegend.net/email-updates and by just entering your email you’ll get full access (totally free) to the workbook and much more. I’m a subscriber to his site and if you don’t want to get anymore of his content after you get this workbook you can simply unsubscribe.
Step 2:Get an Accountability Team and set up daily or weekly check ins with them.
Step 3: Create a weekly schedule with Daily Themes. Ensure that your daily themes and your tasks throughout the day are aligned to your Action Plan and your bigger picture (intention). I like to use a template from Michael Hyatt over at http://michaelhyatt.com/myresources/my-ideal-week.png

If this is too much or feels overwhelming just go back to the list of 7 things I spoke about earlier and pick one or two of those things to work on throughout the week. Either way you’ll be moving in the right direction and taking one more step to living your fullest life!

For those of you that aren’t able to listen to a Podcast I want you to know that I miss my written posts as well. I plan to start writing more on the site as well so please be on the lookout for more written posts.

With Gratitude and Appreciation,

Josh