When our to-do list is as long as our arm, and we want it all, and we want it now, it’s easy for our days to become overwhelming and inefficient. We need to take the reins and mindfully build in breathing space in order to live a (more) stress-free life. You deserve that.

You have a million things you want to do, I get it. I do too. However, packing so much into our expectations of what we can get done in a certain time period, can easily lead to disappointment. We can feel like we’re in a hamster wheel getting nowhere fast. Mindfully creating breathing space is a good way to go and I’m going to show you how.

5 Steps to gift yourself some breathing space.

1. Decide what time period you’re looking at.

A good place to leap off the hamster wheel is to decide what time period you’re looking to bring in some breathing space. I plan in 90 day periods, but you can use this method just as well for a month, week or day.

2. Decide what you want to achieve.

Decide what you want to achieve in that given time period. Make a list, do a brain dump, chat with your biz buddies, just get it all out of your head and onto paper.

3. Assess if it’s a realistic expectation.

Next, assess whether it’s a realistic expectation given your working hours and other time commitments. Be really honest with yourself. If it’s something you’re not used to doing, it’ll likely take longer than you think the first few times. If it’s something you’ve done before, think about how long it actually takes rather than how long you think it should take. In my experience, these two numbers can vary wildly!!! If you need to, start a time audit to keep a record of how long things actually take.

4. Make it realistic.

If you can see that you’ve put too much on your plate, take some off! Prioritise. Think about which things will bring you most income, will make the most impact, things which will make your life easy, will be the most fun, which will free up the most time? What can you push back until a later time period? What things can you cross completely off your list?

5. Schedule in your calendar or planner when you intend to start each project.

Once you’ve decided realistically what you can get done in this time period; schedule in when to START each project.

Trying to do several projects at once when work your time is limited is a recipe for stress. To push back some of the projects to begin later, even within this time period, gives you the time and mind space to breathe. You know you don’t need to think about that thing right now, because you’re not due to start it until next month. It also allows you to see in your diary or planner what projects are coming up next for you. This can often give us the incentive to crack on and finish what we’re working on now. We want to make space for the next exciting thing!

You really do deserve to have an enjoyable, fun, stimulating yet calm life. You hold the reins to allow that to happen. When we make breathing space, we allow room not only for inspiration to flow, but also the time in our diaries to act on that inspiration when it comes! Plan to create the space for inspired action rather than plain old busy busy busy action and you’ll see the magic unfold before you.

If despite your best efforts at planning and prioritising, you’re still not making progress because you’re too overwhelmed, book in a clarity call here, to discuss whether working with me would benefit you and your business.