When my week ran me, I was stressed, tired, and demoralized. This post share the approaches I tried until I finally learned how to schedule my time in a more humane, joyful, and productive way.
I used to feel like my week ran me instead of like I ran my week.
I was productive–writing, teaching, grading, attending committee meetings, meal planning, organizing my kids’ activities, and so on. But, it all felt disorienting and exhausting.
I always knew, for example, that work was stressful. But, I vividly remember the day I deeply realized how it was impacting me physically, mentally, and emotionally. I was walking from my car to my office. It was a beautiful day. I was walking at a leisurely pace. Suddenly, I realized my heart was pounding in my chest as if I had had been sprinting instead of walking. My body was responding powerfully to the anticipated stress. I knew I HAD to make a change.
Things That Stick, But Don’t
So, tired of feeling like time was managing me instead of the other way around, I explored many different systems to plan my week.
Try sticky notes? Yes!
Misplace sticky notes? Certainly did!
Try computer program with on-screen sticky notes? You bet!
Watch my computer screen become overwhelmed with sticky notes? Sadly, yes.
Convert to lists? Okay. This is going to work! (Spoiler alert–it’s not the answer.)
Use a planner? Use a customized Google Sheet? I tried both!
To be honest: some of these things can serve us well. The issue is: it’s not where to start or the most important thing.
Different Methods to Run My Week
Still, my week ran me. Frustrated, frazzled, and eager for a solution to planning my week better, I tried lots of different planning systems.
I worked with the Pomodoro Technique, Eisenhower Matrix, Atomic Habits, Essentialism, Growth Day, habit trackers and more. I learned valuable things from all of these methods. But, they didn’t appreciably change the way every day and week felt.
Things Finally Start to Shift
Then, something changed. I started to read and write about the cult of productivity and time scarcity mentality. I explored the latter in a post reflecting on the writings of Brené Brown Brown and Robin Wall Kimmerer. These were important perspectives as I began to shift in how I thought about time, planning, and work.
I took an extensive workshop on rethinking my relationship to what I did professionally. Have you ever created a document with bullet points of all your work responsibilities, committees, and activities? No big deal, right? When I did it, my list was two pages long! I was shocked at how long the list was. How did that list get so long?! I started to get curious about how my list of activities aligned with my actual responsibilities, goals, and humanity? HARD questions.
Thinking about how my week ran me, I started to ask why. I thought over grind culture and immersed myself in people doing the important work of resisting it. For example, Octavia Raheem’s Pause, Rest, Be. deeply moved me. And, her book Rest is Sacred resonated deeply when she said you have to understand and change how you think about rest before you can transform your relationship to it.
Going Deeper
There were many other readings, teachings, practices, and experiences that influenced how I looked at my time and its relationship to me. For example, hearing my sister ask “How do you want to feel this week?” at a weekly group that she used to run opened a new way to think about my time. (Thanks, Kim!)
Throw in tea teacher training, meditation teacher training, deeper meditation and mindfulness practices (Thank you, Thich Nhat Hanh!), and working with this issue in a new way. What did I get? I found a better way to think about and plan my week. I now feel more energized, authentic, and content with how my days and week run.
When You Run Your Week
I have more time to take in beauty and to connect with myself and others. Every morning, I make time to step outside and soak up some morning sunlight. I arrange more time to go on tea excursions with my daughter. I schedule more lunches with friends. I plan meaningful events that replenish me. And so much more.
All of these things are opportunities to connect, empathize, and laugh more often. Being more efficient and focused at work and changing how I plan has helped me unlock all these other fulfilling activities in my week. And, I learned many other lessons about how to plan my week.
I wish that earlier, stressed and exhausted me–heart pounding between the parking lot and my office–knew then what I know now! I’m grateful, however, to finally know how to leave behind a life where my week ran me and, instead, cultivate how to run my week.
Inspired to Share
These changes and insights have inspired me to offer my September Serenity Series. I’d love to help other people think through how they can better plan each week! I firmly believe that doing this over time (the series meets once a week for a month) and with a supportive group helps us go further than we can go alone.
I’ve learned that it is not a list of things we do, but rather a series of questions we ask, that can help us craft a productive, humanely paced, and joyful week.
No more “Sunday scaries;” no more dreading the upcoming week!
If you are ready for a new way to plan your week in a supportive group, the September Serenity Series could be for you. We meet online every Sunday evening in September. You can learn more by clicking the button, below.