Defining the Non-Negotiables
Good Morning,
I bet in some form or fashion you have uttered those same words recently. You look at your schedule for this coming week and you get tired before even getting started. It is so easy to do. You have family demands, chores needing completed, career demands, volunteering expectations, and hobbies you want to pursue. It is exhausting.I was having a coaching conversation recently with someone who was experiencing these frustrations. They had things they wanted to accomplish, but could not seem to find any margin in their schedule. So, I asked them, “What are the non-negotiables that demand time in your schedule?” This took us on a journey of discovery that revealed that while busy, most of the things they were busy with were in fact negotiable. They did not have to be done and they did not really rise to the level of non-negotiable. They had chosen to use their time on them.This person discovered that they had more time in their schedule than they thought because they were in control of more of it than they thought they were. They had let expectations of others (and self-imposed expectations) make scheduling choices for them. Suddenly feeling empowered they understood that they could oversee a big chunk of their schedule rather than their schedule overseeing them. You could hear the “ah-hahh” in their voice. It now became a matter of prioritizing.I am a firm believer that in most areas of life we have time for what we want to have time for and money for what we want to have money for. It is a matter of making choices and trade-offs. And for the most part, we are in control of those choices.What about you? Is it time to define the non-negotiables in your schedule so you can find some desperately needed margin? If you need help, I am here.
Live this week on purpose,Ron Klopfenstein
