Sharing my knowledge and experience with you especially if you who are working, studying, parenting all at the same time or doing at least one of these and how to be masters of our own time. Reflection points about our work week are also shared at the end. Happy mastering!
Okay this is no hack for the 4 hour work week, this is my current living reality... The Four zero work week. That's right you heard it, the 40 hour work week. Hands up if you work more than one job? I am super guilty of this and for the latter part it surprisingly is growing me in ways that I never thought could. Working two jobs is pretty crazy at first, but when you look at the silver lining, there are wonderful things that come out of this experience. I can truly testify to this. Keep reading, I promise this will inspire your day in some way.
Okay let me start with the number 40! Not only is it a lot for us parents. On average, if you are dealing with peak hour traffic and living in metro Melbourne, it can take anywhere up to 40 – 60 minutes of sitting in your car just so we can get to work plus the 40 hours of work we have to complete too. In some cases even more. This is in all its glory the standard working hours that we are given for full time work. In between all of this, we are responsible in ensuring that life is on track, the home is cleaned, meals are prepped, weekly exercise sessions are completed, self care routine done and our babies are all organised. The list is endless....
It is pretty full on but we do it. We get it done. We come home, rest, sleep and do it all again. There are so many parents doing this with multiple kids and newborns so it’s definitely achievable. Here is why it is doable. Like I said, this is my current reality. I do work a corporate full time job whilst running my business independently and girl, this is as full on as it gets. In saying that, I wouldn't have it any other way. If I ever make the transition of making my side hustle a full time gig, I am not quite there yet however, each year I can definitely measure the growth and expansion of my business which allows me to reassess, adjust as needed and work out new methods that will fit my schedule and most importantly my family's.
One of things that will help us getting organised with the mammoth amount of tasks on our crazy to do list is that we should take a moment and observe the entire work week and then stepping back and then observe each individual day. We also need to have a visual eye on the entire week from Sunday to Sunday too. What this does is it allows us to break up the entire work week into days and allows us to feel more structured knowing that we have certain goals to complete whilst knowing their deadlines and due dates. We almost have to have the vision of an eagle which can see both end to end of the entire landscape. Once you program your mind to think like this, you are on the way to becoming an amazing project manager with your own life.
That's where a scheduling system comes into play.
We can do this by mapping out our entire day from morning to night. If you have a general feel of how it's all going to happen, map it out in a daily calendar. Whether that’s on paper or in your journal planner or a digital smart calendar, the point is to ensure it’s all mapped and at a high level of course.
Have a go at creating a scheduled work week by simply mapping out your day and see if you can visualise a well executed plan.
Stick to it and know exactly what you are doing from the first day of the week until the last day of the week. Once you master the weekly planning, you can then plan a month out, a quarter of a year, a full year and then eventually a 2-5 year plan.
It's doable and I have learnt how to plan years in advance especially with my personal goals such as building and buying investment properties and how to go about that. How to pay off my mortgage in 5 years, etc. So there you go, planning and being good at project managing can help us achieve incredible life goals. There is no hack in not knowing how others do it, but it all starts with working out a structure and understanding how your schedule is and planning around it with confidence and discipline. It all starts with mastering a week.
If you would like a schedule template. Check out this amazing template (coming soon) I have created that you can grab from my store.
P.s.
When I look back on each job I have had from the beginning up until now, I have learnt so many incredible things and although I may have done some jobs that questioned my integrity and value, I did it anyway. These all taught me something whether I liked it or not and I look back on these experiences and thank myself for being lucky enough to have experienced these difficult times. It's from these life experiences I have learnt how to budget, project manage my time, teach valuable life skills and lessons to my students and so much more.
Here are some awesome reflection questions to consider if you are anything like me or in a similar situation.
1. What have you learnt in the last 6 months that you didn’t know or feel confident in prior?
2. What rotations or job changes have taken place in the last 12 month that happened opened up different opportunities for you? This could be, a change in management, new starters, rotations and or portfolio changes in projects and other business as usual tasks.
3. What skill have you gotten good at in the last month?
4. Who taught you this skill? I want you to focus on the very early stages of you learning a particular skill and how you felt to how you are feeling now. For example, it could be email writing skills that you were struggling in and or lacking confidence in. I then want you to focus on the person(s) who helped you achieve this. Focus on specific moments when the light bulb went off and it made your job that little bit easier.
5. What communication skills or sentence starters have helped bridge new / or existing relationships in your line of work? Do you have a specific way of communicating? How did that develop and where did that come or start from? Is it likeable? What is your approach? How does your personal qualities and traits add value in the work place and or to people?
These questions allow you think of specific moments that involve your entire being and how you are bringing value to others and more importantly to yourself in the work week.
The 40 hour work week teaches are so much and sometimes we forget to focus on the positive side of our lives when it’s so easy to get bogged down with the daily simulation of work day life.
Stay inspired and stay purposeful.
With love,
Cass.
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