Have you got a busy week? Yeah, I know, is there any other kind?
Paraphrasing the Eisenhower matrix, your week will contain:
- Important things that scream for attention
- Important things that stay quiet
- Trivial things that scream for attention
- Trivial things that stay quiet
But take a quick scan of your to-do list and see how many of those things are:
- Related to improving your health, energy and mood
- Related to your family, relationships and home
- Genuinely fun and exciting
I speak with professionals and business owners all the time and the majority of them have few to none of these in their week. Why? Because they are negotiable; they can be pushed out and replaced by business-related things.
How well are these represented in your week?
Your health is important – but it doesn’t scream until you get ill.
Your energy is important – but as it gets lower you either put up with it or “manage” it with sugar, caffeine and alcohol.
Your relationships are important – but kids learn to not make a fuss and your partner accepts you are always busy.
These are all core pillars of being well, happy, resilient and enjoying your life. But – unless you deliberately add them in and fight for them – they get squeezed out.
An Action to Take Right Now
So – as you start this week – have a quick check on whether those pillars are there.
✅ Plan to get an hour extra sleep most nights because that supports every single aspect of your life and work.
✅ Find one meeting that really doesn’t need to happen and replace it with an email. THEN leave work that day an hour earlier and spend time with your family, your spouse and your children.
✅ Run, cycle, swim, do a step class, get to yoga … do something that you love for exercise. Something that gets you sweaty, out of breath, gives you that natural buzz of adrenaline and the post-exercise high. Fit that in just once this week.
Do it right now – grab your phone or open you calendar and make those changes. If you move on from reading without doing it, you know you probably won’t. So do it now.
Reply to this and let me know how fitted in one of those things.