The Calendar Clean-Out Method: The Math Behind Overwhelm
Your calendar has a math problem, and it's not the kind you can outwork.
Here's what I mean. My client Jenny and I looked at her to-do list for the week, and estimated how long each item would take. That came to 50 hours.
Then, we looked at her calendar to see how many hours she had open to work on these to-list items. She had five open hours where she wasn’t already booked.
5 available hours - 50 hours of to do items = -45 hours of time.
She needed forty-five additional hours in the week just to break even.
This is not a Jenny problem. Most of my clients, and I bet you too, have this calendar math problem.
Here’s how it usually plays out: You start off the week with a packed schedule and a very ambitious to do list. Due to the math problem above, you finish the week feeling like you’ve accomplished nothing on your to-do list, even though you worked super hard all week.
This is the first step I teach in my How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed class. It’s a live class, and it’s this Friday, September 11th at 11am CST. We'll walk through this exact exercise together, plus two other hidden causes of overwhelm you've probably never looked at. Click here to save your seat!
HOT OFF THE PRESS
“Think category by category: your home, your clothes your career, your kids, your relationships, your health. For each one, ask yourself, what's the thing I keep doing that I don't actually want to keep doing?”
Sometimes the thing making us overwhelmed isn't that we have too much to do. It's that we're constantly asking ourselves what we should do.
Should I stay up?
Should I say yes?
Should I keep this?
Should I make time for that?
Should I do it myself?
Should I squeeze in one more thing?
Every little question seems harmless.
But stack enough of them together and suddenly your brain is running a 24/7 committee meeting.
I've realized that some of the calmest decisions in my life are the ones I've already made. There’s a lot of freedom in being able to say, “Oh, I don't do that.”
Not because I'm rigid. Because I don't have to spend my precious mental energy negotiating with myself every single time.
And honestly? I'll take fewer decisions over becoming the world's greatest time-management ninja.
Creating a calmer life isn't always about figuring out how to fit more into your day. Sometimes it's about deciding what doesn't get your time, energy, attention, or mental space in the first place. And when those decisions are no longer up for negotiation, life starts to feel a whole lot lighter.
Check out episode 286 here: https://tinyurl.com/OWWPod.
“Habits are not metrics we have to hit to be a good person. Habits are supportive. Their only job is to help us.”
Most modern books and podcasts about habit formation don’t consider the invisible labor that takes so much of a woman’s time and energy. Every day we're expected to show up at the same time, perform at the same level, and never miss, with no flexibility, grace, or understanding of how life actually works.
When we try to achieve perfection in our habits, something weird happens. Not only does our pursuit of perfection get in the way of our consistency, but we start to serve our habits, when our habits are meant to serve us. Habits should feel like a supportive net, not a prison.
That’s why I wanted to share this conversation with Monica Packer, author of Sticky Habits. Habits help us make progress without having to be perfect. If you’re ready ditch perfectionism, and finally create habits that last, this episode is for you.
Listen to episode 287 here: https://tinyurl.com/OWWPod!
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Click here to set up a free, no-pressure consultation about working with me.