The best practices of planning, time management, focus, and follow through, and my insight from what I’ve learned in my years of actually practicing it (or at least attempting to…)
Read here
These tips, tools, and tidbits will help you become:
Busy ✖
Tired ✖
Impulsive ✖
Overwhelmed ✖
Productive ✔
Focused ✔
Indulgent ✔
Flexible ✔
More
Less
To me, “efficient” and “effective” are two of the sexiest words in the English dictionary.
I had always been a type-A overachieving planner who wants to do it all. Especially since my work supporting sustainable ways of moving people, goods, and waste in NYC isn’t just a job: it’s a passion, a public service, and the embodiment of my values. It is critical, time sensitive work that needs all-hands-on-deck at our highest capacity if we are to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement goals. So you better believe I was hustling to get it all done.
And yet, I wasn’t very efficient or effective for most of my career….Luckily, I found life coaching. READ THE FULL STORY
Blog Posts
Don’t Negotiate with Toddlers
Tips on avoiding or minimizing the need to negotiate with your toddler brain.
Your Beautiful, Neurodiverse Brain
What if your ADHD brain could be an asset, not a liability?
The Art and Science of Choices Big and Small
Why bother with all this planning and scheduling?
How I came to write this blog
I used to think I was optimally using my time and energy, given my natural inclination toward plans and schedules. Yes, I got a lot accomplished, like helping to launch the nation’s first bike share program while also getting my Master’s in Public Administration on nights and weekends. But the amount of time and energy I spent on figuring out what to do every day was a huge drain. Allowing myself to be constantly distracted by what felt urgent slowed me down. And feeling like I should be doing something productive or important when I was trying to relax was definitely not restful.
I didn’t even realize how exhausting or ineffective my approach to execution or my style of thinking had been. I was a “type-A” planner by nature! I was hella organized and prided myself on being efficient! How could I be anything but optimal?
The answer, simply put: patriarchy, capitalism, and my own human brain.
That’s what I learned through working with a life coach. Through this, I began to dismantle the external influences of culture and society on my own expectations of myself;
To root out the patriarchal socialization that had me basing my worth on achievement and what other people thought of me;
To reject the hustle culture that was making me busier than I wanted to be;
To accept and appreciate my messy humanness, even when at odds with my best self;
To dream big and set goals unimaginable to my previous self;
And then to execute those goals, just for the fun of it.
Now that my self-worth is no longer linked to how much I accomplish at work, or how clean my apartment is, or how many push-ups I can do, or how low of a carbon footprint I have, I get to do all those things just because I want to.
Of course, I still want to be efficient and effective.
And I still love systems for organization, planning, scheduling, and follow-through.
I still geek out on how to optimize my time and energy so that I can get a lot done at work without collapsing at the end of the day.
Only now do I know how important it is to be kind to myself with my schedule and more realistic with my expectations.
I know the importance of not overworking, not multitasking, and not saying “yes” when I mean “no”.
And I know the importance of putting pleasure first.
This blog is a way for me to share what I’ve been taught as a certified life coach about planning, time management, and follow through, and what I’ve learned in my years of actually practicing it.
