A routine is a good thing…

Is it just ME, or do you, too, sometimes feel you have become  - well  - somewhat predictable?

OK, I admit it…I am somewhat predictable.  It may sound boring in some ways, yet I have come to see the good side of what has become a sort of routine, a virtual self-help checklist.

Predictability means reliability; reliability you and others  count on.  Having a to-do list you carry around in your head keeps you grounded, on-time, and available to others when needed. 

Good time management is a virtue, as I see it.  It helps avoid the helter-skelter that breeds in the absence of said virtue and actually creates the feeling of having more time.  That’s a gift you give, more than to anyone else, to yourself!  It is a gift you are worthy of receiving.

In every busy woman’s life, both personal and profess- ional, is the need for well planned, well spent time that makes possible, what can so easily overwhelm us: the greatest chance of getting things done well, on-time, with a joyful spirit and the greatest sense of self accomplish- ment.

On the flip side, less than good time management skills may easily result in the opposite:  being of schedule, performing at less than our highest potential and with a sense of “I could have done a better job”.

Part of the challenge of establishing good time management skills is not taking on too much; something women so generously do – all with the best of intentions – resulting in self-inflicted wounds – often the hardest to heal.

Having a routine of your own makes it easier to schedule in the extras we cannot always plan for.  They suddenly feel easier to fit in – and with less stress.  WOW, what a notion!

Today is December 1, 2013; the final month of a year that, for me, has flown.  In one month, we start a brand new year; a time of resolution and planned transformation that too often falls below the radar shortly thereafter.

May I suggest taking a thoughtful, objective view of your own routine, or lack thereof, and determine how you might better align yourself to your purpose and your passion, to your role and your responsibilities and how best to invest yourself in the 1,440 precious minutes you are given every day?

As in any exercise, you may find yourself a stronger, better-toned individual, more able to deal with all that today’s world throws in your life’s path.  

Now, here’s where it gets tricky…in creating  a routine and strengthening your time management skills, you actually open a wider range of possibility to do more for others – and – very importantly yourself.  You must schedule “me time” in your life and make finding personal time, space and satisfaction part of your routine.

If you begin to embrace this possibility during this – the “most wonderful time of the year” (a/k/a, the busiest time of the year), imagine what you can give yourself and the world all year-round!

So, IS it just me, or do you, too, see the upside of your own predictability; it’s not a trait of the boring but part of the character of those who may have and give the most.

                Predict your own future!