We’ve reflected. We’re resting. And now it’s a new year!
So let’s talk about how you’re not gonna fuck yourself over this year by giving away all your time, and instead, you’re gonna reclaim your time for your damn self. Shall we?
This week, I’m offering you another free resource. In the Reclaiming Time workbook, you’ll do a calendar refresh that will allow you to create a schedule for yourself that is truly FOR yourself.
Before we get there, though, if you haven’t downloaded and worked through the Cyclical Reflection Ritual I offered a couple of weeks ago in the Reclaiming Reflection workbook, I highly recommend doing that before applying anything to your calendar.
Why?
Because it’s beneficial to ensure the celebrations and lessons from the previous cycle come along for the next cycle.
Rather than looking at the upcoming cycle — and in this particular moment, that means this new year — as an entirely new beginning or a fresh start, where you're starting from scratch and pretending nothing matters that came before, looking at how far you’ve come and deciding what to take with you into the next cycle allows you to build on what you’ve learned.
This creates a solid foundation upon which to stand and move forward.
From the perspective of determining what went well, what didn’t go so well (and what you’ve learned from it), as well as what you’d like to stop, start, and continue, you can fill your calendar in a way that’s supportive to you, rather than overwhelming.
Putting things in your calendar will happen in phases. The first phase is your personal life.
I know, your career is important. Your education is important. And your business is important. What I also know is that starting with those things leads you to fill your calendar up with no regard to the pieces of your life that you do those things FOR. Your reasons for the career/education/business. Your ultimate, big picture, “WHY” of your professional life. So you then scramble to fit in the birthdays and vacations and doctor’s appointments, adding to your already high stress level.
So instead, we’re starting with your personal life. We’re prioritizing the things you say are your “WHY” for your career/education/business.
That shit goes on the calendar first. So that your work can fit into your life, rather than your life fitting into your work.
Access your Reclaiming Time workbook at www.KeliLynJewel.com/time.
When starting your calendar with your personal life, you’re gonna get into allll the little nitty gritty details that often get overlooked to help your lived experience feel more expansive and less rushed.
The first things that go on your calendar are holidays, regularly scheduled travel (AND time to pack and prep for said travel, including any services you like to receive [mani/pedi, blowout, wax, etc], PLUS recovery time after travel, including those services [chiro, massage, acupuncture, etc]), regularly scheduled guest visits (also including time to clean, shop, and prep, as well as recovery time after the guests leave), planned vacations (again with the prep time and recovery time), birthdays (including your own), regularly scheduled appointments (that dentist appointment happens every 6 months, so don’t let it be a surprise…but also, get your other appointments booked — medical, self-care, family meetings, kids’ stuff, pets’ stuff), non-holiday and non-birthday family events, kids’ school events, and any other personal items that need to be listed but don’t fall into those categories.
BONUS TIP: If you’re into color coding, use the same color for all your personal items or two colors, one for your items and the other for family items. This helps your personal life stand out on your calendar so that you see your “WHY” very clearly.
So that you see YOU on your calendar and not just everyone and everything else.
AFTER — and only after — all of the planned and regularly occurring personal items are on your calendar, you’ll move on to planned and regularly occurring work: regularly scheduled meetings, planned events (including prep and recovery time for those planned events), client/student facing work, marketing time/content creation time/writing/research, sales calls/messages/presentations/lectures, administrative tasks, planning, networking, and other planned and regularly occurring work items that don’t fit into any of those categories.
And if you’re color coding, make it make sense for yourself. Maybe BTS time is one color, and public-facing things are another color, or maybe this kind of work stuff is all the same color. But use a different color than your personal items, so you can visually see the difference and recognize the lie when your brain inevitably tells you that all you do is work and never have time for what you want to be doing.
We’re solving for that. Make sure you can see it.
With your personal life and regular work stuff on your calendar, THEN you can effectively look at the possibility of launching something new in a way that allows spaciousness and honors your capacity. You can look at what it will take, how it will fit into your schedule, and decide what you’re committed to and not from an informed place that allows for the practicality of daily life rather than trying to cram too much into tight spaces and leading yourself into burnout.
In order to create appropriate space on your calendar, the Reclaiming Time workbook will walk you through key dates and timelines: when the doors open, publication deadlines, cart opening and closing, pre-registration bonus deadlines, and what materials you’ll need to create. I also suggest a 12-week launch period, with 4 weeks of planning added in, so nothing is rushed and everything has time to unfold, and the workbook offers you some tips on what to include in that timeline — ideas on pieces to add to your launch process, as well as support systems to put in place for yourself with regard to your own wellbeing to ensure you show up to the work in a way that facilitates sustainability.
On the personal side, I’d like to invite you into Project Reclamation. We’re an equitable self-coaching built on the concepts of nervous system regulation, emotional processing, and cognitively shifting the oppressive narratives we’ve been handed. We would love to welcome you into our community. Sign up today at www.KeliLynJewel.com/reclamation.
And for business support, check out SellingU. The community membership offers structured curriculum on sales, systems, and building a sustainable business, as well as group support and coaching. The mastermind includes community membership PLUS 1:1 support, strategy, and more hands-on work with me, including in-person work. It’s mindset AND practical application, with a built-in network. www.KeliLynJewel.com/SellingU.
Whichever direction you choose, or if you’re just here for the free content, I’d love to know how the process of Reclaiming Time has felt for you and what you’re looking forward to most in the new year. Tag me in your process, and let me know!
Thank you for allowing me the honor of sharing my calendar method with you. It has worked for me for well over a decade, and it’s a process I’ve seen benefit countless folks I’ve trained, mentored, and coached. And now, I’m delighted to offer it to you.
