How to find time in August - fit in more with combinations

Welcome to How To Find Time In August!

This month, I want to help you optimise the time you have.

You may know by now that we all receive a Glass of time each week.

To use the time in that glass well, we need to secure our Energy with Needs-time and our Enthusiasm with Want-time before we spend all available time on the things we feel we "should" do. 

This month I give suggestions on how to combine activities in your Needs-, Want- and "Shoulds" time. When you find good combinations you can fit more into your glass of time.

There are many ways to combine different tasks. Before you listen to the tips in the video, let me warn you about a common misunderstanding.

Many people think efficiency means doing something every single minute of the day. They confuse efficiency with being busy. 

What I teach is not being busy, it is peacefully getting things done while enjoying each moment.

Keep that in mind when you listen to the video for tips about putting children to bed, doing dishes, and cleaning the house in ways that are fun, meaningful and efficient.

When you listen to the video, keep paper and pen with you (or use your computer with notifications and distractions turned off) and write down combinations you want to try out.

Remember, this is NOT about cramming in activities. That will just give you a false feeling of efficiency. Instead, focus on making each activity worthwhile and fun. We can multitask but we cannot multi-think as I describe in the blogpost Multitasking vs. Multi-thinking. 

I hope you will enjoy finding time with fun combinations!

Going deeper

If you want to learn how to peacefully get more done with less effort and deeper joy I recommend you read my books about finding time. 

Beyond Efficiency - Escape the Efficiency Trap and become an amazingly effective and peaceful leader by paying yourself first with time. 

If you can read Swedish, you are welcome to read Visst har du tid.

You can also read more at www.annikarosendahl.com

How to find time in July - WINE analysis

Welcome to the first month of the second half of the year!

This is a great month to reflect on what we have achieved and experienced in the first half of the year and what we want to achieve and experience in the second half.

To ensure you cover the areas that really make a difference - do a WINE analysis!

What I suggest you do in July - together with your loved ones if you can - is to take time out, ideally two times one hour. Then do a WINE analysis.

I am not referring to drinking wine, even if you're welcome to do that. 

I am talking about an acronym that will help you focus on areas that according to research are the areas we need to focus on to feel successful and fulfilled.

Winning

Influence

Needed

Enjoyment

I'm also suggesting that you look at three life spheres since life is so much more than work, which is the area we typically set goals in. Look at your personal and professional life as well as your relationships.

Use the first hour to reflect on the first part of the year. What have you achieved, what have you experienced? I hope this exercise will make you happy and proud.


The second hour (I suggest you do this another day, to let the first exercise sink in) you look ahead. 

What do you want to achieve and experience the rest of this year in the different areas and life spheres? 

If done right, this exercise will give you guidance for the rest of the year and make you inspired and  hopeful.

The template is available in my Holistic Time Management Planner (available on Amazon).

If you don't have or want the planner, just create your own table. 

Good luck!

For more help to get more done with less effort and deeper joy, you can read or listen to my book Beyond Efficiency.

Your ethical will: What is love?

 Welcome to tell your life story by answering 12 questions!

This series of blog posts is inspired by the book For you when I am gone by Steve Leder. 

Together we will answer one question at the time, giving us a story to share with our loved ones. We will also give ourselves a chance to reflect. Are we living according to our values? 

You are more than welcome to share your answer in a comment. 

As Steve Leder puts it: 

Telling our stories is a way to share whatever meaning and joy we have found along the way, the depth of our love for others and for life itself. To share our story with someone is to say, you matter to me. 

What is love?

As soon as I read the question, Haddaway started singing in my head. Yes, I do have some similarities with Jenny in my book Love, Guilt, and Motorcycles (Jenny, Jenny in Swedish). Haddaway’s What is love doesn’t answer the question though. 

This is one of the answers in Steve’s book: 

“Love is covered well by Corinthians, but I’ll take us back to my Mayan ancestry where love is defined in a greeting, ala kesh ala kin, which means ‘the light I see in you is the same light in me.’ I believe the sages of the ages when they say we are all made of love - and that when we connect to this light within ourselves, we are able to see it in each other.” 

I find that to be a beautiful description. 

The other descriptions Steve shares often describe actions. 

“Love is picking up something at the grocery store that you don’t like to eat but that your husband adores.” 

and 

“Love is getting up in the middle of the night to hold [my wife’s] hair back when she’s sick and puking in the toilet and then cleaning up after she goes back to bed.”

Others describe love in feelings. 

“Love is a feeling of belonging, of feeling just right.”

and

“...the butterflies in my stomach when I would see [my husband], the sparkle I saw in his eyes…”

I like words, yet, when I am asked to describe love, no words come. Maybe because words will inevitably fall short when trying to explain love. 

As one person wrote in Steve’s book: 

"Love is a state of being. Love, if we try to articulate what it means, shrinks."

That’s why I can’t find the words to describe what love is. I don’t want to shrink it. 

So what is love to me?

Love is everything. 

Love is life. 

Love just is. 

What is love to you? 

How to find time in June - Your relationship overview

Have you ever put your kids to bed, wishing they would fall asleep quickly so you could get back to all the things you still needed to do?

If it is easy to feel that way.

At the same time, many parents wish they could spend more time with their children than they do and less time with people who drain their energy.

This month, I help you make the most of your time and energy by rethinking, reconnecting or cherishing your relationships.

 

Find time in June by looking at the different relationships in your life and do one of 3 things for each one of them:

• Cherish the time you have together
• Allocate time for it and don’t waste it by thinking about something else when you are with your loved ones.

• Reconnect with people you have lost touch with 
• If you think reconnecting will give you energy and joy. 

• Rethink the relationships that drain you. 
• Can you forgive and let go? Can you set clear boundaries? Can you stop seeing a person or significantly reduce how often you meet?

You can use the section Relationships in the Holistic Time Management planner or write your own table with people and actions in each category. (See the video for details).

Going deeper

I recommend Jack Pransky's book: Parenting from the heart. 

Here is an interview with Jack about how to Weatherproof your relationship and deal with jealousy.

I hope you will find time and energy this month by managing and enjoying your relationships!

For more help to get more done with less effort and deeper joy, you can read or listen to my book Beyond Efficiency.

Take care of yourself, your time and your life.

Your ethical will: What is a good person?

Welcome back to Twelve essential questions to tell a life story. By joining me in twelve blog posts you will create what Rabbi Leder calls your ethical will.

By answering the questions your loved ones will get to know you deeper and you will understand yourself better. Let your memories bring meaning!

To join – read the blog posts, reflect on the questions and write your own answers. You are very welcome to share them in the comments.

Welcome on an interesting journey!

What is a good person?

Well, that is quite a question isn’t it?

I somehow hesitate to answer it, because, who am I to judge? Who am I to say what is good or bad or evil?

I often quote Shakespeare’s Hamlet: 

“There is nothing either good or bad

It’s only our thinking that makes it so”

The same goes for there not being either good or bad people. It is only our thinking that makes us consider someone good and someone else bad. 

As Alexandr Solzhenitsyn so eloquently wrote: 

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”

Alright, now that we have concluded that there is no such thing as a good or a bad person (unless our thinking makes it so) and that good and evil cuts through, rather than between us…

What is a good person then?

One answer in Steve’s book goes:

“I never lie to my kids or cheat on my taxes. But if I needed to lie to protect my family, such as many Jews did during the Holocaust, then I would without question. And I’d still consider myself a good person.”

So what’s my answer?

What immediately comes to mind is the saying: 

Live and let live. 

One of my book releases had that theme. Maybe you were there?

Live and let Live is something I want to live by. It goes hand in hand with the quote by Hamlet above. Who am I to say what is good or bad, right or wrong, for someone else?

To me, a good person lives and lets others live in whatever way they choose. 

Another definition that comes to my mind are the 10 characteristics of highly evolved beings as described by Neale Donald Walsh. Out of these 10 I choose 3 to describe what a good person is to me: 

A good person treats everyone and everything with great care and respect.

A good person doesn’t bring anyone to justice. They do not punish.

A good person reaches out with love, knowing that only love heals all wounds and transforms people. 

Now, let me know what you think. 

What is a good person for you?

How to find time in May - give yourself enough sleep

Have you ever stayed up late to finish “just one more thing”? Or perhaps you've set your alarm ridiculously early to get some work done before the rest of the family wakes up?

If you frequently sacrifice sleep, you might think you're being efficient. However, you could be increasing Waste Time and gradually wearing yourself out. 

This month, let's focus on making (not wasting!) time by ensuring you get enough sleep.

Find Time in May: Prioritise Sleep for Efficiency, Beauty, and Health

Follow the tips in the video to create optimal conditions for a good night's sleep.

Going deeper

To go deeper, consider reading Why we sleep by Matthew Walker.  You can start with the 9-minute summary by Productivity Game on YouTube.

By prioritizing sleep, you'll not only become more efficient with your time but also support your overall health and well-being.

For more help to get more done with less effort and deeper joy, you can read or listen to my book Beyond Efficiency.

You can also dive deeper with my online course Restful Nights and Productive Days.  My offers are available on this link. 

Take care of yourself, your time and your life.

Your ethical will: What got you through your greatest challenge?

Welcome back to Twelve essential questions to tell a life story. By joining me in twelve blog posts you will create what Rabbi Leder calls your ethical will.

By answering the questions your loved ones will get to know you deeper and you will understand yourself better. Let your memories bring meaning!

To join – read the blog posts, reflect on the questions and write your own answers. You are very welcome to share them in the comments.

Welcome on an interesting journey!

What got you through your greatest challenge?

Since Steve Leder is a rabbi he is often the first person people call when their lives fall apart. He says he has learned 3 important things from his own suffering and from supporting others in theirs. 

• Denial, ego, fear or shame prevent us from facing our failures, making the consequences worse than if we had dealt with these failures sooner rather than later. 

• Pain is halved when shared with someone we trust

• We endure challenges and learn to live and love more fully because of them.

Thinking about and sharing how we got through our greatest challenge will help ourselves and our loved ones face future challenges. 

One of the answers in the book resonates fully with me, I agree with every well written word in the following paragraph. 

“Know the difference between adversity and disappointment, a heartbreak and a bummer. Keeping a sense of perspective has always been what has gotten me through life’s challenges. It is difficult to count our blessings when we’re in the midst of trauma, but there are alway blessings. Give yourself time to grieve, to lick your wounds. Never discount your real feelings of pain and loss, but also don’t lose yourself in them.”

When I thought about my challenges, I found it hard to select one. We all experience several challenges in life and ranking them can give the faulty impression some of them weren’t that painful. When I think about the different challenges I have experienced, I find two things that got me through them. 

The unwavering belief I will get through it. There simply is no other option than “getting through”. Like Winston Churchill said: 

If you're going through hell, keep going. 

That’s what I do. I keep going. I don’t even consider giving up or getting stuck in despair with my feet burning. When I go through hell I keep going. 

The other behaviour that helps me get through tough times, is looking beyond the misery. Finding the light in the darkness. This is one of the many wonderful things I learned from my mother. No matter how dark it is, there is always a light somewhere. 

As Elvis Presley sings in If I can dream:

Out there in the dark, there's a beckoning candle

That beckoning candle guides me out of hell. 

So my advice to my loved ones when they are facing difficulties is: 

Keep on walking. Hell has an end. The beckoning candle in the darkness will guide you out of it. 

If you want to read more about how to get through challenges, you are welcome to read some of the blog posts I have shared over the years on this topic. 

I thought I was prepared mum

Secure a happy ending

Of course it will work out

Tragic things will happen - and it will be OK

So much love, so much pain

Only life knows its length