You say your family is important. So why is your diary full of work?

After reading this blog, you’ll look at your diary in a different light and realise why your working week might have little to do with what you really value.

Your diary doesn’t lie

I regularly speak to entrepreneurs and managers who want more peace of mind.

More time for their family. Exercising more often. Not letting their diary dictate their life.

But in the meantime, they work fifty hours a week, reply to messages in the evenings and have hardly any time for themselves.

When I ask what they consider important, I usually hear the same answers: family, health and freedom.

Interesting.

Because when I then look at their diaries, all I see is work.

If someone were to see only your diary, would they know what matters to you?

I recognise that myself, too.

I became an entrepreneur because I wanted freedom. To decide for myself when I work, with whom and on what.

And then I regularly packed my own diary so full that there was little of that freedom left.

Quite remarkable.

You start out on your own to have more freedom, and end up with a boss who hardly ever gives you time off.

Yourself.

Being busy is sometimes a choice too

It’s just a busy time.
Once this project is finished, things will calm down.
Just this deadline, then.

Recognisable?

But as soon as one project is finished, the next one is already waiting.

Of course you have responsibilities. Customers, staff and colleagues are counting on you.

Still, I often wonder how much of our hustle and bustle is actually necessary.

And how much we create ourselves.

Because we find it hard to say no. Because we want to stay involved in everything. Or because we think nobody else can do it as well.

Perhaps also because it feels good to be needed.

Because if being busy makes you feel important, working less suddenly becomes quite complicated.

In that case, you don’t have a time-management problem.

In that case, you’ll have something else to look into.

Suppose you could start all over again

One exercise I regularly use in my coaching is designing your ideal working week.

Not by making your current diary more efficient.

But by starting afresh.

Why not ask yourself these questions:

1. How many hours do I actually want to work?
2. What sort of work gives me energy?
3. Which tasks would I most like never to have to do again?
4. What sort of people do I want to work with?
5. How much space do I want for my family, sport and leisure?

I find that third question particularly interesting.

Because many entrepreneurs are incredibly busy with tasks they don’t actually want to do at all.

They’re good at it. So they carry on doing it.

But just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you have to be the one to keep doing it.

A good plan doesn’t change anything

Designing your ideal working week is relatively straightforward.

But then Monday comes.

A customer calls. An employee has a problem. A quote still needs to be sent out.

And before you know it, you’re back in your old rut.

That’s why, ultimately, it’s not about plans.

It’s all about making choices.

• Saying no
• Delegating
• Setting boundaries
• Accepting that someone else does things differently

And sometimes having that awkward conversation you’d rather put off.

I think that’s lovely.

Not because every week goes perfectly.

But because he knows where he wants to go back to when things get busy.

Would you still want to do this for another five years?

I’d like to invite you to have a look at your diary for the past two weeks.

Not what you had planned.

But on what you’ve actually done.

And then ask yourself this question:

If the answer is no, why wait?

Roderick