Scheduling = Sanity?

What a title! It's Monday morning and after difficulties accessing (and finding) my blog, I'm back at it! The thought that popped into my head as I thought about what to write was two-fold: how many short relaxing things I did over the summer with family and friends and meeting some personal goals (first 8K), and how, if I hadn't planned and scheduled many of those things, I wouldn't have done them! As school starts next week, it seems summer is gone too fast once again.

Taking care of self so you can take care of others, helps me meet my obligations in  my hectic superintendent life. "Make time for yourself". It's one of the items I remember clearly from our Ohio Buckeye Association of School Administrators' seminar for new superintendents in 2007. I won't say I'm good at it, but as I start my ninth year at Vantage Career Center, my first superintendency, I have learned the value of "down time".

Tired after a long day, followed by an evening event or meeting? I got into the habit of microwave popcorn for dinner. Or a bowl of cereal. Worse yet, a handful of chocolates and a glass of milk--all while reading and answering work emails, thinking I was getting ahead on the next day. Long term bad habits caused really low iron counts and zapped energy. Not to mention being too tired to exercise or relax to rejuvenate the body and soul.

Scheduling time for myself to do little things--cook, exercise, prepare more nutritious packed lunches, or simply to read the newspaper-- allowed me to better keep up with the pace at work. Scheduling came into play again, during the work day. Not packing appointments back to back, often followed or preceded by meetings, whether on-campus or off, helped immensely. I had time to think ad plan. By controlling how I spent my time, I got more done!

My father reinforced two things as I was growing up--perseverance and time management. He was right--I'll admit my perseverance level probably caused poor time management issues, as I didn't know when to quit. I've loved working in education, and I still throw myself into each day, totally immersed. After taking time to analyze where my time was going, I could fit in things that I enjoyed. It made a difference in how I approached not just Monday  mornings, but every day.

Do something for yourself today. Scheduling does = Sanity. Today Matters.