I know firsthand how chaotic life can get. Juggling family, career, and personal time, it's easy to feel like you're constantly playing catch-up. But guess what? There's a way to bring harmony into this beautiful mess we call life. Dive into this guide to learn how to master time management and intentional scheduling so you can kick overwhelm to the curb and start thriving. Ready to reclaim your peace? Let’s do this!
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Connect with Chanty
Connect with Kelsey:
Do you ever feel like you're just bouncing around from 1 thing to the
Speaker:next? Do you forget about something you unscheduled, or maybe even
Speaker:double or triple book yourself for something? I've been
Speaker:there, but only when I'm not doing the things that
Speaker:we discuss in today's episode. Welcome to educate and
Speaker:rejuvenate the podcast, stop feeling frazzled with your schedule,
Speaker:episode number 138.
Speaker:Insert the intro. Welcome to the
Speaker:podcast today. I'm really excited for today's interview. So
Speaker:today is actually an interview that originally aired on my friend Chantel's
Speaker:podcast, Preschool Made Easy. Now so she's
Speaker:actually interviewing me because it was for her show. But as soon as we
Speaker:finished up the interview, we just had such a great time chatting and I feel
Speaker:like we just really clicked and it was a great conversation. So I asked her
Speaker:if she would be okay if I also aired it on my episodes. So
Speaker:it so it originally aired on the preschool
Speaker:made easy show. So if you love this interview and you happen to teach preschool
Speaker:or pre k or kindergarten or have children that age, make sure you also subscribe
Speaker:to her show. But it's really a topic that all teachers can benefit
Speaker:from. So if you don't teach those grade levels, don't fret. Today's episode is
Speaker:actually not grade level specific. It's really about creating
Speaker:your schedule. I was just helping her preschool audience with that.
Speaker:It was so much fun that I'm really excited that we get to share it
Speaker:with you today. And Chantee, she's also presenting
Speaker:at our educate and rejuvenate event as you'll hear more about during that
Speaker:interview. But this is just a quick reminder that Educate and
Speaker:Rejuvenate is getting so close. I know a lot of you love coming to
Speaker:this event each year and you might just be, yeah, I just need to grab
Speaker:my ticket before it begins. But here's the deal. The pre party
Speaker:is starting July 8th. Every day we're having giveaways. We're
Speaker:having fun Every day, like, even there's a giveaway going on where
Speaker:each day, if you tune into the podcast, you get entered in to win a
Speaker:prize. Like, it's so much fun. I don't want you to miss out on
Speaker:the pre party or the event. So take right now as your
Speaker:sign to go and grab your ticket. It's educateandrejuvenate.com/conference.
Speaker:We want you to snag your ticket. We don't want you to miss it. We
Speaker:talk more about the why during the episode and what exactly is happening
Speaker:during the event, but, I mean, the long story short, it is it is the
Speaker:only professional development that I know of that is really PD meets
Speaker:personal development, meets a crazy fun time, community,
Speaker:comedy, giveaways, galore. It is
Speaker:only $19 to come and take out the price, actually, in case we
Speaker:change that. And you can do it all for less
Speaker:than getting takeout for your family. Like, it is such a great deal.
Speaker:Okay. So without further ado, though, let's get to today's
Speaker:interview.
Speaker:Alright. Hey, Kelsey. Thanks so much for joining me today. I am so excited to
Speaker:have you on our show and ask you some questions. Thank
Speaker:you so much for having me, Shanti. It's such an honor to be here on
Speaker:your show today. Yeah. Awesome. Alright. So
Speaker:can you tell me a little bit about what an intentional schedule
Speaker:is and why do parents need 1?
Speaker:Yes. I think this is such an important question. I feel like with
Speaker:kids, it's so easy to to just get lost in the
Speaker:motions of everything. Like, I mean, I don't know about you, but I've definitely
Speaker:triple booked, not even just double booked myself or something before
Speaker:between my 3 kids and my husband and myself and
Speaker:all the different things that we have. It's easy enough to do that. And if
Speaker:so if you don't get intentional, there are so many opportunities all over the place.
Speaker:Right? Like our kids, they might have soccer practice or gymnastics or
Speaker:art lessons or, you know, dentist appointments, doctor's
Speaker:appointment, everything that we have. And then if we're teaching, like, I
Speaker:know you have parents and teachers who listen. Right? Yes. And if
Speaker:you're working, like, there's another whole aspect to it. Right? So it's just,
Speaker:like, so much going on in our lives, and it doesn't matter if you are
Speaker:a stay at home mom, if you're teaching. No matter what, you've just got a
Speaker:lot going for you. And it's all good things. Right? Generally, it's
Speaker:usually, like, we have a lot of great things to be grateful for that are
Speaker:going on in our lives. But, what I often tend to
Speaker:hear when I'm coaching either parents, teachers, really
Speaker:anybody, the most common feeling that comes up in our community of educators,
Speaker:which when I say educator, I really mean anybody who teaches anyone anything.
Speaker:So, that means, like, if you are teaching your child at home, I
Speaker:include you in that. Just wanna make sure that they know that. Because sometimes Yes.
Speaker:They're like, oh, I'm a teacher. I'm not an educator. Parents, you are definitely
Speaker:if you're teaching your kid, you are a teacher too. 100% agree with
Speaker:you. That was a decided, but what I hear from our whole educator
Speaker:community is overwhelmed. Everybody's feeling
Speaker:overwhelmed all the time. Yes. Especially when you think about it, like,
Speaker:the running to do list, like, bouncing around our heads, like, all the time.
Speaker:And when we think about all those things, it makes us feel overwhelmed. Right? When
Speaker:you're like, I haven't done this yet, or I need to do that, or I
Speaker:need to rush to this next thing. We feel really overwhelmed. And
Speaker:an intentional schedule helps us to kind of wind down that overwhelm a
Speaker:bit. And I know some people are like, oh, well, I just don't like planning.
Speaker:I like to go with the flow. And the way I teach an intentional schedule
Speaker:is it can be very structured if you're very type a. Like, you're like, no.
Speaker:I like to have, like, everything really organized. So if you're like, no. I'm already
Speaker:doing that. That's great. Also, it can be very good with the flow, but
Speaker:there's some structure to it. Right? Like, you can have flow built into
Speaker:an intentional schedule, which we'll talk a bit more about today. So it's really gonna
Speaker:look like whatever it needs to look like for you, but it's really important to
Speaker:have because it relieves that overwhelm that, like, just constant
Speaker:everything going on. Yes. And I love that. I love that you mentioned, you
Speaker:know, we try our best, but we really do fit into so many different
Speaker:roles simultaneously. And it gets hard when you have that running to do
Speaker:list, even if you have it written down. You can have a daily
Speaker:planner, and you can have, like, the hottest digital planning system
Speaker:and whatever the trendiest thing happening. But sometimes it's like,
Speaker:it just keeps rolling over and then you feel like you're not doing enough
Speaker:or like you're doing too much, but you're not really going anywhere. Right? Right.
Speaker:Every single parent can relate to this. So can you walk us
Speaker:through trying to figure out how to manage urgent
Speaker:or important tasks? Yeah. So 1
Speaker:thing that I like to talk about is, for 1, the difference between
Speaker:urgent and important tasks. So when I was doing the
Speaker:research for my book, I found this quote from Dwight d
Speaker:Eisenhower in a 1954 speech. Right? So he says, I
Speaker:have 2 kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are
Speaker:not important and the important are never urgent. So a lot of times,
Speaker:we tend to have urgent things come up. For For example, 1 that just comes
Speaker:up as a parent, which obviously this is urgent. You're going to attend to it.
Speaker:Like, my daughter just, like, fell down and skinned her knee. Like, that's urgent. Suddenly,
Speaker:I'm dropping whatever I do, and I'm going to go help her with that. Nothing
Speaker:wrong with that. That's what we wanna do as parents. Right? But it's when little
Speaker:things are coming up all the time, like, oh, I forgot to do this thing
Speaker:that matters today and is not going to matter at all tomorrow or a week
Speaker:from now. When all these urgent things pop up, if we're spending all of our
Speaker:time doing urgent things that are like, oh, it's urgent and needs to be done
Speaker:right now timely, but maybe it's not important. Maybe it's not, like,
Speaker:long term. This is something that's going to help me move towards
Speaker:my goals or move towards my child's education or, you know,
Speaker:whatever it is. So not that we're not going to tend to urgent
Speaker:things because we need to, but it's when we get pulled into only doing
Speaker:urgent things or mostly doing urgent things and
Speaker:forgetting about the important. That's where we can get ourselves
Speaker:into a little bit of I mean, there's a little bit of trouble
Speaker:where we're gonna feel that overwhelmed because we're always gonna feel like
Speaker:we're not getting what we want to get done. So when we're
Speaker:just not prioritizing those important things. The problem comes when all the
Speaker:important things are keeping us from getting those done. And this is called the
Speaker:urgency effect is actually what it's called. So,
Speaker:the result of it is we feel burned out from doing so many things, and
Speaker:yet we still aren't getting all the things we want to get done.
Speaker:So what happened later on, kind of utilizing that concept,
Speaker:Stephen Covey from the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Speaker:wanted to kinda find a solution to this problem. So he took this concept
Speaker:of urgent versus important and put it into a matrix.
Speaker:Because, again, sometimes something is urgent and important. Right? Like, for
Speaker:example, even where I said, like, oh, my daughter fell down and skinned her knee
Speaker:or whatever. Obviously, it is important to me as her mother to
Speaker:go take care of her. Right? So I'm going to do that. Do it right
Speaker:away and make sure that's taken care of. But then there's, there's urgent
Speaker:and not important. Right? There's like, oh, we really need groceries.
Speaker:Like, yes, I need to feed my family. Right? It's urgent. We need to do
Speaker:that. But we can plan that in. Right? It's not it
Speaker:has to be done right this second unless there wasn't intentional planning
Speaker:and, oh, no, so we suddenly don't have anything. Right? And that's where it can
Speaker:become an urgent thing that gets in the way of us doing what we want
Speaker:to do. Does that make sense? Yes. Of course. Absolutely. And I love
Speaker:that you describe the difference between urgent and important
Speaker:because a lot of people tend to confuse both terms. And it's like,
Speaker:well, a lot of things are urgent and important. Yeah. But when you're looking at
Speaker:from a scope of or a perspective of what needs to be done right
Speaker:now or what is getting me closer to my goals.
Speaker:Right? What is moving the needle towards my goals? Yes. Exactly. And
Speaker:so there's this matrix. So that's 2 parts of it. There's urgent and important, and
Speaker:there's urgent and not important. Right? So if you're kind of trying to envision it,
Speaker:there's, like, this matrix. And if you Google the urgency matrix, you'll
Speaker:find it. Also, there's a cute illustration we put
Speaker:together in my book, Educate and Rejuvenate, that is coming out soon. But
Speaker:there's like kind of 4 quadrants, so it's kinda like imagine there's like urgent
Speaker:and important on a matrix. Right? So there's urgent and important, that is you're
Speaker:gonna do it right away or schedule it very soon. There's not
Speaker:urgent and important where it's like it's not urgent, it's not timely,
Speaker:but it's really important for your goals. And you want to be moving
Speaker:forward to it, like, moving forward on it. For example, like,
Speaker:if 1 of your goals is to run a marathon, like, it's not gonna
Speaker:be urgent each day that I need to get up and I need to run.
Speaker:Right? That's not urgent. Yeah. But if you keep putting it off, it's
Speaker:important to you. And then when race day comes, you're not gonna be ready for
Speaker:it. Right? So it's not urgent, but it's important. So we want to fit it
Speaker:in. But again, we don't have somebody telling us, like, you have to do it
Speaker:a lot of the time, so it's easy for us to put it off. Right?
Speaker:These are important things that are important to us, but we need to
Speaker:make sure we schedule that. So it's an important part to think of when you're
Speaker:kind of creating an intentional schedule. And then the next 1 is urgent and not
Speaker:important. Kind of what I talked about. Like, okay. It's urgent. We need to have
Speaker:food on the table each day. Right? Or, you know, I need to have lesson
Speaker:plans for my classroom. Obviously and again, you could say these things are
Speaker:important, but by important, I mean, like, does today's lesson
Speaker:like, today's very specific lesson plan, obviously, teaching in general, feeding your family
Speaker:in general. Yes. But it's like, the 1 for today, is that, like, what we
Speaker:eat today, whether it's this exact dinner is the most important
Speaker:nutritious meal, is that gonna matter, like, a month from now? Like, what you ate
Speaker:for dinner today? Not really gonna matter. Right? So we're talking about what, like, individually
Speaker:that you're doing. Is it compounding? Is it important long term? So, again,
Speaker:if I, like, say not important, you're like, but grocery shopping is important. It's
Speaker:like, well, what I'm talking about is, like, that exact 1.
Speaker:Right? Right. For example, grocery shopping, a way you could for urgent
Speaker:and not important, like, it's like you wanna see if you can delegate it if
Speaker:possible. So for example, grocery shopping, instead of, like, lugging your children
Speaker:to the grocery store, maybe you do, like, a Walmart plus grocery pickup or
Speaker:Instacart or something, or even just your grocery pickup where you just drive
Speaker:and they put it in your trunk. Right? Yeah. So you can, like, delegate it
Speaker:so it doesn't take you as much time. And even better is if you can,
Speaker:like, kinda put in that online order, like, have, like, a
Speaker:process in your schedule or, like, every Sunday night or whatever it is, I go
Speaker:in and I add the things to my cart, and then they get delivered to
Speaker:me. And then it's not, like, popping up as an urgent thing because it's more
Speaker:of a routine. Right? And then it's not even popping up as an urgent thing
Speaker:anymore because you've got a system in place that actually is a lot easier.
Speaker:So when you can plan ahead and do things like that, it can really help.
Speaker:Another thing, and this won't work for preschool, but, like, for the older
Speaker:grade teachers, I will tell them, like, maybe you can have your kids help you
Speaker:grade papers, but papers. But pre k, that's not going to happen. But for that,
Speaker:you decide, is it important? Do I need to grade all these things? You know?
Speaker:Like, I've learned a lot
Speaker:a lot with preschool. Pre k is hands on anyway. Right? So it's
Speaker:like, where can I where can I, you know, have fun with this? But then
Speaker:also, how can I make it so I'm not doing so much outside of
Speaker:school? Right? Exactly. And then the final 1 is not urgent and
Speaker:not important. That's when you're really again, I was kinda getting into it. Like, does
Speaker:this need to be done? Like, do I need to grade this? Like, a lot
Speaker:of times our brain tells us I have to do this, but really, you don't.
Speaker:Like, we're just telling ourselves you have to. So it's not and I'm not saying
Speaker:ask yourself, does this need to be done? The answer has to be no. But
Speaker:actually ask for the question, because a lot of times we don't. Sometimes we might
Speaker:be like, no. I really do feel like I need to do this, or I
Speaker:really want to do this, and then own that you want to do that, and
Speaker:then it's important to you. You know? So but a lot of times we just
Speaker:tell ourselves we have to do things or we're people pleasing. We're like, oh, well,
Speaker:my principal really wants me to do this or my husband really wants me to
Speaker:do this or, you know, whoever. So again, it's just being more
Speaker:intentional. Like, does this need to be done? Does it need to be done by
Speaker:me? Does it need to be done now? Yes. I love that. Oh my gosh.
Speaker:So many things about it. Where do I even start? Walmart orders a
Speaker:100% yes. I love having a system where it's just like
Speaker:you said. We're all about the routines on this show. And, of course, my
Speaker:audience knows that we love having a routine for pretty much just about
Speaker:everything. And placing that order of groceries,
Speaker:like, let's say on a Sunday or just, like, 5 minutes when you're just sitting
Speaker:on the couch and no one's bothering you or jumping all over you. It's like,
Speaker:okay, I can actually get things done and know what's expected. The kids know
Speaker:what's expected. Well, okay, this order is coming in. As soon as it comes in,
Speaker:everybody's hands on deck. We're gonna put everything away, and then that's it. We have
Speaker:our groceries done. Right? It's kind of like a it's a process and a system
Speaker:that we have as a family, but it's, like, fun. Like you said, you make
Speaker:it fun. So and I love that you also mentioned routines. So we're
Speaker:gonna lead into our next question. How can we create an
Speaker:ideal week and kind of plan out
Speaker:our weekly schedule with keeping routines in mind, of
Speaker:course? Yes. So the concept of the ideal week, I learned it
Speaker:gosh, I don't even remember when. I learned it a while back, but I just
Speaker:love it. The idea behind it is that you're creating kind of
Speaker:schedule. You're looking at it's kind of like a planner page, like, with hour time
Speaker:blocks, but you're not planning out just this week. You're planning out what does
Speaker:an ideal week look like, Almost like you're making a template for what your week
Speaker:will look like week to week. Now some people argue back and be like, well,
Speaker:my week changes from week to week. Like, and there are things that change. Right?
Speaker:Like, you know, you might have a dentist appointment 1 week and depending like, some
Speaker:people have less flexible work schedules. Totally get that. So you need to do
Speaker:this however it applies to you. But, for
Speaker:example, for those who are preschool teachers or those who are, you know, stay at
Speaker:home moms who are homeschooling their preschooler or whatever,
Speaker:you might be, like, these are the hours that I'm teaching, and you'll put that
Speaker:in your ideal week. Let's say, like, you know, if you're a mom homeschooling
Speaker:your preschooler, maybe you're, like, from 9 to noon is when we
Speaker:do these different activities and, like, really have that time together and read lots of
Speaker:books and do whatever we're doing. So you put, like, 9 to 12, whatever it
Speaker:and again, it looks different for everybody. I homeschool too. Sometimes my homeschool
Speaker:is an hour, so I'm, like, 9 to 12, that's a lot. But Exactly. But
Speaker:yeah. Anyway. But as an example. Okay? So put in there and again, I like
Speaker:to give generous blocks. Right? So put 9 to 12. Sometimes it might not be
Speaker:9 to 12, but on your ideal week, you'll put that. Right? So you put
Speaker:that there. You put in your self care. So, like, for me, I have
Speaker:kinda my default, like, this is when I do my workouts. This is when I
Speaker:do yoga. This is when I do strength training. And I have that plugged in
Speaker:in my ideal week, and really it kind of stays pretty consistent from week to
Speaker:week. But then if for some reason when I'm planning, and we'll get to that
Speaker:too, it doesn't. I just, you know, know I need to move it. Right? But
Speaker:you kind of have things planned out. You're like, this is when we have family
Speaker:time. This is when we have dinner time, and you kind of actually, and not
Speaker:just in your head. This is the important part. I actually have a template that
Speaker:you can use. I will get you I will get you the link to that.
Speaker:I actually realized that it's not 1 I got you. But, also,
Speaker:in the workbook that comes with my book, we have a template and way more
Speaker:for you there as well. So that will help you to create your ideal week.
Speaker:You'll have the template that you fill in everything. The reason you put this
Speaker:together is so that when you go to start your weekly planning, you're not
Speaker:starting from scratch each week. You kind of have, like, oh, yeah. This is where
Speaker:you can kind of, like I have my planner here, and I'm like, I don't
Speaker:know. Do you have this video version or just audio? Both.
Speaker:Both. Okay. Yeah. So cool. So for anybody watching, I'll show you. So this is
Speaker:kinda ideal week. Right? This is that template that I have for all of you.
Speaker:Oh, and I'm now realizing my screen is probably a little No. You're good.
Speaker:You're good. Wiped off. We're good. So, again, you can see, like, you know, we
Speaker:have, like, go in this is an example I did for teachers, but I have,
Speaker:like, you know, different things plugged in here, and then there's still white space. It's
Speaker:not like to have everything planned out, but it's just, like, these are where different
Speaker:things go. So then when you go to grab your planner
Speaker:or your, you know, your fancy thing, whatever you're talking about, because, again, it's not
Speaker:the system or whatever planner or Google Calendar you use that's going to help you
Speaker:is the actually getting clear yourself. Because, again,
Speaker:we have to see what it is we need. Like, a fancy planner is not
Speaker:gonna do it for you. We have to understand what is it that we need.
Speaker:What is the self care we need? Like, get it in there, and
Speaker:we need to decide on that ourselves. It doesn't even matter what planner you
Speaker:use. It doesn't matter if you use a Google Calendar. It's really just
Speaker:getting clear and intentional is the important thing. So creating your
Speaker:ideal week helps you to do that, and then you get out whatever it is
Speaker:you're using and you map out your week. So what I do first,
Speaker:though, even before I get to the mapping out my week, I do a brain
Speaker:dump, like a to do list of everything my brain is
Speaker:telling me that I need to do. So and I don't filter it. I
Speaker:not at this point. I write everything down. Now I've had people
Speaker:argue back at me with this before. They've been like, that
Speaker:sounds more overwhelming if I had to actually think of everything I need to
Speaker:do and write it down. Well, let me tell you, it's already there in your
Speaker:head buzzing around there. And if you don't get it on paper, that's where it's
Speaker:going to stay. And that's why the thought of it feels overwhelming to you
Speaker:because it's all in there. So, again, you might have a part of you that's
Speaker:kinda fighting you on it because it's trying to protect you, but, well, this is
Speaker:how we do things and I don't wanna feel overwhelmed, but because change is hard.
Speaker:Right? Right. But again, just try it. Try it for 3 weeks. Okay?
Speaker:Try writing everything down cause once you get it out of your head and onto
Speaker:paper, it's really going to help. So again,
Speaker:imagine everything that's buzzing inside your head not needing to do
Speaker:that anymore because you got it down on paper. So write it all down. And
Speaker:then what I do is I actually use that urgency matrix that we talked
Speaker:about, and I look at my list that I wrote down. And I'm like, okay.
Speaker:What here is urgent? What here is important? What could easily slide through the cracks
Speaker:if I didn't, you know, make the time for it? And make sure
Speaker:that gets plugged in, right, as I'm doing my weekly planning. And that's when I
Speaker:kind of what I do is I like to time block, like, hour by hour.
Speaker:I kind of have and, again, I have a lot of white space still. Like,
Speaker:some people will do hour by hour, like, everything. I don't like that. I do
Speaker:like to have some flexibility. And so what I found, it took me some time.
Speaker:And we'll talk about this too, like, kind of with a time audit and figuring
Speaker:out how this is going to work for you because it's not gonna work the
Speaker:first time you do it most likely. You're gonna be like, oh, that didn't work.
Speaker:And you take that information and you learn from it because we
Speaker:tend to think things are gonna take less time than they do, so I like
Speaker:to be very generous with that amount of time as I'm planning. So I'll put,
Speaker:like, you know, for this podcast, for example, I think I put down, like, 2
Speaker:hours, and we're not gonna be here talking for 2 hours. But, oh, I don't
Speaker:want some time to, like, go through the questions, and then we're gonna talk, and
Speaker:then we'll probably chat after. So I'll just give myself a good tune for it.
Speaker:Or we could. Why not? Right? Or we could. Right? So again,
Speaker:like, you just want to and then I leave, like, some white space around. Like,
Speaker:you know, if I were to show you and here's a planner that I'm using
Speaker:right now. Funny because I'm actually I go back and forth between planners. This week,
Speaker:I really wanted time blocking, so grab this 1. You'll see that I have
Speaker:white space in here too. It's not filled out completely, but I have the things
Speaker:in there and they leave some white space as well. So I still have that,
Speaker:like, flow in there, but, like, the things that are important are
Speaker:scheduled in. I love that because it's so true. 1 of the things that we
Speaker:talk about the most here on this show and on my Instagram is
Speaker:leaving white space for just anything, especially if you're at
Speaker:home, there are family emergencies. And Yeah. More
Speaker:times than not, I find, like, a working stay at home mom. Right?
Speaker:Even, let's say, you know, you have your own business or you have a remote
Speaker:job that still requires your time. A lot of
Speaker:people, including family members, seem to think that we're just kinda sitting
Speaker:around, and we're available for all things. Yeah. And it's like, no.
Speaker:We're not, actually. You know? So it's nice to leave white space for that
Speaker:for you know, in the event that you need to go to Kohl's to pick
Speaker:up an order or return something from Amazon or just, you know, like you
Speaker:said, like, my daughter fell, and I just need to be there for her and
Speaker:holding her because this is gonna take more time than I expected. You know?
Speaker:Right. We gotta get the boo boo kisses and all the things. But yeah. I
Speaker:love that. And you mentioned time audits, and that's something that's so
Speaker:interesting to me because, this is where I struggle. You see,
Speaker:I've done I've gotten the planners. I do the well,
Speaker:sometimes I've done the urgency matrix, trick also. But
Speaker:I've I've seemed to, like, kind of time block, but we lean
Speaker:more into a routine versus a schedule. So I'm really intrigued
Speaker:with the time audits because I feel like this is gonna be the game changer
Speaker:for us parents and and even teachers, getting
Speaker:a grip on our time and managing it like a boss. So can you
Speaker:share more about time audits, please? Yes. So the time
Speaker:audit, it is such a fantastic tool, and it's also 1
Speaker:that, like, again, I've had resistance to. A lot of people like, oh, I don't
Speaker:wanna do this. It's not fun. It's like a
Speaker:reality check. It's such a good tool. So for me, what I
Speaker:did, because I wanted to have it with me at all times, I just
Speaker:had my note app out on my phone, and every,
Speaker:like, 15 minutes, I would need to check-in and put what I've been doing the
Speaker:past 15 minutes. Okay. And again, I wouldn't actually do it every
Speaker:15 minutes because, I mean, again, like, say, example, we're on a podcast. We're talking
Speaker:longer than 15 minutes, but in 15 minute increments, I should say.
Speaker:So, like, like, you know, maybe after 2 hours, but, okay, what was I doing
Speaker:for, like, each of these, like, 215 2 to 215, 215
Speaker:to 230, and whatever. And see what was I doing because
Speaker:then you catch all the, like, mindless social media scrolling. All
Speaker:the, oh, I went to my pantry to get a snack
Speaker:or and, like, you know, and then, you know, scroll and
Speaker:texted a friend there, you know, and then I did this, and, you know, I'm
Speaker:not saying there's anything wrong with any of those things, but you realize where your
Speaker:time is going. That's really the reason I say do a time audit.
Speaker:If you're feeling good about how things are going right now, you don't need to
Speaker:do a time audit. If you're like, things are going great, like, with my schedule,
Speaker:my routine, that's great. The time you do a time audit is when nothing
Speaker:seems to be working. So you've, like, been trying to do the urgency
Speaker:matrix, you've been trying to figure out what's urgent, what's important,
Speaker:you've been using a planner, and you're just like, I cannot figure out why
Speaker:I'm not getting all these things done. And it can be to catch little things
Speaker:like that. It can be to realize, like, oh, that took
Speaker:3 hours, and I'd only ever been giving myself, like, 1 and a half to
Speaker:2 hours to do that. And you realize, okay. This is why I was,
Speaker:like, not giving myself enough time. But when you do a time audit, you really
Speaker:realize, like, you're you're kinda doing the opposite of planning. You're not writing what I'm
Speaker:going to do. You're writing what I did. Right. Right. I feel like it's like
Speaker:a humble check because I can spend hours on
Speaker:my block puzzle game on my phone gladly, but then
Speaker:other things got neglected, you know? And even
Speaker:sometimes it's like, oh, like productive things, but, like, sometimes, like, oh, I just spent,
Speaker:like, 5 hours on a blog post that probably did not need to be 5
Speaker:hours. Like, I spent 2 hours just getting the graphic just right when maybe
Speaker:b minus work would have been fine. You know? Yes. So it's
Speaker:just giving us information. Nothing is good or bad. It's just like,
Speaker:okay, this is what happened. We're observing ourselves. Really, it's a major
Speaker:extreme version of observing yourself, which is what I love to talk about. It's actually
Speaker:the first step of my 3 step pushing framework. The first is to observe yourself.
Speaker:You're really getting to know yourself because you're seeing what am I doing all throughout
Speaker:my days. And for a time audit, again and when I did it, I was
Speaker:like, I don't wanna do it, but it was when I was actually working with
Speaker:a business coach. And she was like, I need you to do this for the
Speaker:next week because you just keep saying you're overwhelmed and you don't have time for
Speaker:things. And it's really important for us to understand where you're at and do that
Speaker:time audit. And it was just such an eye opening experience for me that now,
Speaker:like, if people are at that state, if they're like, I'm overwhelmed and I can't
Speaker:figure out what to do, I definitely recommend a time audit because that is where
Speaker:you'll just get a lot of information about, okay, this is what I wanted. This
Speaker:is what is happening. Where is the disconnect? And what needs to change
Speaker:even on my expectations? You know? I love that. Did you find
Speaker:that you were able to get clearer on your
Speaker:priorities and, like, just the tasks that you needed to get done for
Speaker:work or your homeschooling as opposed to, like, these are all the things I want
Speaker:to get done. But I mean, for me, I realized like how much how
Speaker:much it was doing that I probably didn't need to be doing. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. And then how much time was even taken up by email and,
Speaker:checking in with my team, checking in with, like, all, like, all these things that
Speaker:is, like, all of that, none of that was actually on my to do list.
Speaker:So it's like I have my to do list, and then there's all these things
Speaker:that weren't even on my to do list that were happening on the side. So
Speaker:it's kinda like being, like, aware. Like, okay. So when I realized that, I was
Speaker:like, I need to cut back on how much time I spent doing that, but
Speaker:also I need to make room for some of that too. So it's kind of
Speaker:like a happy medium type of thing situation for me. It was like, yeah, I
Speaker:still need to chat with my team. I still need to check my
Speaker:emails, and I still wanna network with people, but I need to figure
Speaker:out, like, a good balance. You know? I love that. You're
Speaker:giving me all the ideas of just doing a time audit just because. Maybe,
Speaker:like, a quick challenge on Instagram for, like, the audience
Speaker:and myself, and then we'll just tag you on it. Oh, yeah. Let me know
Speaker:how it goes, for sure. That sounds awesome. Alright.
Speaker:So Kelsey, why do you think so many of us feel like we're busy
Speaker:all the time, yet we never get anything
Speaker:done? Yeah. And you know what? I'll actually let me tell a little story first
Speaker:that kinda ties into it. So when I was actually writing my upcoming book,
Speaker:I just felt like I had so much going on, and yet I was not
Speaker:making progress on the book hardly at all because everything else was
Speaker:happening. And I was like, I have this deadline. How on earth am I going
Speaker:to meet it? I ended up we're on vacation, and I'm, like, writing my book
Speaker:to meet the deadline. Like, while my family is, like, playing out games in the
Speaker:hotel room. And I'm like, how did I end up in this situation? And then,
Speaker:like, you know, I was thinking that, but then I really, like, asked myself that
Speaker:question. Not just like, oh, dramatic. How did I end up in this? But really,
Speaker:how did I end up in this? Like, why am I, like, having to write
Speaker:17,000 words in a hotel room? And again, this was not for the final
Speaker:draft, everybody, by the way. It got way better by the time it was done.
Speaker:This is where my very first submission, which my publisher teacher goals was very
Speaker:smart in having me have a deadline before the deadline. I kind of asked myself
Speaker:why did this happen, and I realized it was all those urgent things, but not
Speaker:the important thing of writing my book. It was even like, well, I have I
Speaker:need to create content for a podcast every single week. Right?
Speaker:And then for a while, I was doing 2 episodes a week, and then, you
Speaker:know, and then I was also doing a coaching call with my members every week.
Speaker:And that's when I realized, I'm like, you know what? The podcast is important to
Speaker:me, but actually getting this book done right now is even more important. So I
Speaker:did some replay episodes. I did some, like, where people would interview me, and
Speaker:I was like, hey. Can I re put that on my podcast or whatever to,
Speaker:like, repurpose content? And it wasn't ideal. Like, we did have our podcast
Speaker:downloads go down, and so now I'm back to, like, mostly releasing new stuff every
Speaker:week. But, again, I did still keep my commitment of releasing something
Speaker:every week while I finished my book, and that book actually
Speaker:got done because then I had more of my creative energy left for writing the
Speaker:book. So that was really kind of what, you know, kind of asking
Speaker:myself and auditing my time a little, and that 1 I didn't do an official
Speaker:time audit. I really just asked myself a question and, like, kind of dove into
Speaker:it. But it's really about that urgency effect that we talked about
Speaker:before. I think that is why so many of us feel like we're busy all
Speaker:the time because there's all these urgent things we're doing, And then that,
Speaker:yeah, I never get anything done. That is a sign that you're letting the
Speaker:important things not happen. You're letting the urgent things take
Speaker:over. And so we just wanna take a look at that and be like, okay.
Speaker:What can we do about that? And just really ask yourself that question and
Speaker:not in a not in a negative way, in a I can do something about
Speaker:it type of way. Just ask yourself, like, what is it I can do so
Speaker:I can get the more important things done and really think about it. And I
Speaker:might be doing something like I did, like, something that is also important
Speaker:to me needs to take a little bit of a back seat so this other
Speaker:important thing can get done, but being really intentional about it. Like, that was actually
Speaker:a very intentional decision on my part to do that. Right. I
Speaker:love that. Alright. Cool. So then my last, well,
Speaker:second to last question is what is your number 1 tip
Speaker:for helping preschool parents? Because you have something
Speaker:pretty big coming up and already in the works, and I am
Speaker:beyond thrilled to be a part of it. Can you share more about your
Speaker:number 1 tip for helping parents right now? Yes. So right now
Speaker:it is summer. Right? So we are in that time where
Speaker:a lot of parents and teachers make, oh, I just need to fully pull back
Speaker:and not even think about school or teaching because I just need to
Speaker:recover. But the problem I find with that is, for 1, it's a symptom.
Speaker:Right? If you feel so burned out that you feel like you need a full
Speaker:2 and a half to 3 months to recover from it, that's a symptom that
Speaker:you were doing too much during the school year. Yes. So if
Speaker:you don't change anything now, you're likely going to repeat that during
Speaker:the school year and end up in the same situation again, and I don't want
Speaker:that for you. So the big thing we have coming up is our
Speaker:educate and rejuvenate conference, which is going to help you to
Speaker:do the both things I recommend over the summer. I recommend that you don't avoid
Speaker:thinking about school and teaching and preschool, but you also
Speaker:rejuvenate yourself too. So educate and rejuvenate the conference. Summer
Speaker:2024 is where we are going to help you not only learn new things to
Speaker:get you excited about teaching, again, get you excited to go back next school year
Speaker:with new teaching strategies, but also rejuvenate yourself through
Speaker:life coaching, like, kind of the things I talked about today. If you like what
Speaker:I talked about today in today's interview, I'm teaching, like, a full
Speaker:multiple session segment live to everybody about my 3 step coaching
Speaker:framework. We've got incredible keynotes like Christina Kuzmiche
Speaker:and Gaspar Randazzo, who are both incredible and funny, so you'll
Speaker:get to laugh. We've got yoga. We've got dance because we we
Speaker:start each day with a workout. It's going to be a really,
Speaker:really great time to help you not only to educate yourself, but
Speaker:rejuvenate yourself too so you can feel ready to take on next school year and
Speaker:go in with some better habits so that by next summer, you don't feel as
Speaker:burned out. Again, you're going to obviously have stress and overwhelm come up. That's
Speaker:not going away, but you're going to be able to manage it a lot better
Speaker:with everything you learn at this event and get so many exciting ideas that
Speaker:get you ready to go back. So we're really excited for educate and rejuvenate.
Speaker:I call it professional development meets personal development because
Speaker:it's really giving you so much of both, and that applies if you're a
Speaker:parent too. It's it applies to you up leveling as a parent and teaching
Speaker:your kids, but also yourself too, because we need to take care of ourselves
Speaker:before we can fully take care of other people.
Speaker:Yes. 1 thing I love the most about this conference is that
Speaker:it's amazing. The sessions are so specifically
Speaker:tailored to teachers and also homeschooling parents, and
Speaker:some sessions like mine are even great for both. Yeah. And
Speaker:so I'm thrilled and honored to be a part of this conference this
Speaker:year, Kelsey. I'm super excited because my session is going to be 3
Speaker:Keys to Preschool Homeschool Success. And I'm really
Speaker:excited. This is my first time presenting at your conference. And,
Speaker:if you're interested in learning more about it or just seeing all of the
Speaker:amazing speakers that we're gonna have there, go ahead and check out the link
Speaker:in the show notes. And that leads me to my last question for
Speaker:you. How can listeners connect with you? Yes. And before I do that really quick,
Speaker:I wanted to touch on what you were talking about in the teacher and the
Speaker:homeschool track. You are not limited to 1 or the other. You get to
Speaker:pick any speaker you want to watch or listen to, but we do make sure
Speaker:we have so whether you are teaching at home, we've got a full panel of
Speaker:speakers for you there, And then we've got a full panel of
Speaker:speakers for the teachers as well. So but then you can pick and
Speaker:choose. You get to watch whatever you want. And I'm so excited for your
Speaker:session. Yeah. Thanks. I'm excited for yours. It's gonna be so
Speaker:amazing. I'm even more thrilled that that this amazing
Speaker:audience has opportunities to be able to take
Speaker:care of themselves and also learn. Because, like you said, so many of
Speaker:us wanna just unplug and not do anything. But at the same time, if we
Speaker:don't take care of ourselves and we don't get our learning and our groove
Speaker:on, then it only you know, like, we can't what's the
Speaker:word I'm looking for, recharge and refocus and really get
Speaker:excited about this upcoming school year. So I'm thrilled. It's gonna be so much
Speaker:fun. Me too. And we're literally going to get our groove on, like you said,
Speaker:because we actually just confirmed, a new workout instructor we haven't had
Speaker:before. And she teaches a class called wild, which I just discovered,
Speaker:and I love it so much, because they teach it at my yoga
Speaker:studio. So it is like Zumba, a lot like Zumba, but with
Speaker:meditation kind of added in too. So meditation and
Speaker:mindfulness is going to be so fun. Oh my gosh. I'm stoked. It's gonna
Speaker:be a good time. So for them to connect with me, they for 1, I
Speaker:hope that they just join us at the conference, then we can chat face to
Speaker:face virtually, and it's gonna be a great time. Also, you
Speaker:can find me on all the social platforms at educate and rejuvenate,
Speaker:with the and spelled out because you can't have the little
Speaker:and sign on the platforms. Actually, no. You know what? I think
Speaker:Facebook I can't remember. Either way, just either way, you should be able to find
Speaker:it. And then my podcast is Educate and Rejuvenate the
Speaker:podcast. So if you enjoyed listening to us chat here,
Speaker:I've got a lot of episodes over there you can listen to as well on
Speaker:Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. Wherever you're watching or
Speaker:listening to this, you might be able to find mine as well. And then my
Speaker:upcoming book is called Educate and Rejuvenate. I, got the
Speaker:wait list to you, so you can add that to the show now. So you
Speaker:should be able to check that out, And it comes
Speaker:out August 13th, which I'm really excited about, so there'll
Speaker:be a lot of a lot of bonuses. And if you sign up for the
Speaker:wait list, you can actually get chapter 1 depending when this airs
Speaker:very soon. I'm just waiting on the link to be able to send out,
Speaker:but we'll send it to everyone as soon as we have it, and we'll update
Speaker:the page when soon it'll be, you'll just get it immediately. Yes. And
Speaker:as soon as it does, I will go ahead and share with you here on
Speaker:the podcast and also on Instagram, if you're following me. If you're not, go ahead
Speaker:and check it out on the link in the show notes. This is
Speaker:amazing. Thank you so much for taking your time, to
Speaker:share all of your expertise and experience with us. I feel like this was a
Speaker:mini master class, and we are so lucky that we got it. It's
Speaker:free life coaching. So yeah, if you wanna just go ahead and
Speaker:participate and, tune in with Kelsey, all of her links will be linked
Speaker:in the show notes. And again, thank you so much. This has been
Speaker:really enlightening and rejuvenating. So fun. Thank you so much for
Speaker:having me.
Speaker:If you enjoyed this episode, please hit subscribe so you don't miss the
Speaker:next 1. And if you're hungry for more, be sure to check out the book
Speaker:that I wrote. It's called Educate and Rejuvenate, a 3 Step Guide to
Speaker:Revitalize Your Teaching, Renew Your Spirit, and Reignite Your
Speaker:Passion For Life. It is scheduled to be released in the summer of
Speaker:2024. This book takes all the life coaching skills we talk about here on the
Speaker:podcast and puts them together in 1 easy to understand guide.
Speaker:Plus, when you pre order, you'll receive a PDF workbook and additional
Speaker:resources to deepen your understanding and application of the concepts we've
Speaker:covered on the book and on this podcast. You won't find these
Speaker:resources anywhere else. Visit the link in the show notes to join the wait
Speaker:list and be the first to know when the book becomes available for pre order.
Speaker:Let's continue this journey of growth and rejuvenation together. Until next
Speaker:time.