Designing Your Perfect Work Week

For more than 15 years my own company ran me. Instead of running my company to fit my desired life, I found myself working 18-hour days and designing my business hours according to my customers, partners and employees.

My personal relationships came and went since I did not have enough time to dedicate to them, and my meals consisted of things fast and easy that I could eat between requests, causing me to gain an enormous amount of weight.

Sleep was last on my list and was something I considered a luxury I couldn't afford. I slept only a few hours a night, especially when I started working with people all over the world and tried to fit everything in.

My business was expanding, but I was on a path that I knew eventually would destroy my body, weaken my mind and distract my spirit. Something had to change.

I tried a few things such as more sleep, better foods and some easier technology,  but none of these things seemed to move me in the direction of the life and business I desired.

So I started to look at the most common denominator with all these things. What I found changed the way I would live and run my business forever.

I found everything consumed time.

I could finally see how the time I was spending on things was so off balance from what I wanted, that I had to take real action.

I began designing the “time of my life.” I wrote down everything I wanted to spend my time on.  

Only things that gave me joy were listed. After all, this literally was the time of my life!

If I wanted to be alone for the first hour in the morning, done. If I wanted to take a walk in the afternoon to feel the earth under my feet, done. If I wanted to only check my email 3 times a day and shut down from electronics at 8pm, then boom that was what I wrote.

With writing this all down and taking a few actions to make it happen, the time of my life made me instantly feel amazing and, most importantly, like I was worth it.

Now I was filled with excitement, but knew I had to take even more action if this was going to continue with a growing business.

I wanted to enjoy running my company instead of it running me and so I started to look at the real time I was spending working. I tracked every moment and what I was working on. This was a huge eye opener.

I discovered I was doing many things over and over again each month. So I began automating several tasks, which literally saved me 6 hours a month.

Reviewing my real time list again, I started to see that many tasks were things my team could handle with little or no training time. I also could easily hire someone who had the qualifications, passion and time to do a task that I could not.

Many time consuming tasks could also be done more efficiently. Within just a hour of team brainstorming, everyone’s workload was lighter. Everyone began spending more time on things they loved and the results were amazing.

I felt more confident in my business choices because if they did not fit in the time of my life, I could either decline or delegate them to others.

I began sleeping 8 hours a night and found myself having more quality time with family and friends.

I earned more money, provided a better product and created more jobs all while working less than I ever had in my life.

The real difference was that I was now mindful about my time and took simple actions to create my ideal life and business.

Designing your perfect week doesn't mean there will be no problems, no interruptions or adjustments. Actually, I’ve made a lot of adjustments as I’ve experimented with the time of my life.

But when you get clear about your time and what you want from it... interruptions and adjustments seem to be easy and attainable.

So what are you spending your time on? What does your perfect week look like?

How can you create the time of your life now?

Share your comments below and enroll today in the Mindful Time program that will give you all the tools you need to create the time of your life now!