Making sure I don't run out of buckets

I was talking with my friend/coach, Demi, recently about the level of fatigue I’ve been experiencing. It’s reached a new level for me. And it’s constant and unrelenting. It vacillates from moderate to extreme, but it’s always there. Demi made the comment that it’s sometimes difficult to catch up when you have to take a time out to rest, and this picture popped in my head of silver buckets with handles and the word ENERGY painted on the side.

Each day I get one bucket of ENERGY. I have to portion out that bucket of energy to get through everything I need to accomplish in that day, and hopefully I have some energy left over to do some of the things that I want to do as well. A good day is a day where I make it to bedtime with a few drops of energy left in my bucket. A great day is one where I have a bit left in my bucket that I can carry into the next day. Unfortunately, right now, I often discover my bucket is empty and I still have several hours left in my day. Really bad days, I’m wearing the bucket on my head as I eat my lunch.

When Demi made her insightful comment, it made me realize the importance of making sure I get to the end of my day with a modicum of energy left in my bucket, so I can carry it into tomorrow and deal with the leftovers from today. Or that I have a bit left to carry into tomorrow and make up for a night of insomnia or some looming issue that I didn’t anticipate, which is threatening to empty my bucket by mid-afternoon.

You see, when I don’t have some energy saved up and things get hectic (which happens often in my world), I then have to start just doing the “Have To’s” and can’t really include any of the “Want To’s” because I have to spread the things I left undone on Day 1 over Days 2, 3, and 4. I rarely have enough energy left in my Day 2 bucket to knock out ALL the leftovers from Day 1. It usually takes the dribbles and drabs of energy I hopefully have left over on Days 2, 3, and 4 to get caught up from Day 1. These are the times when I have to put on my Chaos Coordinator hat and prioritize and figure out how I’m going to take care of all those Day 1 Leftovers and when.

This realization was a real a-ha moment for me. It brought some clarity to an issue I’ve been struggling with for months. My entire life I’ve done Mach 5 with my hair on fire. My dad used to say that I only had two speeds: On and off. I didn’t take breaks. If I didn’t have a lunch meeting, I ate lunch at my desk. I did a conference call from the pet store while shopping for my then 5-year-old son’s hamster. I wore my Multitasker Extraordinaire badge with pride. I’ve often said the “mom gene” allowed me to carry on three conversations at once, all while making dinner, thank you very much.

However, I’ve now realized those days for the most part are gone. When I’m trying to decide if I can meet clients for Happy Hour, I have to think about what I have to get done tomorrow and how much energy I need to conserve in order to get those things done and maybe just one or two “Want To’s.”

How about you? How do you manage your day so you have time to spend with family and friends without being brain dead? Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email at ACLARUSmarketingGirl@gmail.com. Until next time….