Time Management

This last week I started my new job that is located in South San Francisco, so needless to say there is a commute involved. Roughly an hour each way, I take the bus, Bart and a shuttle to arrive by 8:30 in the morning. This whole routine, plus the 9 hours I am at the office, takes a substantial chunk of time as you can imagine. I now juggle work, personal commitments, friends, the Boy and...oh right working out, in my daily routine. To put it mildly, working out is at the bottom of my list.

So how does a young, professional woman juggle the many avenues of her life?

I woke up to a beautiful San Francisco day and decided to lace up my running shoes and hit the pavement. I ran the Embarcadero and then did the steps up to Coit. I was exhausted! I hadn't worked out all week and I didn't enjoy huffing and puffing my way home. There must be a way to organize my time more efficiently to include everything I love. But how?

My priority list is as follows:

1. Work

2. Friends/loved ones/the Boy

3. Third party organizations/volunteering commitments

4. Working out/health plan

Now some reason I feel it needs to be reversed.

1. Working out/health plan

2. Volunteering commitments

3. Friends/loved ones/the Boy

4. Work

No...still not quite right.

Visually I've set up my calendar to be color coded and categorized. This not only helps me distinguish what and how I spend my time, but where I may need to add or delete too much of a good thing. For example, most of my days are blue indicating work related time. Now I know it is only natural my calendar will be mostly blue, considering I spend so many days there. But my friends, who are in pink, aren't too plentiful. My pink space is much more limited than my blue space. Working out, which is green, is virtually non-existent. If a stranger looked at my calendar, they would be able to tell what I value based on my color coordination. I would be embarrassed to say that my face-to-face friend time doesn't seem to be of high importance.*

I've figured out how to color code my calendar, be efficient backing up my notes with Evernote and mapping out my ideas and goals with Mindmeister, yet I am still lacking in the performance aspect. That is, a lot of what I have scheduled isn't happening. This is where I learn, rather sadly, that my enthusiasm does not trump my apparent lack of discipline. I may schedule a 6 am gym sess but I don't want to get out of the warm bed that houses my very cute Boy and his fantastic cuddling skills. I may want to see my friends for brunch on a Saturday, but I end up not leaving my house because I'm too cozy reading in bed. It's appropriate to have me time, but it's also imperative I foster the loving relationships around me. Some girls can have it all.

It's my conclusion, after all of this, that balance coupled with discipline is the key to my success. Now time to just do it!

*Just to note, though I do not have a lot of face to face time with my nearest and dearest, I am in constant communication with most of them throughout my day via text or email. I know this isn't quite the same, but I feel I needed to note that my communications are high, my physical abilities are limited by time and space, and that thing called physics.