A wise and insightful teacher/coach/mentor recently mentioned an exercise from Cheryl Richardson’s Take Time for Your Life called an Absolute Yes (AY) list. I created my AY list in the Virtual Training Program (VTP) and when I dug out my list item #3 still read “Successfully completing the VTP and having a blast.” Hmmmm, time to revisit and update?
Here’s what Cheryl says about creating an AY list:
“Your list is a new list of priorities that will inspire you to use your gift of time differently. This will become the governing document that will guide you to make wise choices about how you live your life.”
When I reread this section of Take Time for Your Life I realized immediately how this list would assist me in time management. Or at least what I was thinking of as managing my time. Cheryl gently reminds readers that we can’t “manage time” we can only manage ourselves with “self-management.” The room reverberated with an audible “click” when I read these words and this idea sunk in!
At the end of many busy, productive, eight-hour work days, I’d ask myself where did my time go?
Trax Time captures every minute of my day for my review and often reflects that only two of those hours were actual billable hours. Where am I giving my time away? Some of it is building my practice and learning or honing new skills. And then some of it is has no place in my day at all because I said yes when I wanted to say no.
The items I place on my AY list are the things that have priority in my life; the things to which I say a resounding YES! I reviewed my original list and added and deleted as needed to reflect what I want in my life now so my focus is clear and laser like!
• Passionate about self care
• My bond with my husband
• Creating my ideal Virtual Assistant (VA) practice
• Connecting with people I love
• Writing a novel
• Home and garden care
• Renovating houseboat
When a request is made of my time, energy, or resources I can refer to my AY list and ask if saying “Yes” supports one of my life’s priorities. Knowing what I do want in my life makes it easier to say no to what I don’t want in my life. Not easy, but easier because I think I will need to practice to resist that automatic “Of course I can do that!” and replace it with, “Actually, my plate is full and I’d rather not over promise myself.”
To what do you say YES? Will you share?
“At the side of the everlasting why, is a yes, and a yes, and a yes.” ~ E.M. Forster
Absolute Yes list...I'm starting one right now.
Posted by: Roxie | Monday, June 12, 2006 at 12:39 PM