Hello friend! If you’ve been following me you read my first post and second post on my journey to living what I’m referring to as the Freedom Lifestyle. This is the end of my second week of making some pretty major changes in my life. I implemented Hal Elrod’s “Miracle Morning” and I’m still doing it. It is funny how one thing leads to another. One of my mentors invited a small group of us to participate in a 2 week personal and professional development program. We all purchased a specific group of materials and got started. I am in day 5 of that program and WOW. Sometimes things just come into your life at the perfect time. 

The first group of videos was about Time Freedom! It motivated us and walked through steps to increase focus, put our priorities in the right order and increase our productivity. Who doesn’t NEED that? Since I don’t have “crazy brain” anymore in the mornings, absorbing this was even easier for me. It has become the perfect compliment to my Miracle Mornings. 

I finally figured out how to use my calendar.

Seriously, I’m that person who own a Passion Planner (it was an awesome birthday gift from my friend Stephanie) and only uses the month portion. I plan by the DAY not the HOUR. I guess I’m all about the big picture and not the steps to get there. I learned about “time blocking” and why planning more specifically will increase my ability to be focused, more productive, and INCREASE my time freedom. Well, that is all she had to say and I jumped all over it. Out came the highlighters (actually I used colored pencils). 

Pretty snazzy, right? Let me explain the details of my schedule for you. I’m setting my alarm for 5 am and making my way downstairs by about 5:20 am. This is so I have an abundance of time to do my Miracle Morning without interruption (I have kids). Here is the overview:

5:30-6:30: Miracle Morning (aka Life S.A.V.E.R.S)

6:30-7:30: Development Time (personal/professional development)

8:00-9:00: Breakfast and Getting Dressed

9:00-12:00: Connect Calls (This is work time for me. I call them “Connect Calls” because that is when I am making phone calls, sending emails or texts to connect to my existing members and prospective members.)

12:00-1:00: Lunch (Best decision ever to actually put this on the schedule! I am the person who can skip lunch to plow through some work. When you love what you do, all you want to do is work! This is so awesome because it helps me to stop, make lunch and it gives me a great breaking point to move on to my next activity.)

1:00-3:00: Homeschool (I also learned in the last couple of weeks that we all do better if we homeschool in the afternoon. The girls have free time to play all morning and they love it! No TV though. A couple days they got up early and I was watching my development videos and they joined in while we ate breakfast. They learned some great things from them! It really made my heart happy to hear the things they said and asked me. I realized what a great example I was setting for them.)

4:00-6:00: Dinner Prep/House Stuff (This is the time I’ve been using to get dinner going and miscellaneous house pick up type things. I will throw in a load of laundry etc. On Tuesdays we have ballet so I am making that day a crockpot or salad day for dinner.)

6:00-7:00: Dinner (This happens AT THE TABLE. No TV during dinner. We sit at the table and have a family talk. There is something anchoring about sitting around the table for dinner. I’ve been enjoying the intention of it. The first step was moving all my work papers of it!

7:00-8:00: Books, Baths and Bed (We had been getting really slack on the bedtime routine. The girls were getting used to watching TV with us and we weren’t getting alone time. Now we get them heading up to bed earlier so that we can have time to ourselves. They aren’t perfectly asleep at all at 8:00 but they are at least in their rooms! 

8:00-10:00: Date Night (Ok, calling it “Date Night” might be a stretch BUT we are alone. We spent 30 minutes of one of these evenings watching one of the development DVDs I am watching in the mornings. We are going to continue to do that.)

It’s all about PRIORITIES.

Here’s what I’m not doing anymore. During the evenings I’m NOT getting on my laptop—I know, shocker! Seriously, I’m not picking it up. The evenings are the time I want to spend with my husband. We need to connect. I can tell you that it is already improving our relationship. I can tell he is happier already. I just had to reorganize my priorities. Here is what they are now:

1. Spiritual (I knock this out first thing in the morning with the “S” in S.A.V.E.R.S.)
2. Husband
3. Kids
4. Career
5. Extracurricular activities, friends, house projects, etc

Do you know how liberating just making that list was? Do you know how much GUILT was hanging over my head every evening when I was doing work instead of spending time with my husband? I had it in my head that to succeed I needed to spend HOURS doing work and the more HOURS I put in, the more successful I’d be. The thing is, I LOVE what I do so much that I want to do it all the time. I just want to help everyone and how can I do that in fewer hours? I actually SCHEDULED time for my husband! Best. Idea. Ever. He knows that he is a priority in my life now more than ever before. I am so happy about that. 

Well, my mind is blown…

Here is why; I have been spending as little as 15 hours on work in the last two weeks. Just 15! I’m making a full time paycheck and working just 15 hours from home. The funny thing is that the amount of things I’m getting done has INCREASED!

It is amazing what you can do when you’re FOCUSED. 

My plan (it is all on my calendar) is to continue this LIFE CHANGING progress AND to duplicate it to my team. If you are part of my team, standby! Your life is about to improve. I’m writing blog posts every Friday morning at part of the last “S” in “S.A.V.E.R.S.” to track my progress and help all of you! I am thinking that my next one will be about finances because that is what this next series of DVDs is about. I am really looking forward to getting my head straight in that area too. I’ve already reduced my grocery bill from $250 to $50 this week just by eating what we already have. Amazing what a little more focus can do for your wallet too!

Talk to me people, is this something that could help you?

What do you struggle with daily?

What are you looking to do to make a change?

Comment and tell me! I want to know. 

Photo credit: Malija