I realized that I had let other people define my day

These Old Gringo Boots represent my willingness to slash and burn things that aren’t working in the service of a brighter future for all of us. I wear them when I have to make hard decisions and I need to remember that hard decisions is part of doing my job.

Is that how you want to live? It’s not how I want to.

Last month, I realized my day was filled with back-to-back meetings. Many of those meetings weren’t actually meetings I was looking forward to.

I had fallen victim to the “but I have to” mentality that plagues many of us:
⏳ We have responsibilities.
⏳ We have to delegate, and the best way to do that is with a meeting.
⏳ We have to provide guidance and updates.
⏳ We’ve been introduced to someone who “can help us,” and we feel like we have to meet with the person to honor our relationship with the introductor.
⏳ “Let me just grab 5 minutes of your time.”
⏳ We have a weekly status meeting without an agenda.
⏳ Someone “more important” has asked for a meeting and we feel obligated.

And before we know it, our day is no longer ours. ⌛️

And before we know it, we’re not getting the things done that we need to get done. 😳

Our families ask us to spend more time with them, and instead of feeling happy, we feel increasingly taxed. One More Person Demanding My Time? UGH.

This isn’t how to live.

I started time blocking: Thursdays are for press outreach. Fridays are for writing. Tuesday afternoons are for press follow-up. I held these times fairly sacred. I set timers on my tasks.

❌ I stopped taking meetings with people who I didn’t think would be fun to talk with.
🍻 I started consciously looking forward to talking with the people who I spend weeks (and sometimes months — Hi Mike 👋 Hi Greg 👋) to talk with.
♥️ I brought Russ coffee in bed this morning and we hung out chatting and watching the sunrise on my phone (I took a time lapse video to show him).

Do not let other people own your life. Time is too precious. Life is too short. You will never get another chance to be the YOU you are today.

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