When daylight savings time comes to an end, I always think back on how big of a time waster I used to be.
In high school, I was a notorious time waster. I repeatedly slept past my alarm. I spent way too much time on what I looked like and not nearly enough time on what I was eating. I was frequently late for school, as my sister threatened to leave me and honked from the driveway.
I spent a lot time on hair and makeup. Like hours on hair and makeup. You know, normal teenage stuff.
I remember one too many friends waiting on me to "get ready."
This continued into college, although I learned that it wasn't necessary to do my hair and makeup for every 8 am class. However, I still had friends who waited and waited and waited......on me.
To all my friends who had to wait on Jacey for hours, I AM SORRY I wasted your time.
The ironic thing is I was a big planner even back then. I had a Steven Covey fancy planner with black patent leather case. I spent a lot of time working through his 7 Steps prompts.
But I couldn't seem to translate all of that planning into "doing."
I finally came to grips with the "doing" when I planned a wedding, applied to law schools and worked full-time simultaneously.
I kid you not, when Mitch and I got married Pastor Clyde Teel joked at our wedding that he knew I was going to be at least 5 minutes late to pictures. He actually said that in front of all the guests! The horror!!! All I could do was smile and laugh at myself, because it was pretty hard to deny.
I was 45 minutes late to pictures. Ok maybe 1 hour and 45 minutes.
But you guys, it was no one else's fault but mine that I was late to everything and wasted buckets of time. It was all me.
I can't pinpoint exactly the day where it all turned around for me, but I am pretty sure it had something to do with becoming a lawyer and realizing that my entire world now revolved around accounting my day in 6 minute increments.
Also, having three children really cleaned up my act. My lateness translated into their lateness. Not something you want to pass onto your children. They shine a bright light on many areas for growth in life, do they not?
If I had to sum up my 3 black holes of time over the past 30 years these three would be at the top of the list:
1. Time Getting Ready
SOOO many hours in front of the mirror in junior high and high school. I truly think it was also a creative outlet for me with clothes, shoes, makeup and jewelry. How could I make them all fit together?
But still.....I could have done better and cared about others more.
Every year since high school graduation, I have simplified my routine. I have more peace and contentment now in this area than I ever have.
- not washing my hair everyday=less water, less shampoo
- a 10 minute clean beauty makeup routine in the morning=protects hormones, saves time
- intermittent fasting through breakfast=less dishes, food and time
- no more hot rollers in my hair=only using a blow dryer twice a week
- decluttering my closet= less clothes to choose from
- 5 min face and teeth bedtime routine=less money on harsh products, glowing skin
If you're curious about what else is in my routine, I reveal it all in my Get Healthy Now Course.
This course covers my daily routine for 60 days. Some of these practices have taken me 20 years to master and I share them all with you. Find out what others are saying about it here.
Oh yeah, I do all your meal planning for you for 60 DAYS!!
2. Time Shopping
When I tell my children stories about how many hours I spent shopping in malls in my teens and 20's they laugh and I cringe.
Now, most of those malls are closing for good or cutting back on stores. (Commercial real estate in this country is fascinating really, but a topic for another time).
Don't get me wrong, my kids love a good shopping trip. However, what constitutes a shopping trip back then was ALL DAY.
We went into the mall when it opened and came out when it was dark. I am not even joking.
What constitutes a fun girls shopping trip now is 3 hours max.
For essentials, I use to have quite the route too.
Safeway, Costco, Walmart, Target, health food stores, TJ Maxx, ordering Mitch's favorite lotion online, piecing clean makeup together through Sephora and Ulta. So exhausting!!!
But seriously, who shops in stores anymore anyway?
We have Amazon. Costco delivers. Walmart has pick-up.
Been there, done that too.
What if I told you I do ALL my essential shopping in under 15 hours per month at only 4 stores?
Would you believe me?
Jacey, the slowest shopper of all time who knew every nook and cranny of Kirkwood Mall, TJ Maxx, Target and the Amazon website only shops at 4 stores?!! Yeah right.
It's true. Here is a link to my free guide on how I did it.
I can't tell you how happy I am to not step foot in a single store on the weekends.
I love spending my money at these four stores. They take care of their people, they give back to charities I have actually volunteered with, they care about their local community, they reward me with stupid low prices or reward points I can spend like cash and one of them even ships right to my door!
Never going back to pushing that dang cart around Costco on a Saturday ever again.
3. Time On the Phone
Yep still working on this one.
I held off on social media until 2014! I have come a loooong way.
These are the two principles that help me the most with screen time:
1. If I'm having a conversation with someone face to face, my phone should not be in my hand.
This is particularly difficult when I had my phone in my hand and the person walked in the room and started talking to me. That is a different scenario.
I am talking about eating a meal with someone and not bringing my phone to the table.
Helping a child with homework and leaving my phone on the counter.
Having coffee with a friend and leaving my phone in my purse.
2. I Set Office Hours for the Phone
Just like when I practiced law, I had hours my phone was on and hours my phone was off.
I now pencil my phone hours into my Passion Planner Daily.
These are the hours I am allowed to use social media on my phone for personal or work purposes. My family knows that this is my phone time.
When the hours are up, I limit social media.
This is a work in progress, but writing it into my daily planner helps me to stick to these office hours, especially when I am working from home.
If you want to find out more about the Passion Planner I use, you can find them here.
If you find one you like, go ahead and use code JACEY10 at checkout and I will send you some stickers!
Time is like money, every deposit in the piggy bank adds up.
Twenty years ago, I had big dreams, but I couldn't quite figure out that how I spent my minutes on the daily was the deposits on those big dreams.
I hope this post helps you out in some way. If it does, please leave a comment below and join my email list where you will get notified whenever new posts are up! You can find that list here.
Have the best afternoon!
Love,
Jacey
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