Effective Planning: How Time Management Can Be Your Most Valuable Asset Georgi Rausch, Ph.D.
Mindful Planning: Your high-functioning brain is human and will always make decisions based on a motivational triad: seek pleasure, avoid pain, do what is easy and habitual. You are never going to escape this triad of being human and having a human brain. So, you can use mindfulness to understand yourself, accept yourself, and help yourself succeed. Mindfulness is the best type of self-care you can do for your expensive brain. In our talk today, I covered some basics of mindfulness and how you can leverage your brain for success. Here are some exercises you can do on your own to make today’s lesson stick! 1. Get a big notebook and write down how you honestly spend every hour of the day. 2. Look at your data with interest and notice your patterns with curiosity. 3. Decide ahead of time (24 hours in advance) how to spend a day. 4. Execute your plan and prepare to be met with doubt, indecision, distracting, and people-pleasing behaviors. Plan ahead by answering the following: Things I spend time doubting myself about getting “wrong”:
Things I spend time waffling and trying to make the “right” decision about:
Things I do to avoid feeling uncomfortable:
Things I say “yes” to when I really want to say no (my book of lies):
Coach yourself through these to the best of your ability. Give yourself credit for all the successes you had. Use your “failures” to plan better the next time and repeat over and over for the rest of your life!
Remember, you are getting a lot of things “right.” You are doing so well and have had a history of success. Keep doing what you are doing that is working for you. Here are some prompts to show you all your amazingness:
My amazing inventory!
These are my good habits and things I value in my life:
These are things I have made a commitment to that I feel really good about:
These are things I do to reward myself that are good for my health:
These are things and people I say “yes” to that are really helping me live my best life:
Here are the names of the people and animals I love spending time with: