Episode 009

SCRIPT

Welcome to the Plan for Wonder Podcast. I’m Crystal, the talking head, founder, and creator of myLife Planners dot CA.

I have realized today that I haven’t really introduced myself and given much of a backstory to my life and the why and how of the creation of myLife planners. And today is not that day. But what I’d like to bring to light is at least what it is that pays my bills right now, and no, it is not the sales of myLife tools… yet.

I began freelancing as a graphic designer in 1997 and have been doing so for 27 years. Although I have been officially ‘unemployable’ for more than half of my life, I am grateful for the unknown and hustle lifestyle of being self-employed, which supports the roof over my family's head and the multitude of meals I cook to nourish us all.

So making time for building my own retail product company often gets put on the back burner to client projects.

I am very aware that my life won’t grow unless I invest time and energy into it. Time is precious, and energy is even more so.

A couple of years back, I took Marie Forleo’s Time Genius course to address this issue. As a B-Schooler in her program, I knew the investment in taking this course would come out with insight and impact on my life.

There was a lot to digest, and not all of it was applicable to me, but I did embrace two actions and trains of thought that have helped me over the past couple of years.

I want to talk about one of them today: Create Before You Consume.

It’s so simple and obvious and yet something we can easily dismiss every day.

It’s weird to think there was a time when I would wake up in the morning and first head to the bathroom to have a shower. These days, now that digital devices have replaced the standard alarm clocks and telephones, the first thing we think about is what our smart phone can tell us about what happened while we were sleeping.

But making a choice to push back that urge is how I gain control of my headspace to create space for processing my own thoughts, ideas, and visions.

My morning routine can vary, but the one thing I do avoid is social media, email, TV, and any kind of news.

By doing this, I put myself first, and the morning is the easiest place to do it. I change things up from day to day depending on what is going on, and I either journal, write a letter, or use the space to work on my life Planners. Yup, and that is what I’m doing today: using the quiet hour to give myself permission to write.

Creating before I consume.

I now wake up to this mantra every morning. It’s a good one. It prioritizes my needs and creations. It gives me permission to dream and move forward on things that bring me joy.

Access to content and media 24/7 is not healthy. I have to remind myself that as much as there are significant social and environmental issues in the world, they will still be there, even if I don’t rage scroll or dumpster dive into the trash pile of marketing messages whose only mission is to profit off of my attention.

And yet, I’m not ignoring that I began this podcast to be part of my own business marketing. Maybe why, you might ask? I am a one-person shop. So, marketing can be daunting. And importantly, I am aware there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all paper planning tool.

So, how do I spread the word about how myLife Planners is a unique planning tool and not spend money I don’t have on digital advertising? I got thinking about how, over the years, whenever I connect directly with a person and talk about the myLife story, I always come away with a solid response. I’ll get either, sure, it looks cool, but I’m not a paper planner type or the person seriously considering giving it a try. This type of engagement is never gonna happen in a 140-character post or 6-second video. So here I am, sharing my stories and maybe, at some point, a listener will be in a space to give my life tools a try.

From the beginning, I've said that myLife tools don’t hold all the answers to your challenges. The only place you’ll find them is inside your heart and brain. And when you create before you consume, you are gifting yourself the time and space to work things out.

The speed of time is all in one’s perspective. In fact, you could say we all have the ability to manipulate time. The more I enjoy a task, the faster the time goes by. The more of a struggle I’m having, the longer things seem to take. And if you lean into Eckhart Tolle’s teachings, focusing on the NOW can feel like you have stopped time completely.

The morning hours I have set aside for myself are precious to me, so I succeed and also fail at times in sitting in them and stewing with my thoughts and ideas.

Some things I have done to protect my mornings include:

• Getting into a regular sleep cycle. Waking up at the same time every morning. For me, that runs between 6:30 and 7:30 am. This does require me to also ensure I am counting zzz’s at least 7 to 9 hours before then.

• I control my work schedule. One of the benefits of running my own business, and really one of the big reasons I started it, is the flexibility to make my own choices. So, I don’t schedule any meetings before 10:00 a.m. This gives me time at the beginning of my work day to move forward on projects before anything else comes to my attention.

• Setting up focus times on all my digital devices. Not only have I pretty much eliminated ALL notifications, but even reducing the input to my emails, texts, and phone calls carves out an interlude for my mind to wonder.

• I started filtering my emails. Now anything that is a newsletter from another company gets pushed to a folder to ‘read later’. If you think about it, even the practice of scrolling and quickly reading and deleting emails, making a decision whether to move forward on their call to action or not, are all time and attention being taken away from what my priorities need to be. After a day, the folder has a count of 50 emails at least. That works out to 10 - 20 minutes of reading all at once. But I know that if I read them throughout the day, the attention they take would distract me from whatever flow I was into, and science has shown that it can take up to 20 minutes just to get back into the creative flow again. So if I check my emails a minimum of 10 times, that is almost 3 hours of creative flow being disrupted. So, by using email as a ‘tool’ and being intentional with my use of it - I’m saving up to 3 hours of my day to be put towards being productive on a project instead of going down the rabbit hole of clickbait.

Okay, email is a massive topic, and I don’t want to get into the weeds here on it.

I’d like to turn this all around on you.

When you look at your current morning routine as yourself, a couple of things.

Number 1: What are your values at this time in your life? After 50 years, I have seen my values and priorities evolve over time, so I check in with myself once in a while to confirm what my life needs, more or less.

Number 2: how do you want to feel as you start your day?

I think about my early parenting days when my kids were young. I was in such a rush in the mornings to get them out of the door to school or daycare, so I could think, I think I sabotaged my ability to create.

If I could go back to those years, using some of the create before you consume tactics and avoiding work and media while my kids started their day, I know for a fact that I would have been more present with them. I could have been more of a role model, and maybe they’d have enjoyed mornings instead of hating them.

I know a local author and quilter here in Calgary who has shared her morning practice of “morning make” and how she included her kids in the process. There is so much benefit from allowing your mind to create and feel like meditation to calm the mind and spirit, so we are all more rested and focused to start our days.

So, how can you start? There is no need to get all complicated.

Simply avoid media in the first hour of the morning and notice when you’re in a calm space. Those around you can feed off of it and take it with them.

Whether you use a journal or simply sit and contemplate what you are grateful for in your life while you have your first cup of coffee or tea. Jumpstart your day with some positivity.

If you find you have a little more time and are feeling restless, hone in on your own projects and creativity. Jump in and start writing, drawing, painting, or whatever task is next to get your dream off the ground. Maybe it’s simply grabbing a myLife planning tool and flushing out what’s on your plate for the day and upcoming week, maybe filtering out your head that’s filled with everything on your plate.

Regardless of your current life situation, with or without kids, maybe you are caring for elder family members, or your current day job is more than demanding, and you don’t see the need to add more complications to your life, put yourself first in the mornings. This is your time of the day, and not only protect it but make the most of it so you can move your own dreams forward.

If there is one thing I have noticed by embracing this practice, is I no longer feel like I’m letting myself down by always pushing my projects to the back-burner to meet someone else’s priorities.

And with that, my friend, thank you so much for listening.

The space you take up in the world matters, not just to me, but even more importantly, if you need reminding, you matter the most in your own life.