How do you do it all?

Lately, this is the question that keeps surfacing.  Through podcast interviews, conversations with patients and friends, it keeps coming up.  This, and the routine followup of why.  Why have you chosen this path?  Isn’t dentistry enough for you?  Why are you coaching, speaking, writing, and producing content?  And the reality is this…

These are great questions!

Because the reality is that I wouldn’t need to do it all.  I could ride out my career doing dentistry and live a comfortable life and make a difference in the lives of my family, my patients, and my team.  And there would be nothing wrong with that.  But I know that I have a message inside me that I feel the world needs to hear.  The burden of keeping that message to myself is greater than the desire to live a comfortable life and ride out my career.  Why is it greater?

I know my why!

I know my purpose when I get out of bed.  I have a strong feeling of purpose and a desire to help people reach their full God-given potential.  This is the burden I carry.  And I wouldn’t trade it.

But going back to the question of how do I do it all?  The truth is that I have a lot on my plate.  And I know you do too! So how do I manage all the commitments and leave a little left in the tank at the end of the day? And how can you do the same in your life that is probably maxed out? Let me tell you this- it IS overwhelming! And some days it seems like waaaaaay too much.  But with a few hacks, it doesn’t have to stay that way.

Because you have a lot on your plate…

You also have a full plate that seems overwhelming at times or all of the time!  And you have to make things happen! You have things that need to get done and how do you not get lost in the false sense of urgency?  How do you get though your day and not only survive, but thrive?  So without further delay, here are three of my favorite ways to make it all happen.  These are all things I use routinely and sometimes daily.

1. Make Time Your Friend

Time was my enemy.  A lot of that was because I always fell victim to the tyranny of the urgent.  Just when I felt I had direction, something seemingly urgent came up and I was off on a tangent.  Way off course.  So I would have to reel myself back in, all while wasting valuable time and having nothing to show for it.

Time is now my friend.  I have a much better relationship with time because I have set up my schedule to know WHAT I will be doing and WHEN I will be doing it.  If I simply sit down and say I need to work on content, I will be all over the place.  But I know that if I am working on a blog from 10:30-11 and a post for Linked-In from 11-11:30, I have given myself a tremendous gift.

For example, I sent my first ever newsletter out last Tuesday.  Shoot me a message if you would like to be on the list to receive it!  But I wrote it the Thursday before when I had time scheduled and then simply auto-scheduled it to go out on Tuesday.  This is the gift of time blocking.  Knowing what you are doing and when you are doing it.  If you want to read more, here is a great blog I came across this week about time blocking.  Trust me in this… time blocking crushes distraction and urgency and multiplies your available time!  How does that sound?

2. Brain Dump

I don’t know about you, but I have a cazillion things running circles in my head and my thought life and it is hard to prioritize and make sense of them all.  Urgency tries to pull me in several directions!  So I do a brain dump!  What’s a brain dump?  I am so glad you asked.

A brain dump is where you give yourself 5-10 minutes and you write down everything that is running around in your head.  All of it.  And then you look at your list and select the top three priorities that require your time.  Then you attack those priorities.  In your head, all of it is urgent.  On paper, the important things rise to the surface.  then you pick the top two or three to work on!

So do a brain dump.  Get it out of your mind where it spins and onto paper where it is visible and seems less insurmountable!  Doing regular brain dumps have provided me with remarkable clarity in my next steps as a speaker, coach, and content creator!  And I am confident they will help organize your life as well!

3. You Gotta Keep ‘Em Separated!

Who remembers this song by the Offspring from 1994?  Oh the high school memories.  Yep.  Good stuff.  My current reality is this- I see patients in my office Monday through Wednesday.  Then my wife and I usually go out to eat at our favorite restaurant on Wednesday nights.  Table 40 at the famous Liberty Street Kitchen.  Then I work on content on Thursday and Friday… and often into Saturday.  Because I LOVE to work on content!

But the act of going out to eat on Wednesday separates the parts of my week.  Dentist for the first part.  Content for the second part.  Because if I am trying to do both at the same time, I end up not doing great at either.

So whatever you do, do it!  If you are at work, do it to the best of your abilities.  If you are at home with your family, be at home with your family.  Give them your best.  I think the worst we can do is be halfway in two different places.  I would rather stay a little later and get my work done so that I can be fully present with my family when I get home.

So whatever you are doing, do it!  Rock it!  Get it completed.  And then move on to the next thing.  Do your best to leave work at work or at least leave it in its time blocks.  This has been huge for me!

My hope is this…

My hope in all of this is simple… that you would find hope and a few easy strategies to move you forward so you realize you CAN make it happen!  Life can be crazy overwhelming.  But we don’t have to keep it that way!  A couple of small but significant steps may be all it takes to get you moving forward with confidence!

If you are ready to level-up and get some help making it happen, let’s set up a complimentary call to help you move forward!