Recently I’ve been working on getting myself back to 100% after hitting a bit of a wall. One of the things I had to do was regain control of my schedule so I could carve out some me time and time off. I don’t know about you but I struggle to say no, I always want to help people out, take on more and often bite off more than I can chew or struggle to leave enough time for myself.

This year I set up automatic scheduling for all of my appointments which has been great for saving time, but I also noticed I’d end up with far too many appointments and struggle to fit in the stuff I needed to do for me as well. On reflection this freedom was one of the reasons I chose to work for myself and I’d seemingly given it away to an online scheduling tool!

I discovered that my scheduling tool actually has a buffer setting. This is a time limit you can set at the start/end of each meeting it books to give you time to breathe.

So often we find ourselves in back to back meetings without time to eat away from our desk or even go to the bathroom. To be our best we often need time between meetings to collect our thoughts, prepare, take a breath or at least a transition. Do you have a buffer? How can you create one?

It might not be via an electronic scheduling tool but the principle is the same. How can you create space in your schedule for you, time to breath and an effective transitions between activities? This used to be in the form of travel between meetings and home but these days the amount of time we spend on zoom or working from home these transitions and buffers are disappearing.

So now although I’ve handed control of my diary to an online scheduling tool I have regained control of keeping time back for me. I’ve also blocked out a day a week in my diary for me – whether that’s to catch up on admin or get to the gym. It gives me breathing space, a buffer and some flexibility in the busy weeks. I also know there’s one less excuse now to find time for the things that keep me effective, help my wellness and are so critical to keeping us at our best.