Time Shielding, the Values Calendar, and the Schedule Saboteur
Feb 15, 2024
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The podcast discusses the issue of self-sabotage and how individuals with ADHD often prioritize others' requests over their own priorities. They explore the concepts of time shielding and the values calendar as tools for protecting and aligning time with personal values. The hosts emphasize the importance of pausing and evaluating requests before committing to avoid overbooking and disappointing oneself or others.
Protect your time by implementing time shielding and building margin into your schedule to avoid overcommitting and feeling overwhelmed.
Before saying yes to new requests, pause and assess whether they align with your values and goals, and consider the sacrifices you may be making.
Deep dives
Time Blocking and Time Shielding
Time blocking involves protecting specific time slots on your schedule to focus on important tasks, rather than blocking out time for individual tasks. It allows you to shield your schedule from other distractions and obligations, ensuring that you have dedicated time for your priorities. By intentionally planning and protecting your time, you can better manage your schedule and avoid overcommitting yourself. This approach also applies to personal time, allowing you to allocate time for hobbies or relaxation without feeling guilty.
Power of the Pause
When faced with new requests or invitations, it's important to pause before saying yes. Instead of immediately agreeing, take a moment to reflect on why you want to say yes and assess whether you have the time and capacity to take on the new commitment. Consider if there are other tasks or priorities that you would be sacrificing by saying yes, and if the new request aligns with your values and goals. By introducing a pause and consciously evaluating new demands on your time, you can make more intentional choices that align with your priorities.
Building Margin Through Friction
Margin refers to the empty space or flexibility in your schedule that allows for unforeseen events, relaxation, and breathing room. It is important to build margin into your daily life to avoid feeling overwhelmed and over-scheduled. By saying no to certain requests or commitments, you create more margin and free up time and energy for yourself. Giving yourself time to breathe and introducing a little friction to push back against constant busyness can help you regain control of your time and reduce self-sabotage.
Living According to Your Values Calendar
Creating an ideal values calendar can help you visualize how you want to allocate your time according to your personal values. This calendar serves as a guide for intentional planning and decision-making. You can toggle between your ideal calendar and your actual calendar to assess whether you are using your time in alignment with your values. It allows you to make adjustments and protect time for activities that are important to you, whether they are work-related or personal.
We're eager to please, but at what cost? For people with ADHD, saying yes to requests from others often means sabotaging our own priorities. Urgency provides a dopamine hit; the instructions are clear. Best of all, we aren't fully responsible for the outcome. But every time we dodge our obligations to take on extra, we chip away at our future.
Before automatically agreeing to favors, pause and examine your motives. Are you truly available or just procrastinating? Will you have to sacrifice critical deadlines to accommodate? Respect your time. Invest in your goals, not just other's. Your needs matter too. Stop self-sabotage disguised as service. Prioritize a future fueled by purpose, not avoidance.
We talk about some key principles this week including time shielding for protecting our time from distraction, the values calendar to help align time to our values, and margin for interruption in our schedules.