So how did I become a worker outer person? I explained in great detail how I think about my time, plan how I will spend that time, and then iterate based on how each trial of use of time goes.

Trial Run

I have always been a planner. I loved getting new planners about every six months in school. I love to reverse engineer my goals and writing my plan in planners helps me do that. For every action there is a reaction. If you want to say work out more than understand that means something else will be affected. For me it was my budget, time at work, and time with my family. When I am working something new into my schedule I try to do it with the least amount of friction to my family. I call it the household management dance. I really wanted to become a worker outer person, I had already tricked myself into doing a little bit, and I shared in the last episode how I prioritize that now but how did I get to that point?

The first thing I did was look at what I wanted to offer as a grandmother and mother. I joined a gym thinking this way I could work out more, entertain my grandson, and give my daughter time with her new baby or an opportunity to do something like sleep in or care for herself. I like to stack as many benefits as I can into my tasks. Then I looked at when classes were offered for both myself and my grandson. I also decided to drop my private class to offset the new expense of the gym membership. And like I mentioned last week, I claim chunks of time for my goal first. So the plan was set, time to try it out.

Iterate

Well, let's just say I wasn't planning on getting in the pool to wrestle my grandson to get out of the pool. I was questioning everything after I got Grayson into his class and I was on the pilates reformer with wet pants. This wasn't going to work, time to adjust expectations and the plan. The first time around planning for working out was a challenge because I had not done it before. But, there was no way for me to anticipate that it was not going to be possible to have Grayson attend swim lessons and I attend a class. And who knew the instructors I liked only offered classes a few times a day? Which actually opened my eyes to attending a Wednesday night class when my husband Greg will be golfing anyway!

I'm a Worker Outer Now

Now, it's becoming one of my rocks, almost like a habit. It's becoming routine where it fits into my week. When I plan for this time in the next Planning Day I will also be looking at Abby taking Grayson to school more, I will have graduated with my PhD, and Noah, the baby will be getting older. All of these factors will give me back time so I can continue to plug working out into the routine of my week. Now I can confidently say "I'm a worker outer!"

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705 - New Personal Goals Create Ripple Effects in My Household