7 Tips to Handle Busy Seasons
We all go through seasons when life feels a little fuller than usual. It can be easy to allow that fullness to overwhelm us or stress us out but did you know that you can still live a peacefully productive life even when you're in a busy season?
Today I’m sharing 7 tips to help you navigate busy seasons.
Tip 01: Refuse to let busier seasons steal your peace.
Work is in a busier season for me right now and that looks like moving my courses to a new platform, preparing to launch 2 new courses, a new website, and a handful of new planning products - basically finalizing getting the foundation of Hustle Sanely set up so we can grow and scale as a brand.
Busy for you right now might look like raising a toddler. Or working full-time and going to school full-time. Or volunteering every week. Or going through the home buying process.
Here’s what it looks like for you to own your peace and refuse to let busy steal it from you:
01. Prioritize getting at least 7 hours of sleep at night.
02. Schedule in rest (at least 1 hour … and I’m talking minimum here) every week.
03. Honor your non-negotiable priorities.
Tip 02: Create routines that support the season that you’re in right now.
We’re creatures of habit, right? Sometimes we get into these ruts where we are being stubborn and think that just because we’ve always done something a certain way that we have to do that forever. WRONG-O!
We’re dynamic beings and our lives are constantly shifting and changing so that means our routines need to shift too. Routines are meant to support us - to make our lives easier. Not to bog us down. If a routine stresses you out then it’s no longer serving you and you need to make a shift.
Example: In the winter, I was doing a 90-minute morning routine because it served me well. January was a slower month for me and so I was soaking up slow mornings because they supported me in that season.
I’m currently in a busier season and the thought of a 90-minute morning routine stresses me the eff out. Right now, my morning routine is 30-45 minutes and includes making my coffee, praying, journaling, reading scripture, and a few pages from a personal development book. Those activities ground me and keep me aligned with my values. They prep me, mentally, to tackle high energy work days because that’s the season I’m in right now.
Tip 03: Establish boundaries that support the season that you’re in right now.
When your season changes, your boundaries are likely going to need to change to reflect that. And that includes all types of boundaries: boundaries with how you spend your time, technology boundaries, communication boundaries, etc.
Maybe you’re in college and it’s finals time aka a busier season for you so a boundary you have to set is with your time - you need to say no to all “extra” things in this season like volunteering at your kids’ school or house sitting for your neighbor because you need that time to dedicate to studying.
Just like with routines, our boundaries will have to shift with our seasons.
Tip 04: Use Focus 3 to support the season that you’re in right now.
Are you sensing a pattern here? Every tip, tool, and strategy that I share with you in most cases are meant to serve you in your season. As in, we have to change them as necessary instead of setting everything in stone.
So I hope you know what Focus 3 is if you’ve been around for awhile but quick summary - it’s part of Hustle Sanely 5…Complete your Focus 3 every day. Your Focus 3 are the 3 things that you deem most important every day.
I usually choose 3 individual tasks when I’m choosing my Focus 3. But when I’m in busier work seasons, I choose Focus 3 categories because that supports me better.
So example, today my Focus 3 was:
1) BFF Membership Changes
2) Podcast
3) Hustle Sanely program
Then for each of those 3 categories, I had 2-3 small tasks that needed to be done.
Whereas when I’m not in a busier work season, my Focus 3 would look something like:
1) Write weekly email
2) Edit program videos
3) Go live in BFF FB group
So 3 specific tasks rather than 3 categories with mini tasks, make sense? Again, tip 4 is use Focus 3 to support the season that you’re in right now.
Tip 05: Use reverse engineering to help you prioritize action steps so you don’t get caught up in the tedious tasks.
I use reverse engineering so much when I’m working toward goals and I use it extra when I’m in busier seasons. Reverse engineering is basically starting at the end of something and working backwards to figure out how it works and you can totally apply this to your goals too.
So let’s take creating the paper planner for example. I start with the end goal: having the paper planner created, and work backwards to create a plan of action:
Before I can have the completed planners in your hands I have to ship them to you.
Before I can ship them to you, I have to have all of my shipping supplies.
Before I have all of my shipping supplies set up, I need the actual planners to package.
Before I have the actual planners, I have to order them from the manufacturer.
Before I can order them, I have to have them designed.
Before I have them designed, I have to have them mapped out.
And that’s my starting point - mapping out what’s going inside the planner.
These big steps are where my energy needs to be to move the project forward, you see? You can apply this principle to lots of different types of goals.
Tip 06: Have an end date for your busier season.
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT! Probably should’ve made it first but too late now, lol. I teach this to my Hustle Sanely Program students - when you’re in a busier season, you cannot live there forever. That is detrimental to your mental health and honestly to your physical health too. Living your life in a busier season for long stretches of time (like more than 6 months) is a ticket straight to burnout city, okay?
Now sometimes our busier seasons will have an end date built in - like if you’re in college, you have the end of the semester. Or if you have a big presentation for work, you have the date of the presentation. You can reel it in after that.
But other times, the busier season might have a more vague, undetermined end date - like if you’re raising a toddler, lol - if this is the case, a good way to make sure that you don’t burn out is by scheduling extended rest periods. So maybe that looks like having your mom watch the kids while you and your husband go away for a long weekend.
If you’re in a busier season that doesn’t have a set end date and you really can’t put one on it, make sure to schedule and extended rest period at least every 6 months.
Tip 07: Seek harmony over balance and don’t allow yourself to be busier in multiple areas at once.
Alright so if you’ve been here for a bit, you know I don’t dig the whole work/life balance thing because I don’t think it’s real. I’m a fan of what I like to call life harmony. So what’s that?
It’s when your life gels together and flows nicely. You operate from peace and calm even when you’re in a busier season. How do we achieve this harmony? Well the big answer is by following the 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely but for the sake of succinctness, I’ll say it like this - don’t allow yourself to be in a busier season in more than one area of your life.
If you’re in a push season at work, delegate more and ask for support at home.
If you’re in a push season in your personal life, don’t say yes to extra stuff at work and overextend yourself or don’t try to go for a big promotion simultaneously.
Example from my life: I’m in a busier season with work, right? Well Adam and I were considering moving - like we were actively looking at houses and I was like hold up this is not wise. I knew it would cause an uptick in the energy required in my my personal life right now and I just don’t have that to give with how work is right now so we decided that moving is not a priority in this season of our lives.
And there you have it - 7 tips to help you navigate a busy season!
If you enjoyed this post, tune into episode 075 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to listen into this topic:
