We’ve got a fantastic question today about capacity that I think we can all relate to. Don’t miss this discussion about capacity and real life as a teacher business owner.
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How to adjust your work schedule when you have LESS time than usual
As a teacher business owner I know that every day I need to check in with my team to make sure I’m not the bottle neck in my own business. I also know I need to scan inboxes for any customer or client needs, because without happy customers and clients I won’t have a business for long.
If I’m on vacation, sick, or dealing with a natural disaster that is likely all the work that I will tackle for the day.
If I have a small pocket of time, I might choose something from my Tiny Task menu.
If I have a chunk of time that’s a little bit larger, I might set a timer and move ahead as far as possible on One Needle Moving task – one that truly leads to growth and revenue for my business. That’s likely not something like posting on social media or answering emails. More likely it is a task that directly ties in to my quarterly or annual goals big picture.
How to adjust your work schedule when you have MORE time than usual
If I have more time than usual, I might take on two of those needle moving tasks OR deep dive into something that I don’t normally have the ability to take on. This might be a batch filming session, big product photography push, or networking opportunity with other colleagues.
The order in which I add tasks to my schedule largely stays the same as when I have very little time to work. My must do tasks always happen first and the next task I chose must relate to my current business goal.
Words of Wisdom from my nana
One day we’ll miss having so many creative ideas for exciting projects. Remember to be grateful for internet, eyesight, and all of the opportunities that we have in this season of life.
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Read the transcript:
Janice Cook [00:00:00] I am back with another bonus episode. A listener asked a juicy question, and I’m here to share my answer. Today’s question is a long one, so buckle up. This question says, I would love a deeper dive in capacity. I liked the capacity episode, but would love something like how to honestly find your capacity or how to deal with your lessened capacity.
[00:00:53] I want to cram so much into a small amount of time and get my feelings hurt when I don’t get it all done. Sounds like I need a mindset shift now that I’ve got it all typed out. Episode title suggestions, because this listener is really overdelivering today, how to stop planning your time like you are a single person with no kids and no responsibilities.
[00:01:16] Wow, there’s a lot to unpack here. A deeper dive into capacity. You asked, I’m happy to do it. So the first part of this question asks about how to honestly find your capacity. And I know the person who submitted this question already has a copy of my DIY course, but as I do market research into the problems that that course has solved for people, their favorite part of the course is the scheduling module and their ability to re-watch it multiple times a year because your capacity will change
[00:01:51] with seasons of life. That’s completely normal and it doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. And so when you notice the seasons are shifting and you know that it’s time to shake up how you’re thinking about your capacity, if you see that your to-do list constantly isn’t getting finished and you recognize that something’s wrong, that course module on setting your schedule up for success
[00:02:18] is a tool you can have in your toolbox. So instead of having to compare calendars with me and get on my calendar for a strategy session and have us go over your calendar together, you have access to my coaching on demand where you know exactly what questions I’m gonna ask you and you’re gonna reset your own schedule together.
[00:02:41] And that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to reset your capacity and your schedule with you, I always am. But sometimes my clients who are here for recurring schedule reset strategy calls find that having my coaching questions in their ear in a place that they can pause and take action themselves can feel really calming.
[00:03:00] And so that’s why this person has that as a resource in their toolbox. So honestly, finding your capacity is something that I do cover in the module in that course, that’s not something that I can teach without a visual, and that’s too big a topic for me to cover in a q and a episode. But I can chat about how to deal with lessened capacity. And for me as a work at home mom
[00:03:25] the easiest way I can talk about this is by thinking about the summer. There is a way that my calendar looks in the middle of the school year when my kids are in school five days a week. I have a block of time I can work in the morning. I have a block of time. I can work in the afternoon. And that’s it.
[00:03:45] Then it’s time to put my mom hat on. They’re home from school and my role for the day changes. In the summer, my capacity is completely different. I still have a mortgage to pay. I still have bills to pay. I still have clients who need to serve. I still have tasks on my desk that need to get done. But I do not have a full school day of childcare to work with.
[00:04:09] I have lessened capacity. Some weeks in the summer, my kids might be at a camp. Other weeks in the summer, we might be all together as a family, either traveling or closer to home. And so my capacity every single day of the summer is unique. And even on days where my kids might be in full day childcare, say at a camp, there is still an awful lot of driving that has to be done in the summer to get people here, there, and everywhere.
[00:04:45] And one of the trickiest things about summer capacity as a mom is that every single day is a back to the drawing board situation where we need different supplies and a different itinerary and different people to be in touch with and we’re looking up directions and researching how to get places and what we need and what the rules are and what the hours are
[00:05:08] and there’s a lot more admin planning that has to be allotted into the plan when we deal with capacity. So in those seasons of lesson to capacity, it’s more important than ever to know what your top priority is right now. I also have to notice there are certain types of things that I will not put on my calendar in the summer.
[00:05:31] I really limit things that are time bound in the summer. So you won’t see a lot of guest conversations on my calendar, zoom appointments. You won’t see a lot of strategy calls. You’re very unlikely to see a VIP week because I don’t have the capacity to do that type of deep diving, undivided attention task
[00:05:54] in the summer when my kids are home. My primary role in that season has shifted. It’s not good. It’s not bad. It’s just what it is. And so I need to set the tasks up on my calendar in a way that are honest with the capacity that I actually have to work with. I also work with a lot of clients who are moving, and we talk about the types of tasks you can do in a coffee shop or in a library or in the car when you’re playing passenger princess, and the types of tasks that you really just won’t be able to do until things stabilize a little bit in your new space.
[00:06:29] And so when we can be honest about those limitations, when we set up the calendar the first time, that’s how we can limit our feelings getting hurt when they don’t all get done. And so going back to this person’s question, they said, I want to cram so much into a small amount of time. So do I! I always plan my day as if I am at my super human, most productive level that I ever have operated in.
[00:07:00] And the reality is that we don’t get to have a five star day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. So if we always plan the day hoping that superhero version of ourself is gonna be the one that walks into the office. We are setting ourselves up for disappointment when an average version of ourself shows up or a b plus version of ourself enters the office ’cause we’re human and it’s not gonna be a 10 out of 10 mindset, energy level, focus, et cetera
[00:07:32] every single day. And I also say the same grace goes to all the digital tools that we touch throughout our day. There are going to be days where our computer acts up. There are going to be days where tech tools that normally move smooth sailing with us go down for maintenance or have tech issues, and we have to plan in margin so that we’re setting up our day in a way that has a chance at succeeding.
[00:07:59] And you could feel the mindset shift advice coming. When it comes to getting your feelings hurt when you don’t get it all done, you have to ask yourself, am I bad at accomplishing my to-do list, or am I bad at making a to-do list that a human on planet Earth actually could accomplish in the amount of time they have today?
[00:08:22] Because when I really explored the world of project management and productivity, I realized that I am extremely focused and efficient and very good at crushing a task list. But the area of growth for me was making a schedule that actually matched the amount of time I had to work in a day. And I think some of that came from being a teacher and just knowing that I was never going to have enough time in my one planning block to get all the things done that were thrown at me.
[00:08:53] I think there’s a lot of trauma and a lot of healing that comes in a teacher business coming out of that role where we didn’t have any control over our time and we kind of weren’t set up for success. But now that you’re the boss, you have the opportunity to learn the skill of setting your schedule up for success, and that’s a beautiful thing to celebrate today.
[00:09:14] So I’m so glad that you asked this question. I know that you are not the only one who has these feelings. I absolutely relate to them. And then the last thing I want to say is about your episode title suggestion. You wrote, these are your words, not mine. How to stop planning your time like you are a single person with no kids and no responsibilities.
[00:09:35] And I’ll say that I know a lot of teacher business owners who are single and they still struggle with the same things you wrote about in your question. And I work with a lot of teacher business owners who have no kids, and they also struggle with the same things that you’ve mentioned. I have never met a person who has no responsibilities.
[00:09:56] So when you’re planning your time, there are responsibilities that just come with being a person on planet Earth, and they do take up time in our day, and that’s not a problem. It’s just something we have to get real about and acknowledge. But everyone has responsibilities. Our seasons of life are different and we certainly shouldn’t compare how much we are getting done in a day to someone who has a different setup in their day and in the season of life.
[00:10:24] But you have responsibilities, everyone has responsibilities, and everyone’s season is hard, just for different reasons. So finding your capacity is something that you’re going to have to flex as a muscle, as a parent, as a married person, as a business owner, it’s gonna come up in all seasons of life.
[00:10:46] And the list of responsibilities will look different as these seasons ebb and flow. But if we ever wake up and we have no responsibilities one morning, we probably wish that we did. And you’ve heard me chat on this show before about my grandmother, who I love dearly and is one of the closest humans I’ve had in my life.
[00:11:07] She is 100 at the time I’m recording this episode. And when I visit her in her nursing home, she talks about how she wishes she had responsibilities on her calendar again. She wishes she had someone to babysit or some sort of a task to do that was useful to help make the world go round. She used to knit clothes for people who needed to stay warm, and she wishes
[00:11:30] she still had the cognitive ability and the motor skills to do that ’cause it felt like she was making a difference. She wished people were calling and asking for a ride to drive somewhere because it made her feel useful as the world went around. And as she gets older and she needs more help with things, that’s how she feels
[00:11:50] on the other side of it is that she wishes and yearns for something to do that felt like those comforting responsibilities she remembers from busy seasons of life, like the one you’re living through right now. And so that’s always a takeaway that I leave with after a visit with her is that it’s a beautiful thing that you have so many responsibilities right now and so many gifts to share with the world and so many people asking for your attention.
[00:12:17] And just be careful not to wish this season away. There will always be more that we want to do than the amount of time we have, but you’re learning the skill of what the most important tasks are each day, and as long as those get done, your feelings should leave the day clocked out with confidence and with a smile. You should feel good when you put your head on your pillow tonight,
[00:12:41] and if all goes well, we wake up tomorrow with another beautiful opportunity to pick a few more big needle moving tasks out and help the world become a better place tomorrow. Do you have a teacher business question you’re hoping to hear answered on the podcast? I’ll leave a link for you in the show notes.
[00:13:01] Thanks for listening.
Here is a playlist of other episodes I think you will enjoy about SYSTEMS and CAPACITY:
