E207: The 7 Strategies that Create More Space in Your Day

I felt like I got smacked in the face when it was all of the sudden Q4 and through review and reflection I realized my goals weren’t being met, my to do lists were only getting longer, and I had less and less time in my calendar. Feelings of guilt, confusion, and inadequacy were bubbling up and I knew a change had to be made…

[00:52] If you’ve felt overwhelmed, inadequate, confused, or guilty, then this episode is for you. Each week for the past couple months I’ve been prying things off my schedule and calendar.

At first I was checking things off my to do list, then I started letting things go completely. “Is this something that has to get done by me?” I would ask, and if the answer was no, I would delegate or eliminate it all together.

I’ve been so caught up in what I should be doing that I don’t even feel like I’m moving the needle on anything that’s important to me.

How am I so exhausted at the end of the day, and yet my goals aren’t being achieved? How am I putting in so much energy and effort and results aren’t surfacing?

A noisy and nagging voice in my head kept shouting: do more, work harder, push further, be better, and I tried! To no surprise this strategy led me to feeling burnt-the-F-out.

Being the problem solver I am, I decided to switch gears: Instead of prioritizing energy and productivity, I started prioritizing rest and stress management. On a day-to-day scale this looked like:

Measuring new daily habits:

Through apps on my phone I track: my water intake and meditation practice

Using my OURA ring I am able to track detailed information on my: readiness and sleep

I manually track: no screen time for 1 hour from wake up and reading (usually before bed)

Purchasing my new “Achieve Planner” and writing out 1-3 tasks per day maximum has been really helpful and eye opening!

The planner helps me set monthly, weekly and daily goals. It includes a weekly habit tracker and also asks me to reflect on “what was great about today?” and “what could have made today better?” This daily reflection is something I’ve never really practiced before - not in this way - and it’s incredibly insightful as to what is working in my day and what isn’t. I’m already starting to notice patterns and I’m making little tweaks that are more supportive.

Boundaries around my calendar/schedule

If I notice that there is a lot going on in my calendar in a day, I see if I can move things over to another day. I’m not scheduling multiple calls or appointments in a day, and if I have to, I block off time on that day, or the very next day to recover/recharge. I also block days off… even if it’s the weekend. As a business owner, it’s really easy to work all the time, so I have to be strict with these boundaries, especially with myself.

I don’t do laundry or house chores on my days off

I actually started this maybe a year ago, although now I’m more consistent with it. Even if the laundry pile is out of control, I only do laundry on days that I work. At first I thought it wasn’t a great idea, and then I tested it for myself. Who on earth wants to do chores on their days off? I certainly don’t!

[04:40] I’ve been experimenting with this for approximately six weeks, and what I’ve truly been recognizing is the importance of tuning into my needs, of connecting with myself, of going inwards before moving forward.

I’ve started to trust my gut instincts more, and plan my days with intuition whenever I can. I ask my body what it needs rather than assuming or forcing, and this has manifested in such beautiful ways!

Some days my body wants to nap, or read a little more. Sometimes I have energy to spend time alone in nature walking, hiking, or riding my bike! I’ve had some powerful meditation sessions where I want to write my visions, or sit a little while longer.

So many wonderful downloads and experiences have come up in the last six weeks. And most recently, I’ve been feeling so much more creative, which I had been struggling with a lot.

I really believe that this lack of creativity, motivation, and energy was a result of getting caught up in the busyness and hectic day-to-day life that our society praise’s.

And listen, there is no doubt that we’ve got a lot going on in our lives, but our calendars, lives, and minds don’t have to be so full that we’re not bringing in newness and inspiration and joy!

Let’s create space for us to thrive through these 7 strategies

[06:27] #1: Put it On Paper

I cannot emphasize enough how powerful my physical planner has been for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely a digital-lover. My calendar is digital, I have hundreds of notes in my notes app, I produce my podcast and all my documents are all digital.

But there is something special about writing things down on paper. There’s actually evidence and research to support that writing things down on paper is the key to effectiveness because it helps you free up your mind and better organize your thoughts.

It becomes a visual representation of all the things you’ve got going on in your life and allows you to let go of the mental heaviness of incomplete tasks, commitments, appointments, etc.

[07:38] #2: Complete a Time Audit

There were two insights that really stood out to me when I started using my new physical planner. The first one was that Thursday afternoons were when I felt most exhausted and needed to take a break. Even if I didn’t schedule it in, my body was going to take it anyway.

The second insight was that I wasn’t spending my time each day how I thought I was and my 1-3 tasks a day were not getting done because of it.

This pattern of ending the day or week with incomplete tasks urged me to reevaluate my time. If I wasn’t completing my simple tasks, what was I doing with that time? Where was that energy going?

So I decided to record how I spend each 30-60 minutes of the day. It’s AMAZING what you discover when you write down how you spend each hour of your day. You really start to notice the holes and leaks in your time, and where or why you’re losing focus.

Within a few days of this audit I realized what my common distractions were, and noted that the tasks I was writing down didn’t have the space they needed in my calendar to actually get done and I was really only half completing them.

[09:25] #3 Clarify Your Goals

What is the purpose of creating more space in your life? Why do you want to feel spacious? Answering these questions honestly will help you find the clarity in your unique process as well as outline your next steps.

For myself, I wanted more time for the things that brought me joy, for new experiences, for travel, and play! I wanted to feel creative again and excited about sharing my ideas.

Here are a couple more questions to ask yourself to help you gain clarity: If you had more time in a day, what would you do with that time? What goals do you want to achieve in your life, and what action steps can you take to achieve those?

Knowing your values and what’s most important to you, will help you with our fourth strategy:

[10:47] #4 Eliminate and/or Delegate

You’ve been collecting information and in motion through the process, but now it’s time to take action. Use the information you’ve recorded and identify the habits, routines, people, tasks, etc. that aren’t in alignment with your desired schedule, mind or life.

Can you eliminate it? If yes, do that. If no: Can you delegate it? If yes, do that. If no: the item must be done by you only, and sometimes that is the reality, which is fine, however is there a way for us to make this more enjoyable?

Can we create a ritual for this task that involves something else we love, or perhaps we do something satisfying before the unsatisfying task?

I understand that we don’t always have complete control over every aspect of our lives, but we do have control over how we respond to the events in our lives.

For myself, I could have chosen to stay frustrated and wallow in the feelings of “I’m not enough” but instead I decided to pause, reevaluate, and move forward with more mindfulness. I shifted priorities and focusing on my sleep and stress management actually gave me the energy and productivity I was searching for BEFORE I adjusted my focus.

However it took a little “slap in the face” for me to wake-up to my reality. Hopefully you’re listening to this before an uncomfortable wake-up call!

[12:35] #5 Create Your Plan of Action

You have your goals, and the action steps to get there. You’ve created space for what’s important by removing what isn’t.

Now, what must you schedule to achieve your goals? What tiny actions or routines will help you move the needle forward? Add these to your calendar/planner.

My big goal this week is to use the momentum of my recent creative downloads to build out the podcast episodes for the rest of this year and into January. That way I can be more present while I travel in December and January, and I can use my time to share the content versus constantly creating it. This opens up more space for more creative downloads!

[13:27] #6 Embrace White Space

Between your must-dos and action steps to get you to your goals are margins of time in your day called white space. They are nothing and everything.

This “white space” is your dedicated time for mental pauses. Free periods of time to do whatever you absolutely want to do.

Moments of self-care, mindfulness, presence, and/or wherever your intuition takes you. My tip is to not schedule anything in there at all and allow your energy to dictate where you want to go.

Today, my white space consisted of pulling some oracle cards, stretching my tight hips and hamstrings, and doing some throat and third eye chakra healing. I had no plans for these things earlier in the day.

#7 [14:27] Lead and Move Forward with Intention

If you listened to last week’s podcast episode, you would have heard my story about how making my bed every morning changed my life. It got me out of my mild depression and anxiety and taught me about doing small things with intention, to make big changes.

Episode 206: If You Want to Change the World… Start By Making Your Bed

The more we can be intentional with our other small actions, the better in alignment we are to our goals. This also honours our boundaries with feeling spacious, centred, and close to our values.

Our final strategy to creating more space in our lives is to lead and move forward with intention because it’s an ongoing process, it’s maintenance.

You can do this by blocking off time in your calendar to reflect on your progress and reevaluate your audits. In the beginning I was doing a version of this weekly, but now I will shift to monthly, and eventually quarterly. I find the beginning stages VERY CRUCIAL because we want to create a solid foundation to build from.

When new opportunities, projects, invitations arise, it’s important to anchor into our values and check in with ourselves first: does this align with my goals/values? Answering this before committing to something new.

It’s important that we’re not afraid to say “no.” when something doesn’t align. There are ways to do this politely, and in my experience people really appreciate the honesty and admire the boundaries that I have.

Give yourself guilt-free breaks. I promise you will gain more energy, more clarity, more creativity, more joy when you GIVE YOURSELF BREAKS. Breaks are not rewards. They are part of your growth, recovery, health, life, and thriving.

Another huge part of creating space and making shifts to my energy has been gratitude – I have talked about this so many times in podcast episodes on their own. Gratitude is a gamechanger. Write down 3-5 things you’re grateful for every single day and watch how your life elevates.

What small practices and routines will you create to make and protect the space in your days?

[16:58] Let’s create these new routines and rituals together. We can start today! Right now!

If you want to build better habits, I have a free workbook for you! This is your step-by-step guide to creating consistent habits that matter. You know... the ones that bring you closer to the best version of yourself, and make a greater impact on the world around you.

A month from now… you can either have a month of spaciousness and progress OR a month of excuses why you didn’t get started.

So if you want space progress, head over to www.valerielavignelife.com/habits and download the free guide.

What practices and rituals are you creating to make more space in your days? Share them with me on instagram @vallavignelife - I want to hear all about them!

Podcast Host

Valerie LaVigne

Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!