Stop Feeling Frazzled with Your Schedule with Chanty Macias [#138]

Stop Feeling Frazzled with Your Schedule with Chanty Macias (episode 138)

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[00:00:00] Do you ever feel like you’re just bouncing around from one thing to the next? Do you forget about something you unscheduled or maybe even double or triple book yourself for something? I’ve been there, but only when I’m not doing the things that we discuss in today’s episode. Welcome Podcast. Stop feeling frazzled with your schedule.

 

Episode number 138.

 

Welcome to Educate and Rejuvenate the podcast to help you revitalize your teaching, renew your spirit, and reignite your passion for life. I’m your host, Kelsey Sorenson, a former teacher, current homeschool mom, published author, and certified life coach. Whether you are a teacher in a traditional classroom, homeschool from your kitchen table.

 

Or anywhere in between. I am on a mission to help you not only survive as an educator, but thrive. Get ready to uplevel your skills with incredible insights from guest experts and discover the missing piece, rejuvenating yourself. Are you [00:01:00] ready to both educate and rejuvenate? Let’s go.

 

Welcome to the podcast today. I’m really excited for today’s interview. So today is actually an interview that originally aired on my friend Chantel’s podcast, Preschool Made Easy. Now, so she’s actually interviewing me because it was for her show, but as soon as we finished up the interview, we just had such a great time chatting and I feel like we just really clicked and it was a great conversation.

 

So I asked her if she would be okay if I also aired it on my episode. It originally aired on the Preschool Made Easy show. So if you love this interview and you happen to teach preschool or pre K or kindergarten or have children that age, make sure you also subscribe to her show. But it’s really a topic that all teachers can benefit from.

 

If you don’t teach those grade levels, don’t fret. Today’s episode is actually not grade level specific. It’s really about creating your schedule. I was just helping her preschool audience with that. [00:02:00] It was so much fun that I’m really excited that we get to share it with you today. And Shanti, she’s also presenting at our Educate and Rejuvenate event, as you’ll hear more about during that interview.

 

But this is just a quick reminder that Educate and Rejuvenate is getting so close. I know a lot of you love coming to this event each year, and you might just be like, yeah, I just need to grab my ticket before it begins. But here’s the deal. The pre party is starting July 8th. Every day we’re having giveaways.

 

We’re having free Fun every day. Like even there’s a giveaway going on where each day, if you tune into the podcast, you get entered in to win a prize. Like it’s so much fun. I don’t want you to miss out on the pre party or the event. So take right now as your sign to go and grab your ticket. It’s at educateandrejuvenate.

 

com slash conference. We want you to snag your ticket. We don’t want you to miss it. We talk more about the why during the episode of what exactly is happening during the event. But I mean, the long story short is it is the only professional development that I know of that is really [00:03:00] PD meets personal development.

 

Meets a crazy fun time, community, comedy, giveaways galore. And you can do it all for less than getting takeout for your family. Like it is such a great deal. Okay. So without further ado, though, let’s get to today’s interview.

 

 

 

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Chantal: all right. Hey, Kelsey, thanks so much for joining me today. I am so excited to have you on our show and ask you some questions. Thank you so much for having me, Shanti.

 

Kelsey: It’s [00:04:00] such an honor to be here on your show today.

 

Chantal: Yeah. Awesome. All right. So can you tell me a little bit about what an intentional schedule is and why do parents need one?

 

Kelsey: Yes. I think this is such an important question. I feel like with kids, it’s so easy to just get lost in the motions of everything. Like, I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely triple booked, not even just double booked. Myself or something before between my three kids and my husband and myself and all the different things that we have.

 

It’s easy enough to do that. And so if you don’t get intentional, there are so many opportunities all over the place, right? Like our kids, they might have soccer practice or gymnastics or art lessons or, you know, dentist appointments, doctor’s appointment, everything that we have. And then if we’re teaching, like I know you have parents and teachers who listen, right?

 

Yes. And if you’re working, like there’s another whole aspect to it, right? So it’s just like so much going on in our lives and it [00:05:00] doesn’t matter if you are a stay at home mom, if you’re teaching, no matter what, you’ve just got a lot going for you. And it’s all good things, right? Generally, it’s usually like we have a lot of great things to be grateful for that are going on in our lives.

 

But, um, what I often tend to hear when I’m coaching. Either parents, teachers, really anybody, the most common feeling that comes up in our community of educators, which when I say educator, I really mean anybody who teaches anyone anything. So, um, that means like if you are teaching your child at home, I include you in that.

 

Just want to make sure that they know that because sometimes it’s like, oh, I’m not a teacher. I’m not an educator. Parents. You are definitely, if you’re teaching your kid, you are a teacher too. A

 

Chantal: hundred percent. I agree with you.

 

Kelsey: That was a decided, but what I hear from our whole educator community. is overwhelmed.

 

Everybody’s feeling overwhelmed all the time.

 

Chantal: Yes.

 

Kelsey: Especially when you think about it, like the running to do list, like bouncing around our heads, like all the time. And when we think about all those things, it makes us feel overwhelmed, right? When you’re like, I [00:06:00] haven’t done this yet, or I need to do that, or I need to rush to this next thing, we feel really overwhelmed.

 

And an intentional schedule helps us to kind of wind down that overwhelm a bit, and I know some people are like, oh, I just don’t like planning. I like to go with the flow. And the way I teach an intentional schedule is it can be very structured. If you’re very type A, like you’re like, no, I like to have like everything really organized.

 

If you’re like, no, I’m already doing that. That’s great. Also, it can be very go with the flow, but there’s some structure to it, right? Like you can have flow built into an intentional schedule, which we’ll talk a bit more about today. So it’s really going to look like whatever it needs to look like for you, but it’s really important to have because it relieves that overwhelm that like just constant everything going on.

 

Chantal: Yes. And I love that. I love that you mentioned, you know, we try our best, but we really do fit into so many different roles simultaneously. And it gets hard when you have that running to do list, even if you have it written down. Um, you can have a daily planner and you can have like the hottest digital planning system and whatever, the [00:07:00] trendiest thing happening, but sometimes it’s like, it just keeps rolling over and then you feel like you’re not doing enough or like you’re doing too much, but you’re not really going anywhere.

 

Right. Right. Right. Every single parent can relate to this. So can you walk us through trying to figure out how to manage urgent or important tasks?

 

Kelsey: Yeah, so one thing that I like to talk about is, for one, the difference between urgent and important tasks. So when I was doing the research for my book, I found this quote from Dwight D.

 

Eisenhower in a 1954 speech, right? So he says, I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent. So a lot of times, we tend to have urgent things come up. For example, one that just comes up as a parent, which, obviously, this is urgent, you’re going to tend to it.

 

Like, my daughter just, like, fell down and skinned her knee. Like, that’s urgent. Suddenly, I’m dropping whatever I do. And I’m going to go help her with that. Nothing wrong with that. That’s what we want to do as parents, right? But it’s when little things are coming [00:08:00] up all the time. Like, oh, I forgot to do this thing that matters today and is not going to matter at all.

 

Tomorrow. We’re a week from now when all these urgent things pop up. If we’re spending all of our time doing urgent things that are like, oh, it’s urgent needs to be done right now. Timely, but maybe it’s not important. Maybe it’s not like long term. This is something that’s going to help me move towards my goals or move towards my child’s education or, you know, whatever it is.

 

So, not that we’re not going to tend to urgent things because we need to, but it’s when we get pulled into only doing urgent things or mostly doing urgent things and forgetting about the important. That’s where we can get ourselves into a little bit of, I mean, there’s a little bit of trouble where we’re going to feel that overwhelm because we’re always going to feel like We’re not getting what we want to get done.

 

So, when we’re just not prioritizing those important things, the problem comes when all the important things are keeping us from getting those done. And this is called the urgency effect, is actually what it’s called. So, [00:09:00] um, the result of it is we feel burned out from doing so many things, and yet, We still aren’t getting all the things we want to get done.

 

So what happened later on, kind of utilizing that concept, Stephen Covey from The Seven Habits of Highly Affected People wanted to kind of find a solution to this problem. So he took this concept of urgent versus important and put it into a matrix. Because again, sometimes something is urgent and important, right?

 

Like for example, even where I said like, Oh, my daughter fell down and skinned her knee or whatever, um, Obviously it is important to me as her mother to go take care of her, right? So I’m going to do that, do it right away and make sure that’s taken care of. But then there’s, um, there’s urgent and not important, right?

 

There’s like, Oh, we really need groceries. Like, yes, they need to feed my family. Right. It’s urgent. We need to do that. But we can plan that in, right? It’s not, it has to be done right this second, unless there wasn’t intentional planning and oh no, so we suddenly don’t have anything, right? And that’s where it can become an urgent thing that gets in the [00:10:00] way of us doing what we want to do.

 

Does that make sense?

 

Chantal: Yes, of course. Absolutely. And I love that you describe the difference between urgent and important because a lot of people tend to confuse both terms and it’s like, well, a lot of things are urgent and important. Yeah, but when you’re looking at it from a scope of. Or a perspective of what needs to be done right now, or what is getting me closer to my goals, right?

 

What is moving the needle towards my goals?

 

Kelsey: Yes, exactly. And so there’s this matrix. So that’s two parts of it. There’s urgent and important and there’s urgent and not important, right? So if you were kind of trying to envision it, there’s like this matrix and if you google the urgency matrix, you’ll find it.

 

Also, there’s a cute illustration we put together in my book Educate and Rejuvenate that is coming out soon. But, There’s like kind of four quadrants. So it’s kind of like, imagine there’s like urgent and important on a matrix, right? So there’s urgent and important. That is, you’re going to do it right away or schedule it very soon.

 

There’s not urgent and important where it’s like, it’s not urgent. It’s not timely, but [00:11:00] it’s really important for your goals. And you want to be moving forward to it, like moving forward on it. For example, like, If one of your goals is to run a marathon, like it’s not going to be urgent each day that I need to get up and I need to run, right?

 

That’s not urgent, but if you keep putting it off, it’s important to you and then when race day comes, you’re not going to be ready for it, right? So it’s not urgent, but it’s important. So we want to fit it in. But again, we don’t have somebody telling us like you have to do it a lot of the time. So it’s easy for us to put it off, right?

 

These are important things that are important to us. But we need to make sure we schedule that, so it’s an important part to think of when you’re kind of creating an intentional schedule. And then the next one is urgent and not important. That’s kind of what I talked about, like, okay, it’s urgent, we need to have food on the table each day, right?

 

Or, you know, I need to have lesson plans for my classroom. Obviously, and again, you can say these things are important, but by important, I mean, like, does today’s lesson, like, today’s very specific lesson plan, obviously, teaching in general, Feeding your family in general. Yes, but it’s like the [00:12:00] one for today.

 

Is that like what we eat today? Whether it’s this exact dinner is the most important nutritious meal Is that gonna matter like a month from now like what you wait for dinner today? Not really gonna matter, right? So we’re talking about what like individually that you’re doing. Is it compounding? Is it important long term?

 

So again, if I like say not important, you’re like what grocery shopping is important It’s like well what i’m talking about is like that exact One, right? Right. For example, grocery shopping, a way you could, for urgent and not important, like it’s like, you want to see if you can delegate it if possible. So for example, grocery shopping, instead of like lugging your children to the grocery store, maybe you do like a Walmart plus grocery pickup or Instacart or something, or even just your grocery pickup where you just drive and they put it in your trunk, right?

 

Yeah. So you can like delegate it so it doesn’t take you as much time. And even better is if you can like kind of put in that online order, like have like a Process in your schedule or like every Sunday night or whatever it is, I go in and I add the things to my cart and then they get delivered to me and then it’s not like [00:13:00] popping up as an urgent thing because it’s more of a routine, right?

 

And then it’s not even popping up as an urgent thing anymore because you’ve got a system in place. That actually is a lot easier. So when you can plan ahead and do things like that, it can really help. Another thing, and this won’t work for preschool, but like for the older grade teachers, I will tell them, like, maybe you can have your kids help you grade papers, but for UK, that’s not going to happen.

 

But for that, you decide, is it important? Do I need to grade all these things? You know, I feel like a lot. A lot with preschool pre K is hands on anyway, right? So it’s like, where can I, where can I, you know, have fun with this, but then also how can I make it so I’m not doing so much outside of school, right?

 

Exactly. And then the final one is not urgent and not important. That’s when you’re really, again, I was kind of getting into it, like, does this need to be done? Like, do I need to grade this? Like, A lot of times our brain tells us, I have to do this, but really you don’t. Like, we’re just telling ourselves you have to.

 

So it’s not, and I’m not saying ask yourself, does this need to be done? The answer has to be no. But actually ask [00:14:00] the question. Because a lot of times we don’t. Sometimes we might be like, no, I really do feel like I need to do this. Or I really want to do this. And then only that you want to do that. And then it’s important to you, you know?

 

So, but a lot of times we just tell ourselves we have to do things. Or we’re people pleasing. We’re like, oh, well. My principal really wants me to do this, or my husband really wants me to do this, or, you know, whoever. So again, it’s just being more intentional. Like, does this need to be done? Does it need to be done by me?

 

Does it need to be done now? Yes, I love that. Oh my gosh,

 

Chantal: so many things about it. Um, where do I even start? Walmart orders. A hundred percent. Yes. I love having a system where it’s just like you said, we’re all about the routines on this show. And of course my audience knows that we love having a routine for pretty much just about everything.

 

Um, and placing that order of groceries, like let’s say on a Sunday or just like five minutes when you’re just sitting on the couch and no one’s bothering you or jumping all over you. It’s like, okay, I can actually get things done and know what’s expected. The kids know what’s expected. Well, okay. This order is coming in.[00:15:00]

 

As soon as it comes in, everybody’s hands on deck. We’re going to put everything away and then that’s it. We have our groceries done, right? It’s kind of like a, it’s a process and a system that we have as a family, but it’s like fun. Like you said, you make it fun. So, and I love that you also mentioned routines.

 

So we’re going to lead into our next question. Um, how can we create an ideal week and kind of plan out our weekly schedule with keeping routines in mind, of course.

 

Kelsey: Yes, so the concept of the ideal week, I learned it, gosh, I don’t even remember when. I learned it a while back, but I just love it. The idea behind it is that you’re creating kind of a schedule.

 

You’re looking at, it’s kind of like a planner page, like with our time blocks, but you’re not planning out just this week. You’re planning out what does an ideal week look like? Almost like you’re making a template for what your week will look like week to week. Now, some people argue back and be like, well, my week changes from week to week, like, and there are things that change, right?

 

Like, you know, you might have a dentist appointment one week, and depending, like, some people have less flexible work schedules. Totally [00:16:00] get that. So you need to do this however it applies to you. But, um, for example, for those who are preschool teachers or those who are, you know, stay at home moms who are homeschooling their preschooler or whatever, Um, you might be like, these are the hours that I’m teaching and you’ll put that in your ideal week.

 

Let’s say like, you know, if you’re a mom homeschooling your preschooler, maybe you’re like from nine to noon is when we do these different activities and like really have that time together and read lots of books and do whatever we’re doing. So you’ll put like nine to 12, whatever it is. And again, it looks different for everybody.

 

I homeschool too. Sometimes my home school is an hour. So I’m like nine to 12. That’s a lot, but anyway, but it was an example. Okay. So put in there. And again, I like to give generous blocks, right? So put nine to 12, sometimes it might not be nine to 12, but on your ideal week, you’ll put that right. So you put that there, you put in your self care.

 

So like for me, I have kind of my default, like this is when I do my workout. So this is when I do yoga. This is when I do strength training. And I have that plugged in in my [00:17:00] ideal week and really it kind of stays pretty consistent from week to week, but then if for some reason when I’m planning, and we’ll get to that too, it doesn’t, I just, you know, know I need to move it, right?

 

But you kind of have things planned out, you’re like, this is when we have family time, this is when we have dinner time, and you kind of actually, And not just in your head. This is the important part. I actually have a template that you can use. Um, I will get you, I will get you the link to that. I actually realize that it’s not one I got you.

 

But also, um, in the workbook that comes with my book, we have a template and way more for you there as well. So that will help you to create your ideal week. You’ll have the template that you fill in everything. The reason you put this together is so that when you go to start your weekly planning, you’re not starting from scratch each week.

 

You kind of have like, Oh yeah, this is where you can kind of like, I have my planner here and I’m like, I don’t know, do you have this video version or just audio? Uh, both. Both. Okay. Yeah. So cool. So for anybody watching, I’ll show you. So this is kind of the ideal week, right? This is that template that I have for all of you.

 

Oh, and I’m now realizing my screen is probably a [00:18:00] little, no, you’re good. Wiped off. We’re good. So again, you can see like, you know, we have like. Go in, this is an example I did for teachers, but I have like, you know, different things plugged in here. And then there’s still white space. It’s not like to have everything planned out, but it’s just like these are where different things go.

 

So then, when you go to grab your planner or your, you know, your fancy thing, whatever you’re talking about, Because again, it’s not the system or whatever planner or Google calendar you use that’s going to help you is the actually getting clear yourself. Because again, we have to see what it is we need, like a fancy planner is not going to do it for you.

 

We have to understand what is it that we need, what is the self care we need, like get it in there. And we need to decide on that ourselves. It doesn’t even matter what planner you use. It doesn’t matter if you use a Google Calendar. It’s really just getting clear and intentional is the important thing.

 

So creating your ideal week helps you to do that. And then you get out whatever it is you’re using and you map out your week. So what I do first, though, even before I get to the mapping out my [00:19:00] week, I do a brain dump. Like a to do list of everything my brain is telling me that I need to do. So, and I don’t filter it.

 

I’m not at this point. I write everything down. Now, I’ve had people argue back at me with this before. They’ve been like, that sounds more overwhelming if I had to actually think of everything I need to do and write it down. Well, let me tell you, it’s already there in your head, buzzing around there. And if you don’t get it on paper, that’s where it’s going to stay.

 

And that’s why the thought of it feels overwhelming to you because it’s all in there. So again, you might have a part of you that’s kind of fighting you on it because it’s trying to protect you, but well, this is how we do things and I don’t want to feel overwhelmed, but because change is hard, right?

 

Right. But again, just try it. Try it for three weeks, okay? Try writing everything down because once you get it out of your head and onto paper, it’s really going to help. So again, imagine everything that’s buzzing inside your head not needing to do that anymore because you got it down on paper. So write it all down.

 

And then what I do is I actually use that urgency [00:20:00] matrix that we talked about. And I look at my list that I wrote down, and I’m like, okay, what here is urgent, what here is important, what could easily slide through the cracks, if I didn’t, you know, make the time for it, and make sure that gets plugged in, right, as I’m doing my weekly planning, and that’s when I kind of, what I do is, I like to time block, like hour by hour, I kind of, Have, and again, I have a lot of white space still.

 

Like some people will do hour by hour, like everything. I don’t like that. I do like to have some flexibility. And so what I found, it took me some time. And we’ll talk about this too, like kind of with a time audit and figuring out how this is going to work for you, because it’s not going to work the first time you do it.

 

Most likely you’re going to be like, Oh, that didn’t work. And you take that information and you learn from it. Because we tend to think things are going to take less time than they do. So I like to be very generous with that amount of time as I’m planning. So I’ll put like, you know, for this podcast, for example, I think I put down like two hours and we’re not going to be here talking for two hours, but I’m going to want some time to like go through the questions and then we’re going to talk and then we’ll probably chat after.

 

[00:21:00] So I’ll just give myself a good two minutes for it.

 

Chantal: Or we could, why not? Or we could, right?

 

Kelsey: Hey. Hey. Hey. So again, like, you just want to, and then I leave, like, some white space around. Like, you know, if I were to show you, and here’s a planner that I’m using right now. Funny, because I’m actually, I go back and forth between planners.

 

This week I really wanted time blocking, so I grabbed this one. Um, you’ll see that I have white space in here too. It’s not filled out completely, but I have the things in there. And then I leave some white space as well, so I still have that. Like flow in there, but like the things that are important are scheduled in.

 

Chantal: I love that because it’s so true. One of the things that we talk about the most here on this show and on my Instagram is leaving white space for just anything, especially if you’re at home. Um, there are no family emergencies and more times than not, I find like a working stay at home mom, right? Even let’s say, you know, you have your own business or you have a remote job that still requires your time.

 

Um, a lot of people, including family members, seem to think that we’re just kind of sitting [00:22:00] around and we’re available for all things. Yeah, yeah. No, we’re not actually, you know. So it’s nice to leave white space for that for, you know, in the event that you need to go to Kohl’s to pick up an order or return something from Amazon or just, you know.

 

You know, like you said, like my daughter fell and I just need to be there for her and holding her because this is going to take more time than I expected, you know, right? We got to get the booboo kisses and all the things. But yeah, I love that. And you mentioned time audits. And that’s something that’s so interesting to me because, um, This is where I struggle.

 

You see, I’ve done, I’ve gotten the planners. I do the, well, sometimes I’ve done the urgency matrix, uh, trick also. Um, but I’ve, I’ve seemed to like kind of time block, but we lean more into a routine versus a schedule. So I’m really intrigued with the time audits because I feel like this is going to be the game changer for us parents and even teachers getting a grip on our time and managing it like a boss, so.

 

Can you share more about time audits, please?

 

Kelsey: [00:23:00] Yes. So the time audit, it is such a fantastic tool. And it’s also one that like, again, I’ve had resistance to a lot of people like, Oh, I don’t want to do this. It’s not fun. It’s like a reality check. It’s such a good tool. So for me, what I did Because I wanted to have it with me at all times.

 

I just had my Note app out on my phone and every, like, 15 minutes, I would need to check in and put what I’ve been doing the past 15 minutes. Okay. And again, I wouldn’t actually do it every 15 minutes, because, I mean, again, like, say, for example, we’re on a podcast, we’re talking longer than 15 minutes, but In 15 minute increments, I should say, so like, like, you know, maybe after two hours, but okay, what was I doing for like each of these like 215, 2 to 215, 215 to 230 and whatever, and see what was I doing, because then you catch all the like, mindless social media scrolling, all the, oh, I went to my pantry to get a snack, and like, you know, and then, You know, [00:24:00] scroll and texted a friend there, you know, and then I did this.

 

Then, you know, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with any of those things, but you realize where your time is going. That’s really the reason I say do a time audit. If you’re feeling good about how things are going right now, you don’t need to do a time audit. If you’re like, things are going great.

 

Like with my schedule, my routine, that’s great. The time you do a time audit is when nothing seems to be working. So you’ve like been trying to do the urgency matrix. You’ve been trying to. figure out what’s urgent, what’s important. You’ve been using a planner and you’re just like, I cannot figure out why I’m not getting all these things done.

 

And it can be to catch little things like that. It can be to realize like, oh, that took three hours and I’d only ever been giving myself like one and a half to two hours to do that. And you realize, okay, this is why I was like not giving myself enough time. But when you do a time audit, you really realize like you’re, you’re kind of doing the opposite of planning.

 

You’re not writing what I’m going to do. You’re writing what I did.

 

Chantal: Right, right. I feel like it’s like a humble check. Because I can spend hours [00:25:00] on my block puzzle game on my phone, gladly, but then other things I got neglected, you know?

 

Kelsey: And even sometimes it’s like, oh, like, productive things, but like, sometimes you’re like, oh, I just spent like five hours on a blog post that probably did not need to be five hours.

 

Like, I spent two hours just getting the graphic just right, but maybe B minus work would have been fine, you know? Yes. So it’s just giving us information. Nothing is good or bad. It’s just like, okay, this is what happened. We’re observing ourselves. Really. It’s a major extreme version of observing yourself, but just what I love to talk about is actually the first step of my three step cushion framework.

 

The first is to observe yourself. You’re really getting to know yourself because you’re seeing what am I doing all throughout my days? And for a time audit again, and when I did it, I was like, I don’t want to do it. But it was when I was actually working with a business coach. And And she was like, I need you to do this for the next week because you just keep saying you’re overwhelmed and you don’t time for things.

 

And it’s really important for us to understand where you’re at and do that time audit. And it was just such an eye opening experience for me that now, like, if [00:26:00] people are at that state, if they’re like, I’m overwhelmed. And I can’t figure out what to do. I definitely recommend a time audit, because that is where you’ll just get a lot of information about, okay, this is what I wanted.

 

This is what is happening. Where is the disconnect? And what needs to change, even on my expectations, you know? I love

 

Chantal: that. Did you find that you were able to get? Clear on your priorities and like just the tasks that you needed to get done for work or your homeschooling as opposed to like, these are all the things I want to get done, but I mean, for me, I

 

Kelsey: realized like how much how much it was doing that.

 

I probably didn’t need to be doing.

 

Chantal: Yeah.

 

Kelsey: Yeah. And then how much time was even taken up by email and stuff like that. Yeah. Um, checking in with my team, checking in with, like, all, like, all these things, it was, like, all of that, none of that was actually on my to do list. So it’s, like, I have my to do list, and then there’s all these things that weren’t even on my to do list that were happening on the side.

 

So it’s kind of, like, being, like, aware, like, okay, so when I realized that, I was, like, I need to cut back on how much time I spent doing that, but also, I need to make room [00:27:00] for some of that, too. So it was kind of, like, a happy medium type of situation for me. It was, like, yeah, I still need to, Chat with my team.

 

I still need to check my emails and I still want to network with people, but I need to figure out like a good balance, you

 

Chantal: know, I love that you’re giving me all the ideas of just doing a time audit just because maybe like a quick challenge on Instagram for like the audience and myself, and then we’ll just tag you on it.

 

Kelsey: Oh, yeah, let me know how it goes for sure. That sounds awesome.

 

Chantal: All right. So, Kelsey, why do you think so many of us feel like we’re busy all the time, yet we never get anything done? Yeah, and you know

 

Kelsey: what? I’ll actually, let me tell a little story first that kind of ties into it. So when I was actually writing my upcoming book, I just felt like I had so much going on and yet I was not making progress on the book, hardly at all, because everything else was happening.

 

And I was like, I have this deadline. How on earth am I going to meet it? I actually ended up, we’re on vacation, and I’m like, writing my book to meet the deadline. Like, while my [00:28:00] family’s like, Playing games in the hotel room. And I’m like, how did I end up in this situation? And then, like, you know, I was thinking that, but then I really, like, asked myself that question.

 

Not just like, oh, dramatic, how did I end up in this? But really, how did I end up in this? Like, why am I, like, having to write 17, 000 words in a hotel room? And again, this was not for the final draft, everybody, by the way. It got way better by the time it was done. This was for my very first submission, which my publisher, Teacher Goals, was very smart in having me have a deadline before the deadline.

 

I kind of asked myself, why did this happen? And I realized it was all those urgent things, but not the important thing of writing my book. It was even like, well, I have, I need to create content for a podcast every single week. Right. And then for a while I was doing two episodes a week and then, you know, and then it was also doing a coaching call with my members every week.

 

And that’s when I realized I’m like, you know what? The podcast is important to me, but actually getting this book done right now is even more important. So I did some replay episodes. I did some like. Where people interviewed me and I was like, Hey, can I re put that on my podcast or whatever [00:29:00] to like repurpose content and it wasn’t ideal like we did have our podcast downloads go down and so now I’m back to like mostly releasing new stuff every week.

 

But again, I did still keep my commitment of releasing something every week while I finished my book and that book actually got done because then I had more of my creative energy left for writing the book. So that was really kind of what. You know, kind of asking myself and auditing my time a little bit.

 

And that one, I didn’t do an official time audit. I really just asked myself a question and like kind of dove into it. But it’s really about that urgency effect that we talked about before. I think. That is why so many of us feel like we’re busy all the time because there’s all these urgent things we’re doing.

 

And then that, yeah, I never get anything done. That is a sign that you’re letting the important things not happen. You’re letting the urgent things take over. And so we just want to take a look at that and be like, okay, what can we do about that? And just really ask yourself that question and not in a, not in a negative way in a, I can do something about it type of way.

 

Just ask yourself, like, What is it I can do so [00:30:00] I can get the more important things done and really think about it and I might be doing something like I did, like something that is also important to me needs to take a little bit of a backseat so this other important thing can get done, but being really intentional about it, like that was actually a very intentional decision on my part to do that.

 

Chantal: Right. I love that. All right, cool. So then my last, well, second to last question is what is your number one tip for helping preschool parents? Cause you have something pretty big coming up and already in the works. And I am beyond thrilled to be a part of it. Can you share more about your number one tip for helping parents right now?

 

Kelsey: Yeah. So right now it is summer, right? So we are in that time where a lot of parents and teachers be like, Oh, I just need to fully pull back and not even think about school or teaching. Because I just need to recover. But the problem I find with that is for one, it’s a symptom, right? If you feel so burned out that you feel like you need a full two and a half to three months to recover from it, that’s a symptom that [00:31:00] you were doing too much during the school year.

 

Yes. So, if you don’t change anything now, you’re likely going to repeat that during the school year and end up in the same situation again, and I don’t want that for you. So, the big thing we have coming up is our Educate and Rejuvenate conference, which is going to help you to do the both things I recommend over the summer.

 

I recommend that you don’t avoid thinking about school and teaching and preschool. Um, but you also rejuvenate yourself too. So educate and rejuvenate the conference. Summer 2024 is where we are going to help you not only learn new things to get you excited about teaching again, get you excited to go back next school year with new teaching strategies, but also rejuvenate yourself through life coaching.

 

Like kind of the things I talked about today, if you like what I talked about today in today’s interview, I’m teaching like a full. Multiple session segment live to everybody about my three step coaching framework. Um, we’ve got incredible keynotes like Christina Kuzmich and Gaspar Randazzo, who are both incredible and funny.

 

So you’ll get to laugh. We’ve got yoga. [00:32:00] We’ve got dance because we start each day with a workout. It’s going to be a really, really great time to help you not only to educate yourself, but rejuvenate yourself too. So you can feel ready to take on next school year and go in with some better habits so that by next summer you don’t feel as burned out.

 

Again, you’re going to obviously have stress and won’t come up. That’s not going away, but. You’re going to be able to manage it a lot better with everything you learn at this event and get so many exciting ideas that get you ready to go back. So we’re really excited for Educate and Rejuvenate. I call it professional development meets personal development because it’s really giving you so much of both.

 

And that applies if you’re a parent too. It applies to you up leveling as a parent and teaching your kids, but also yourself too, because we need to take care of ourselves. Before we can fully take care of other people.

 

Chantal: Yes. One thing I love the most about this conference is that it’s amazing. The sessions are so specifically tailored to teachers and [00:33:00] also homeschooling parents and some sessions like mine are even great for both.

 

Yeah. And so I’m thrilled and honored to be a part of this conference this year, Kelsey. Um, I’m super excited because my session is going to be three keys to preschool homeschool success. And I’m really excited. This is my first time presenting at your conference. And, uh, if you’re interested in learning more about it or just seeing all of the amazing speakers that we’re going to have there, go ahead and check out the link in the show notes.

 

And that leads me to my last question for you. How can listeners

 

Kelsey: connect

 

Chantal: with you?

 

Kelsey: Yes. Before I do that really quick, I wanted to touch on what you were talking about in the teacher and the homeschool track. Um, you are not limited to one or the other. You get to pick any speaker you want to watch or listen to, but we do make sure we have, so whether you are teaching at home, we’ve got a full panel of speakers for you there.

 

And then we’ve got a full panel of speakers for the teachers as well. So, but then you can pick and choose, you get to watch whatever you want. And I’m so excited for your session.

 

Chantal: Yeah, [00:34:00] thanks. I’m excited for yours. That’s going to be so amazing. I’m even more thrilled that, that this amazing audience has opportunities to be able to take care of themselves and also learn.

 

Because like you said, so many of us want to just unplug and not do anything. But at the same time, if we don’t take care of ourselves and we don’t get our learning and our groove on, then it only, you’re like, we can’t, what’s the word I’m looking for? Recharge and refocus and you really get excited about this upcoming school year.

 

So I’m thrilled. It’s going to be so much fun.

 

Kelsey: Me too. And we’re literally going to get our groove on like you said, because we actually just confirmed a new workout instructor we haven’t had before. And she teaches a class called Wild, which I just discovered and I love it so much. because they teach it at my yoga studio.

 

So it is like Zumba, a lot like Zumba, but with meditation kind of added in too. So meditation and mindfulness, it’s going to be so fun. Oh my gosh, I’m stoked. It’s going to be a good time. So for them to connect with me, they, [00:35:00] for one, I hope that they just join us at the conference that we can chat face to face virtually, and it’s going to be a great time.

 

Also you can find me on all the social platforms that educate and rejuvenate. With the and spelled out because you can’t have the little, and sign on the platforms. Actually, no, but you know what, I think Facebook, I can’t remember either way, just either way, you should be able to find it. And then my podcast is educate and rejuvenate the podcast.

 

So if you enjoyed listening to us chat here, I’ve got a lot of episodes over there. You can listen to as well on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube, wherever you’re watching and listening to this, you might be able to find mine as well. And then my upcoming book is called Educate and Rejuvenate. I, got the waitlist to you, so you can add that to the show notes.

 

So you should be able to check that out. And it comes out August 13th, which I’m really excited about. So there’ll be a lot of, a lot of bonuses. And if you sign up for the waitlist, you can actually get chapter one, depending when this airs very soon. I’m just waiting [00:36:00] on the link. To be able to send out, but we’ll send it to everyone as soon as we have it.

 

And we’ll update the page when soon it’ll be, you’ll just get it immediately.

 

Chantal: Yes. And as soon as it does, I will go ahead and share with you here on the podcast and also on Instagram. if you’re following me, if you’re not, go ahead and check it out on the link in the show notes. But this was amazing.

 

Thank you so much for taking your time, uh, to share all of your expertise and experience with us. I feel like this was a mini masterclass and we are so lucky that we got it. It’s free life coaching. so yeah, if you want to just go ahead and participate and, tune in with Kelsey, all of her links will be, uh, linked in the show notes.

 

And again, thank you so much. This has been really enlightening and rejuvenating.

 

Kelsey: So fun. Thank you so much for having me.

 

If you enjoyed this episode, please hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. And if you’re hungry for more, be sure to check out the book that I wrote. It’s called Educate and Rejuvenate, a three step guide to revitalize your teaching, renew your [00:37:00] spirit, and reignite your passion for teaching. for life.

 

It is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2024. This book takes all the life coaching skills we talk about here on the podcast and put some together in one easy to understand guide. Plus, when you preorder, you’ll receive a PDF workbook and additional resources to deepen your understanding and application of the concepts we’ve covered on the book and on this podcast.

 

You won’t find these resources anywhere else. Visit the link in the show notes to join the waitlist and be the first to know when the book becomes available for pre order. Let’s continue this journey of growth and rejuvenation together until next time.