How do I manage a hectic schedule that is always changing? (Part 1)

Korgi recently asked users for questions to help them get organized and realize their goals. This question is a great fit for everyone who’s trying to get out from under an overwhelming schedule. The answer is in a three-part series of posts, to give you time to reflect and practice each step before moving on to the next.

The first step in shifting away from being caught in a hectic, always changing schedule isn't fixing your environment. It's changing your focus.

1. What is making my schedule hectic? An audit of your day will help fix this, along with clear steps to create and retain calm in what once was chaos.
2. When and why is my schedule always changing? This calls for another audit because the right fix is grounded in the reasons for those constant shifts — and whether those reasons are internal, external or both.
3. How do I manage my schedule better? Whether your days are hectic or calm, it’s important to create a consistent, effective approach to your day.

Before we solve for those, let's lay a new foundation for your day. The first step in shifting away from being caught in a hectic, always changing schedule isn't fixing your environment. It's changing your focus. I regularly say, and firmly believe, that what we focus on ignites. So focusing on an overwhelming or disrupting daily schedule will create more of the same.

The first step in shifting away from being caught in a hectic, always changing schedule isn't fixing your environment. It's changing your focus.

Instead redirect your focus to your “Blue Sky”: What is the most meaningful possible outcome of my being in this role or space? Why should you think “Blue Sky” before solving your problems? Because Blue Sky adds context that, at best, transforms those problems into opportunities, and at worst, usually lessens their daily blow. Limitlessness is very forgiving of granular stuff and moments that aren't perfect or rewarding and may, in fact, be irritating or upsetting. Chaos-inducing things can't compare to the vastness of anyone’s Blue Sky (think of the tiny cars and houses you see when you’re flying in an airplane…they’re little postage stamps from the window where you are). So getting to a Blue Sky mindset is your first step towards joy and freedom in the exact environment you’re currently feeling hectic in.

Focusing on an overwhelming or disrupting daily schedule will create more of the same. Instead redirect your focus to your “Blue Sky”: What is the most meaningful possible outcome of my being in this role or space?

Even better, unlike the meetings and tasks and drop-ins that disrupt your day, Blue Sky is something you completely control. It’s internally defined. It doesn't depend on what your job or family or friend group, etc. thinks your role or usefulness is in that space. It is your own true north, from your mind, heart or spirit. And it can — and will — evolve or change as you do. So when you step outside of the chaos to ask, “What is the best possible outcome, to me, of my being in this space?” That’s when the shift towards tranquility begins.

I was in a difficult role many years ago where there was a lot of chaos and friction in everyday moments. But my Blue Sky absolutely was leveraging my position to create limitlessness and career opportunities for all of the young, amazing people on my team and outside of my door. Everything I did, I led with that lens. And each time chaos materialized, it became easier to navigate because whatever the issue was would always pale compared to being an invested mentor and champion. That’s why the internal shift to thinking about and articulating and embracing and leading with a Blue Sky is the first step in changing your current hectic situation. You’ve heard that you can’t control events, but you can control your reaction to them. Blue Skying offers even more agency: you can’t control events, but you can define your opportunities inside of them.

You’ve heard that you can’t control events, but you can control your reaction to them. Blue Skying offers even more agency: you can’t control events, but you can define your opportunities inside of them.

What does this look like in practice? Here are two examples:

1. You’re a staff-level writer in a room, a short-content editor at an agency, or a social media volunteer for a non-profit. Enter Chaos and Friction. Recently, you’re being inundated with additional work requests, added to a two-hour weekly standing meeting, etc. Before Blue Sky mindset, you’d be looking at your schedule and trying to move things around, maybe frustrated about even more being put on your plate. Now stop and think about your Blue Sky in this space. You might say: this role is an outlet for your endless creativity. Next, reframe the new demands as more possible opportunities to be creative. In your writers’ room, maybe you're asked to write dummy text for the magazine article prop that one character waves at another. It's not your job, no, but...is it an opportunity to be creative? To write something that deepens the moment for the cast and show? At the non-profit, you’re asked to do an email blast to upcoming event attendees. How beautifully can you design that? How inspiring can the language be? That is the power of leading with Blue Sky.
2. In my own Chaos and Friction experience I referenced earlier, I was Blue Skying career and personal championship of my younger colleagues and team members. So asks to do more became perfectly aligned for me. I started saying yes to every big or little request. Then I'd let people know I'd be working with a team member. And that team member would join me in the beginning, then replace me over time. It was a great mentoring opportunity, and suddenly, the constant shifts and requests made me joyful.

What does reading this inspire or reveal for you? As you face another frenetic day, can you pause to do this Blue Sky exercise? It will help you build a practice of reframing everything that doesn't necessarily matter to you so that it's in service to something that truly does. 

Blue Skying is the first step to getting out of experiencing a hectic, always changing schedule and into a state of constant possibility. Next up? The audit.