As the second half of this experiment begins, here’s the reality: 

Nothing can move forward in this plan until employment is secured. Admittedly, I haven’t had much time to devote to this. Not as much as I’d like to have had, anyway.

This is interesting to consider and reveals a need to take a closer look at how I prioritize and spend my time.

If a priority activity fails to occur one or two days, there’s not necessarily a need for concern. Life may have gotten in the way, or we were learning new time management skills. But after two weeks of no headway on a priority activity, it’s time to consider flipping and reversing things within the plan. 

While being an obvious priority, I didn’t have this resume/networking/job searching scheduled into the day’s hours. That’s because my existing non-negotiable priority commitments take up 18 hours a day. I knew how vital the employment piece was to the plan’s overall success, and I hoped every day that I would miraculously find time or an extra wind to carry me through an all-nighter. But it had yet to happen as of Day 15.

Day 16 reflections reveal that I’m no longer willing to keep starting each day hoping I’ll find time in those 18 hours, and ending each day discouraged that yet another day has passed without making headway.

So this means that I absolutely must reshape my days. It may only take a few days of reshape to make the progress I first need, and then things can resume like usual. This may look like taking a day off work, not cooking meals, or *gasp* walking Finn less than his 2.5 hours each day.

If I’ve learned one thing since last year, it’s that plans are just the framework. The mindset with which we enter the frame is crucial in determining its success. Since starting this 30-day experiment, I have continuously asked myself these questions as a check-in every few days:

• How badly do you want this goal?
• How focused are you willing to be to carry out the plan?
• For what are you willing to delay its results?

It’s very easy to lose sight of how much time we spend answering all of the world’s attempts for our attention. Emails, TV, social media interactions, texts, and voice messages – these all take time that, without awareness – can add up to hours each day.

Before launching JenneralThoughts, I followed the advice of Marie Forleo, which I learned while listening to The Diary of a CEO episode during which she was interviewed. In it, Marie mentioned taking an inventory of all time spent on activities for seven days to identify what, if any, hours you have to reallocate to the singular goal.

When I looked at my seven-day inventory, I saw that time was being spent being responsive to the desires of others, which may be fine if not working on an intensely paced plan. But once the 30-day experiment began, emails were skimmed, TV became limited to one movie a week, social media interaction went down to almost nothing, and text messages other than those relating to my highest priorities were unanswered. Those that were critical were answered all at once during a chunk of time set aside once a day.

A plan is only as strong as the focus of its executioner. You have to be willing to say no.

Saying no to yourself is one thing, but saying no to others will make people upset, so prepare yourself. For recovering people pleasers reading this, it’ll require practice not to feel guilty choosing your own plan for your time, not theirs. I’ve read two fantastic books on this topic in the past three years, which helped me immensely: Not Nice by Dr. Aziz Gazipura and The Power of No by James Altucher and Claudia Azula Altucher. I recommend these to assist in becoming normalized to your right to spend your time however you desire, without explanation.

In the words of the great Missy Elliott, Is it worth it? Let me work it. I put my thing down, flip it, and reverse it.

Though something tells me she and I are referring to two very different things, it really is that simple: when something is worth it, we will work it. And when it’s not working, we’ll put our plan down, flip it, and reverse it – whatever it takes, right?

[queue the cowbell]