Do you have the brain of a teenager?

School started this week for my kids. FINALLY! {Am I right??!} Our district decided to do a hybrid schedule which means students attend 2 days in person and then have 3 days of remote learning at home. This is not my ideal scenario, but we take what we can get these days.

I'm not really worried about my kids. They are resilient, they chose to come to the world at this time, and I know they have is required to make this year successful.

Now, me.....well, that's a whole other story. I am not sure I am prepared for this. I was banking on my kids going back to school full-time, so this new schedule will require more of me. Being a mom, a remote-learner supporter, and a life coach entrepreneur is a lot of hats for me to wear/coordinate.

This means I need to get my schedule in order and stick to it. But this schedule is going to need to be specific if I'm going to manage all these many areas in my life.

I am going to pick on my 17-year-old son for a second. He is a Senior this year -- how did that happen??! He is an avid mountain biker, a great brother, a smart kid, and struggles a bit with broad instruction. I am slowly learning that he cannot read my mind {what?} and that I have to give him specific instructions when I want something done.

For example, if I say "please go clean-up your room", I am thinking: pick up all the laundry on the floor, throw away the garbage, make your bed, put away the tools you have out, wipe the toothpaste off the sink, etc. Unless I say those exact words, his interpretation of "clean up your room" is VERY different than mine. He may accomplish some of those tasks, but usually, he does one or two and then decides his room is clean.

Guess what? This is just like our pesky lower brains. Unless we give ourselves very specific instructions of what we need to accomplish (and engage our higher brain), it is going to default to the easiest route possible.

So, I could have in my schedule "work on webinar." What does that even mean? My lower brain is going to think that means spend 5 minutes browsing the internet for ideas. But if instead I say "create opening thoughts for webinar" suddenly it has a specific action and I can go to work on it.

We tend to avoid creating these specifics because it sounds harder to do. I would encourage you to question that. We can either take the time ahead of time and specifically plan, or we can spend the time later on trying to catch up. Either way the time will be spent, and believe me, it feels much better to be control of your schedule than at the effect of it!

To all you many hat-wearers, I honor you!! You've got this! And if you are feeling a bit too overwhelmed, let me help. I've got many other great tools to help you not only manage but enjoy your time and life.