Mastering the Clock: Building Resilience through Time Management and the Power of AWE

You're listening to the Vet Staff Podcast. Happy New Year. This podcast is the place where you, the veterinary professional, can go to get your head screwed on straight so you can get excited about going to work on Monday mornings and be the most fantabulous version of you you can be. I'm your show host, julie South, and this is episode 166. We're continuing today with part 9 on developing one of your secret superpowers your resilience quotient. Today, we're talking about ruthless time management. If you've just rolled your eyes or stifled a yawn, please bear with me, because when you're the master of time, but not a control freak because there is a difference it means that you have greater work-life balance, your prioritization skills are top-notch and you have a lot less stress in your life. All of this surely has to be a really good thing going into the new year with, and, in turn, it means that your resiliency quotient will be strengthened as well. All good stuff, resilience. Life works much better when we have it. Fortitude, call it whatever you want. Think of it as a muscle, one that lets you flex, bend and bounce forward no matter what life and or work throws at you. For when you have those pear-shaped events in your life, it's that gritty grace under pressure. It's that inner strength that keeps you steady when the going gets rough. If you've ever wondered what makes some people bounce forward from setbacks stronger than ever before, while others crumble or need medication and fall apart, it's because of resilience. Or maybe you felt like you're just one stressor away from burning out or melting down. Well, what if there was a skill you could learn and a toolbox that you could dip into to prevent that? There is, and it's called resilience, in case you hadn't guessed, and it can be both learned, strengthened and used whenever you need it. The Vet Staff podcast is proudly powered by vetclinicjobscom, the new and innovative global job board reimagining veterinary recruitment, connecting veterinary professionals with clinics that shine online. Vetclinicjobscom is your go-to resource for finding the perfect career opportunities and helping vet clinics power up their employer branding game. Visit vetclinicjobscom today to find vet clinics that shine online, so veterinary professionals can find them, vetclinicjobscom. If you've been tuned in to the Resilience Equations series for a while now, you'll have realised that resiliency isn't a one and done pill you can take, or a one and done strategy that you can implement that'll work forever and ever and ever, without you ever having to do anything else again, to put you in the strongest position to continue to bounce forward every time life throws a pear shaped event at you. Instead, you'll have realised that resiliency is a bit like a jigsaw or a mosaic it's made up of lots of intersecting pieces of different shapes that create one overall picture or an image, or probably better described as a mental state. Time management is another one of those components. Firstly, I want to separate someone who's got good time management skills from a control freak, because, although they might look similar from a time management perspective, they're not Someone who likes to control everything in their life and sometimes everything in everyone else's life as well. Most likely has a good handle on time management, but that's pretty much the one and only point of intersection and similarity. Control freak I'm sure you've heard of it, but it's a colloquial term used to describe someone who's got an obsessive need to exert control over everything and everyone. Control freaks usually aren't very resilient. And they're not very resilient because resiliency takes and requires adaptation and flexibility adaptability and flexibility to attitudes or attributes that control freaks don't usually have in great supply or excel at Time management. What we're talking about today is the ability to set goals, to prioritise tasks, to make schedules and to do lists I know all boring and sometimes even use productivity tools to organise time. Effective time management allows you to allocate the appropriate amount of time to work, personal, family and social commitments, hobbies and other activities that maintain very healthy stress levels. How can being able to manage your time better make you more resilient? That's a great question and I'm so pleased you asked. So let's have a look see, because surely having the ability and the skills to both plan and control how you spend each of the hours in your day to do what you want and need to do has to be a good thing, surely? What if I told you that there's a bit of well researched left field tactic that will not only help you build your resilience equation, but it will help you with your time management skills as well? It's left field and it's the ability to create, to look out for, to notice and have more awesome moments in your daily life, or AWE. Okay, so you might scoff at AWE. How on earth is being in AWE of having more awesome moments or something like that going to help me in a practical way? You might be asking. Doesn't that sound a bit too cosmic and woo woo to have any real legs or meaning. Well, it turns out that when we consciously aim to include awesome moments in our lives, preferably each day, it has a huge positive impact on both our ability to bounce forward from those pear shaped moments or events in our lives and our time management skills, because it alters our perspective and our emotional experiences. Now, who would have thunked that? Here's how it works when it comes to enhancing and strengthening our resilience. We have a shift in our perseverance. We have a shift in our perspective. When we experience awesome moments, it auto magically makes our personal concerns seem smaller in the bigger context of the world at large, which, in turn, helps us bounce forward from pear shaped setbacks and or events like that more quickly. Emotion creates or brings about positive emotions, for example, feelings like wonder and inspiration. These in turn, help buffer against stress and play a part in quicker recoveries from negative events, and we usually experience a greater sense of social connection. This is because or often, awesome moments often leads us human beings to having the feeling of being connected to something larger than ourselves, which in turn, creates a sense of support and community, which are critical aspects in building resilience. Talked about those before and when it comes in relation to improving time management. Awesome moments somehow seem to alter our perception of time. Studies suggest that when we experience or it creates the perception that we have more time available in some cases, or seems to slow time right down because we're totally immersed in that awesome moment, when we feel like we've got more time, we feel less rushed and then we have more patience, which is a good thing. With that total, immersive experience is an increase in present moment awareness. This sense of total immersion, of mindfulness, in turn reduces our preoccupation, our rumination over or in or of past or future events. When we're only focusing on the right, here and right now. It can lead to a more efficient and a better use of our time and, because awesome is a positive emotion, our ability to maintain or be more motivated and focused is improved. Hopefully, it's obvious that when we're more motivated and focused, we finish what we start and our time management is top notch. There's research indicating that regular exposure to awe-inspiring moments increases our overall feelings of well-being, and that all makes sense, right? I'm sure that when you think about something you know that fills you with awe. Perhaps you're apparent and it was that very first moment of holding your newborn that filled you with absolute amazement and awe. Or when you successfully deliver a calf or a foal or kittens or puppies that awesomeness of nature and life, of how it helps to fill your cup up. When we have more awesome moments in our lives, we're better able to handle the stresses of daily life and use our time much better. If you're interested, I'll put the research that backs all of this, what I've just said, up in the show notes of this episode for you at vetstuffpodcastcom. And talking about that, alba Einstein, in relation to awe, once said he, to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead. His eyes are closed. Okay, julie, you might be thinking that's all well and good, but my life is pretty ordinary and puppies, kittens, foals, calves and lambs don't get born every day of the year, so that kind of limits that. Yes, that's true, most of us do have ordinary lives. We don't live instagram lives which are hyped up anyway. We get up, we go to work, we come home, we go to bed, we lather, rinse and repeat day in, day out, and it's because, and or when we just plod from day to day that our resilience muscles start to atrophy, and that's why I've spent hundreds of hours putting this series on resilience together, so you can see, hopefully, that it's the things you do when you don't need resilience that actually enhance your resilience. It's when you stretch yourself, like with problem-solving activities that we talked about a couple of weeks ago, or when you challenge your limiting beliefs and now, when you consciously go about exposing yourself to awesome moments on a daily basis, that your resilience is strengthened. So let's have a look at some of the ways that you can include awesome moments in your everyday, regular, maybe even boring and ordinary life. There are two types of awesome moments awesome experienced outside of ourselves or awesome at ourselves, when we have those wow I really did that moments when we surprise ourselves with our own bravery, our courage, our strength, our determination or our cleverness. Those outside of ourselves awesome moments include experiencing natural phenomena, for example, when you're in nature or at the beach, in a forest, in wild weather when you're safe, of course, when you're at the bottom of towering mountains, or maybe you've even climbed a mountain volcanoes, icebergs, horseback riding now, I know that most of us aren't going to be able to stand at the foot of, say, the southern Alps here in New Zealand or walk around the Grand Canyon on our way to work each day. But here in God's own New Zealand, most of us can easily get to a green belt, a park with beautiful trees or be close to a beach where we can marvel at the majesty of waves crashing on the beach. If you can't do any of those, then listening to powerful, evocative music like a symphony or an intricate, sophisticated violin, piano or a guitar solo, something that you can marvel at, that will help bring about an awesome moment as well. When we've got access to more than a thousand songs in our pockets these days, to quote Steve Jobs being able to tune into something like music, like evocative music, is easily within our reach, and because you're listening to this podcast right now, you also have it within your power to reach and to listen to evocative music as well. You can do that via Spotify or iTunes or YouTube we have the technology. Another way is to immerse yourself in a natural history documentary. So David Attenborough is hard to beat with his six decades of presentations behind him, but you could also check out Jane Goodall's work on chimpanzees in Tanzania or American filmmaker and conservationist Werner Hitzog. He's explored just about everything from volcanoes to the Amazon rainforest. Or Chris Packham, the BBC presenter, with his Spring Watch, autumn Watch and Winter Watch series. Maybe Professor Brian Cox with his Wonders of the World and Wonders of the Solar System. If physics and the solar system fill you with awe, then he's another one to tap into. Another way is to explore the arts and culture. Open your eyes and your ears to see the absolute artistic talent that surrounds you that some people have, whether that's the ability to shoot an amazing photo, to paint, to sing, to play a musical instrument, to write music. And here's a left field crazy idea for you. Maybe you could have a share your hobby or downtime passion, week or month at your clinic. Invite your teammates to share what lights them up outside of work, to share their happy place. I guarantee you'll be amazed at the different types of talent and gifts that you're surrounded by each day at work. If you do that, you'll get to see your colleagues with new eyes and maybe, just maybe, you'll think wow, which is another form of awe. So those are some of the outside of you awesome events or moments that you can incorporate into your day and life on a regular basis. The you inspired awesome events include giving yourself permission to be wowed by the things that you do and that you've done. Now, I'm not talking in a narcissistic way, but with something that you've achieved that took some work, for example, like the professional qualifications that you have. Those took brains and years of your life to get. Or maybe you've run a marathon or have changed your life around to be healthy from unhealthy. Maybe you've lost a few or a lot of kilos. That's awesome. That's awe inspiring. Or you've quit an unhealthy habit like alcohol or drugs or nicotine. Or you've learned to do something like play a musical instrument, or learn to swim as an adult. Or learn to ride a bike as an adult, something you've always wanted to do. Maybe to play the piano learn to play the piano, something that you've always wanted to do but never thought that you could. Or maybe you've skydived or bungee jumped or learned to scuba dive, or given birth, or you were at your child's birth. The memory and the acknowledgement of these can all be awesome wow moments If you give yourself permission to glow in their glory and let them be awesome for you more times regularly. I just want to give you a few moments now, with some background music for you to think about some of the awesome moments that you've had in your life music. Now let's look at how managing your time better can help strengthen your resilience equation. Most people who have good time management skills focus on just one thing at a time. They set themselves clear objectives, they know how to prioritize and to limit distractions. All of these things are excellent skills to have to strengthen your grit and resilience. What having good time management skills does as well is it means that you have better work life balance, which is also good for resiliency, because you're more likely to be refreshed and less burnt to a frazzle, so that when a pear shaped moment upsets your life, you're better able to handle it. Here's a framework and some strategies you can incorporate into your life around managing your time. First, you've got to become ruthless about prioritization, and I mean ruthless R-U-T-H-L-E-S-S. Re-evaluate your commitments regularly, utilize and take advantage of productivity tools, take your breaks, hydrate, limit your distractions and power others to assist, set boundaries and strategize daily and weekly plans. Now I like this framework because not only did I make it up, but because, when you re-evaluate your commitments, it ensures that you regularly review your obligations, because sometimes commitments have a habit of growing a bit like topsy. When you regularly evaluate, though, you can drop or delegate tasks that really aren't the best use of your time, or maybe you don't even need to do them anymore. Utilizing productivity tools, whether apps or planners, sets you up for organizing tasks with reminders so that you remember when you take breaks. This means taking morning and afternoon breaks that employment law affords you. If you're in New Zealand, use this time to step away and stretch your eyes, to look around you at different things and to breathe. Stretching your eyes and taking notice of what's going on around you improves your situational awareness. We talked about that a few episodes back as another part of the jigsaw. Another jigsaw piece to help strengthen your resilience equation. You know why this is important. You're a medico, so make sure that you build in small moments to drink water and to eat healthily. Staying hydrated is good for your body and your energy levels. Limit distractions. Those electronic pings and dings that go off during the day come with their own stresses, so set boundaries around emails and social media alerts so that you can focus during the critical times and the periods that you need to focus. This extends to limiting distractions at the dining table as well. Make a family or a flat rule that no devices at the table and during meals. Give those you share your house and your life with your undivided attention. E Empower others. Train the people around you that you work with. Upskill, mentor support To help like, for example, the nurses. Upskill them, trust them to help with patient prep, with lab tests and with administering tasks, intubating, with everything that they are professionally skilled to do. If you're a vet and vice versa. If you're the nurse, then put up your hand to get better work, life satisfaction and empower the vets to do what vets can do At home. Assign chores to your kids so that you're not left doing everything. S Set boundaries. This is oh so important for both time management and for your mental well-being. Let others know when you're available for questions or urgent needs. Block your calendar to protect the heads down work periods At home. Let your kids know that they can have your undivided attention. After you've got out of your work gear, after you've got out of your uniform, give yourself time to transition from one segment of your day into the next. And finally S Strategize on a weekly and a daily basis. Review next day, next week's schedules and task lists. Confirm your priorities. Remind yourself of what your priorities are. Plan your most demanding work for when your energy is at the highest level for you. Plan ahead so hopefully, few things actually take you by surprise when you're ruthless with your time. It helps build your resilience through balanced self-care, efficiency and delegation at work and at home. I hope you found this helpful. If you did, can I ask you to do me a favor? Please can you help me spread the VET staff podcast word by telling three of your friends and colleagues about how this show helps veterinary professionals get your head screwed on straight so you can get excited about going to work on Monday mornings. Thank you. If you enjoyed today's episode, then please hit that follow button or whatever. You're listening to this right now, because it means that you'll automatically receive next week's episode direct to your audio feed and you won't miss out. I look forward to spending another half an hour or so with you next week when we'll be looking at communication as another tool to help strengthen your resiliency levels. We're going to look at assertion versus aggression and how one adds value while the other strips of power. This is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be the most fantabulous and resilient version of you you can be by screwing your head on straight and getting excited about going to work on Monday mornings. The VET staff podcast is proudly powered by vetclinicjobscom, the new and innovative global job board reimagining veterinary recruitment, connecting veterinary professionals with clinics that shine online. Vetclinicjobscom is your go to resource for finding the perfect career opportunities and helping vet clinics power up their employer branding game. Visit vetclinicjobscom today to find vet clinics that shine online, so veterinary professionals can find them. Vetclinicjobscom.