The Principal's Handbook

Time Mindset Matters: Abundance vs. Scarcity Thinking (Principals)
[00:00:00] In today's episode, I'm going to talk about our mindset around time and how we can think about it from an abundant or scarcity mindset. So stay tuned.
Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self care. I'm Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.
From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work life balance, I'm Barb Flowers. We'll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.
. Welcome back to the podcast. Today, I'm going to talk about our mindset around time. The number one thing that I hear from clients and from people that I'm just [00:01:00] catching up with and I say, Hey, how are you? What's going on? Is there busy people are always responding with, oh, I've been so busy.
Oh, there's so much going on. And I'm not saying that that's not true, but that is our number. One thing that we focus on is how busy we are. And in the us, we live in a culture where being busy is like a badge of honor. It's an achievement. Like if you're busy, then you are very important. And so we focus on how busy-ness is a good thing.
You know, we put our kids in lots of activities. We keep our kids busy and I do all of this too. This is not to place any judgment on anyone. It's just what we do in our culture. We are constantly busy. I have been guilty of over-scheduling over booking my calendar, where I would have three or four events each evening.
And I worked all day and I'm running event to event, to event where I have no downtime.
It's just constant events, constant things going on, and I'm keeping myself busy. And what I've noticed is I really do [00:02:00] that so that I feel like I'm accomplishing something and I feel like I am getting a lot done.
I am being productive and we need to reframe how we think about time. And so that's what we're going to talk about today because. If you really think about the concept of time, it's really interesting. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. But if you think about how long something takes, time is our perception.
Think about driving in the car. I hate driving in the car. If you drive in the car for 10 hours, right. And then you binge a TV show for 10 hours. Those don't feel like the same amount of time I can watch TV. And if you're on Netflix or Hulu, and it says, are you still watching?
Because you can just go show to show, to show. And before you know, it. a couple hours have passed, but if I'm in the car, it feels like it takes forever, but it's the same amount of time. So it's all about our thoughts about time, how we perceive time, what we find enjoyable, [00:03:00] what we don't find enjoyable. And so we really have to be aware of those thoughts and bring that awareness so that we can change our thinking about time. And the average American spends four and a half hours per day on their phone. That's one sixth of our day spent on the phone.
Distracted scrolling. Not really being engaged in things that we need to be engaged in. So we talk about how busy we are, but, we can get sucked into things really quick things that are made to be addictive, like binge watching TV and looking at our phones and. Just doing things that we kind of drown everything out and we are.
Doing things that are numbing, where we don't really have to think about it. It's easy to get sucked in. And use a lot of time in those areas. So what we really need to start doing is thinking about time and really becoming aware of where we feel like. We don't have enough time. And there's two ways to look at our mindset around time.
There's a scarcity mindset and [00:04:00] there's an abundant mindset. Anything with scarcity, it comes from a mindset of lack or not enough. And if you come from abundance, you're coming from a mindset of enough. I have enough, I have everything I need. And it's easy to get overwhelmed and stressed. When we come from that scarcity mindset, because we think, oh, no, we don't have enough.
It's it's the same. If we don't think we have enough money, if we don't think we have enough food, right? Like these are things that our body is meant to overwhelm us and stress us. Our body was wired this way to protect us. This is how we would get enough food and make sure that we had the things that we need to survive.
Well, now we do it with time. We get overwhelmed and stressed and come from this scarcity mindset because it's what our brain automatically does. And then. There's so many things that we could be engaging in throughout the day that it, it just brings us into this automatic scarcity mindset about time. I'm going to give some examples of having a scarcity mindset. And I. Bet a lot of you can relate to these examples because I [00:05:00] know I could, but one thing that happens with a scarcity mindset is a lot of stress and anxiety. Like I said, it brings overwhelming stress. But a lot of this comes from a feeling of a never ending to-do list and I'm not knocking to-do lists.
I'm a huge fan of making lists. Prioritizing know what I need to get done. But we create these never-ending to-do list. And the problem with that, especially in education is that list will never get done. When I was a teacher, I could spend hours in my classroom. And I was never done like organizing, creating systems that made it better for kids in the classroom. Grading papers, planning, lessons, preparing things, creating resources. I could spend so much time.
And I see that with teachers all the time. Right? Like if you don't set those boundaries, You could be in your classroom all the time. As a principal, I had a never ending to do list. I always had stuff that needed to be done. And right when I would think I got my to-do [00:06:00] list done, or things are going great, I would have one of those days where all of these events happened that were unexpected.
There were lots of behaviors, you know, student issues. Parents calling whatever it was when I thought I was caught up, I never was. And so I had to learn over time that I couldn't stress about that because the to-do list would never be done. I just had to learn to prioritize. And look at it in a different way, because you think you've taken care of everything and then something happens that you didn't expect.
So you have to be careful with that with having lists and having this idea that. I'm going to check it off and I'm going to get everything done. Also, we get very impatient with a scarcity mindset. Like we think that we should have what we want right now, especially when it comes through time. Like we think we should have this list on.
Now. We think that these tests need done now. And so we just rush and we rush rush, rush, and we don't enjoy the process. And if you're trying to achieve [00:07:00] anything and you're rushing and you're not enjoying the process,
it makes it really tough.
So for example, like meal prepping, it's not always something I want to do. But if I give myself and I block off that time to meal prep for the week. And I just really enjoy the process of cooking. I don't mind cooking, but it's just the thought of I'm so busy that makes me not enjoy it. So if I block off that time and just think I'm going to enjoy doing this, because I know I'll have healthy meals for the week, it really changes your mindset and your thoughts. About what you're doing in that moment.
And I can just focus on that and I'm not thinking, oh, I should be cleaning the house and, you know, doing other things. So. Thinking about how much you're impatient and rushing through tasks to just get things done. Also, you have a scarcity mindset when you don't prioritize and you think everything is urgent. I see this all the time in schools, we think everything is so important and our minds can be really dramatic about this.
Like I said, it's just part of how our brain is wired. And I know I'm guilty of this. I can get [00:08:00] really dramatic about, oh my gosh, I have to get this done. And this done and this done. And if I stop and think about it, it doesn't need to be done right now. Like, because I'm also a planner. And so I like to have things done way ahead of time and I would get myself into this like, oh, it needs done right now.
And it doesn't, and it would stress me out because I felt like everything's urgent. And I see that happen with a lot of teachers, a lot of administrators that we just think that everything's urgent and it causes a lot of stress in the building because we're all on this, we have so much to do.
And. It needs to be done right now. And if we just stop and take a breath and think about that, you know, it can really help us realize that not everything's urgent, not everything has to be done right now. Also with a scarcity mindset, you have limited thinking. So you focus on what can't be done or achieve due to your time constraints.
So we really put stress on ourselves about time. We don't make time for ourselves. We don't make time for self care. Our health, you know, we're [00:09:00] just reacting to everything because we don't have time. We just have this limited thinking versus thinking what if I created routines? And what if I created a schedule for myself where not only did I have time to. Obviously go to work and do the things that I need to do, but I had time for myself. So that's limited thinking when you're focusing on what can't be done versus on strategizing and problem solving on what you can do to fix that. So I want you to know if you're living in a scarcity mindset.
It happens. I have been there, our brain, like I said, it goes to the negative to protect us. So I don't want you to feel guilty if you're in this negative scarcity mindset. But what I want you to do is become aware of this and know that you have the ability to change those thoughts, because we can actually rewire our brain to think about time differently.
So you can think about time with an abundant mindset. And I want to explain a little bit about what that abundant mindset. That would look like.
So first you would just appear calm and have more composure [00:10:00] because you would approach the things you need to do with a relaxed and confident mindset.
You know, that it'll all get done. You know, that not everything is urgent. So you just approach everything in a more relaxed and confident way. Confident people don't get on the busy bus. They don't freak out about time. And so when you come in calm and you know that you have enough time where you know that you can create the time you need. You give off a totally different presence to people, and you're gonna feel better yourself because you're just less stressed. Also, if you learn to enjoy the process of whatever you're trying to do.
So take time to enjoy activities, be present in the moment. And I will say this takes so much intention and practice. It sounds nice. Enjoy the moment be present, but this really takes a lot of intention. And for me, it's creating boundaries around my phone because that is what causes a lack of presence for me is being on my phone is checking.
My email is checking. My Instagram and [00:11:00] that really makes it hard to be intentional and be present in the moment. So I am a constant work in progress in this area, but it really does come down to. Putting boundaries and, you know, for example, also like working out, I've created routines where I work out in the morning and I put boundaries around my kids because I work out at home. Guys, when I'm working out, you can be upstairs, watch TV, whatever you need to do.
But this is my half hour of time. And having those boundaries allows me to enjoy the activity versus the whole time I'm working out being like, I don't have time for this. My kids need me. I need to be doing other things. This is terrible. Like, I really take that time to enjoy what I'm doing and what I've scheduled into my day. Also learning to prioritize.
So again, if you prioritize then not everything is urgent because you know, the high priority tasks and you know what needs to be done. And this is something I focus on as part of my coaching framework for time management. Is, you have to start your day by prioritizing your day and setting realistic goals of what's important and what you can get done in that day. [00:12:00] It brings a sense of peace and calm.
And then if I get those priorities done, then I feel really accomplished. And I'm going to put a link in the show notes, but download my ultimate morning routine checklist, because that also comes with a seven day free mini course. And in there I talk about creating routines. I give you my prioritization method that I use in my coaching program.
Download that checklist and you will get those emails for that email course, And it really will be helpful in helping you. Utilize some of these time management skills, but also prioritize your day. And then also change your thinking. So see opportunities and possibilities without being constrained by time limits.
So if you want to do something, if you have a goal. I just know that you,, it is possible. If you have a goal to lose weight, it, it is possible to include walking in your day, every day. It is possible to get 10,000 steps a day. It is possible to work out every day for 30 minutes. Um, I see a lot where people say, I don't know how people have time for that, or I [00:13:00] don't know how people do that.
Like you have to change your thinking about it and you have to change your programming and just know that if it's possible for other people, it's possible for you, because we all have the same 24 hours in a day. it's all about how we use it. It's all about having that abundant mindset of, I can do this.
If another person can do this, I can do this too. And thinking about how you can get that done. And if you want help thinking about your time with an abundant mindset, join my new eight week coaching program. Maximize your time. We focus on your mindset around time. I help you set clear priorities. I help you learn to implement routines into your day and evaluate your day.
So you can see where you're spending your time. And this program is actually a hybrid of coaching and a course. But you get eight one-on-one sessions in this program. And by the end of this program, you're going to feel better. Work-life balance. Less stressed. You're. You're going to have that personalized plan for using your time and get more done in less time. So I have the link to join in the show notes podcast listeners get $200 off [00:14:00] the program.
If you click the link below, it's a special link for podcast listeners, where you're going to get $200 off the program. Like I said, I hope you join me in that program. I want to help you manage your time because when you learn to manage your time from an abundant mindset, it really is.
Life-changing, you're going to feel better. You're going to be happier and you're going to achieve so many more things that you want to because you're not stressed out and overwhelmed all the time.
Thanks so much for joining us today for another episode of the principles handbook, make sure to follow me on Instagram at bark flowers. I was coaching.com. And if you like the show, share this episode with a friend, keep in mind, you have the power to shape your life. According to the mindset you choose. I hope you have a great week and I will see you back here next.
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