I have been talking a lot recently on my blog and on my Facebook Coaching page about how valuable it is to write in a journal to help think through and make sense of our experiences, along with how to be more decisive and even the value in our ongoing personal study and development. What do they all have in common?

They take time.

Given that, here is the question — do you use only the left-over time you find in your day for these things, hoping you will almost magically be able to wring some focus for yourself after tending to work, family, commute, pets, chores, and the countless other tasks we face that, like some horrible manifest destiny, expand to fill every last second if you let it?

That is the point, we need to intentionally schedule time for ourselves. Our own development and self-care should not be an afterthought, as if it is not of value. Rather, we need to intentionally schedule our own time for ourselves, for if we are not engaging in our own self-care, it is likely that nobody else is doing it for us.

After all, why would somebody else see this of value if we do not value ourselves enough to make this happen? Not hope it happens, but MAKE it happen.

We schedule time for everything else of value that we do, right? So, why not schedule time for ourselves?

Go on, open your calendar or planner or whatever is used, and schedule time for yourself. Go on, try for at least 30 minutes. Not one day, not when work eases up, not when school is on a break, and certainly not “Once I catch up.” Those things never come, and as a result we never get to it. Schedule it TOMORROW!! 

So, I challenge you — schedule 30 minutes for yourself tomorrow for your OWN personal development. Do whatever you want — read an article, journal a bit, do some exercise, take a walk and sit in a park, or even ponder how satisfied you are with your life right now and have as a goal taking ONE step to improve it — but do something for yourself that will promote your own personal development.

Hey, you never know, this may just be the first step to a new you.