Your Life. Work. Map.
The 5 quick steps you can repeat every day to live your best life full of balance.

Welcome! I’m Lynda Pittsley, CEO of llvirtual.com and founder of the Life. Work. Balance. System.

You are an amazing entrepreneur and you are already established in your business working from home. You also feel overwhelmed with your work and need a simple daily system to follow to create a balance between life and work. Follow this schedule each day using the 5 easy steps of the Life. Work. Map. to live your best life. 

First, allow yourself to be flexible. Nothing below is written in stone, this is simply a guideline to help you to begin to think differently about how you approach your day. You are the creator of your own life and you have the freedom to tweak your day to what works best for you. 

Now, take the next steps to follow Your Life. Work. Map.

Step 1. Do a Reality Check. 

Take as much or as little time you need on each step of the Reality Check.

• Feel safe – focus on feeling safe wherever you currently are physically.
• Look around – take in with your eyes the room and notice all the small details about it, or see the trees and buildings around you if you are outside. Really start to feel in your body a knowing of where you are on the physical map and on Your Life. Work. Map.
• Breathe – take 3 deep breaths.
• Go Inside – close your eyes and start to make small movements with your body circle your hips sit up tall and really feel the core of your body or make big movements with your arms if that feels good to you, really feel the movement of your physical body. Really grounding yourself into your body. Feeling so grateful for your amazing core that keeps you sitting tall, nourished and ready to serve your clients swiftly and in an aligned way today and every day.
• Feel peaceful – focus on how this quick Reality Check makes you feel. Are you feeling more peaceful? Are you feeling more focused? Are you ready to take your next best action? Open your eyes and take this feeling of peace into your next step on the map.
• Hydrate – drink plenty of water throughout the day. Give your body a reason to say “Thank you!” to you for taking care of it.
• Repeat – as needed.

This is a place where you can easily be triggered by your mind to feel overwhelmed by the day ahead, it is ok to feel this way but we can change our thinking. If we are focused on all the tasks ahead instead of the one next task that needs to get done we are not giving ourselves any other way to feel but overwhelmed. Give yourself another way do a Reality Check. This will clear your mind and prepare you to move forward knowing that you can move onto the next step and these things are ok for now. 

To be able to stand in the face of anything and pause, and not numb, ignore, or distract yourself takes both bravery and courage.

This can mean many things here but the goal is always to start back at #1 with a Reality Check. Ask yourself: What actually is happening right now and what is my next best step?

This may be that the kids are late to school and now you are rushing around or you ran out of your favorite lipstick. Both are valid but one more urgent than the other. Start back at #1 and then do a quick check in on each step to make sure you know where you are on the map. Then take action and move forward knowing you can move onto the next step and these things are ok for now. 

Step 2. Nourish! 

Morning Routine:

Eat breakfast, Drink Coffee (my beverage of choice), get the kids off to school, get dressed if needed, insert here any of your morning activities here that happen before you start work. This is dedicated time in your physical schedule for your morning activities – whatever they need to be to fill your tank. Feel free to use this time to your advantage. If you like a more laid back flexible routine then build that into your schedule. You are in charge of your schedule. 

I like to build time in my schedule on days I have video calls. When I know that I have a video call I add to my calendar or set an alarm for 30 minutes before the call. I take this time to get dressed and/or fix my hair. If I have time left after that, I can go back to work or use it as free time before the call. 

Step 3. Journal and/or repeat Reality Check as needed until you feel empowered to take the next step on your map. 

Again, allow yourself to be flexible here. Nothing above or below is written in stone, this is simply a guideline to help you to begin to think differently about how you approach your day. You are the creator of your own life and you have the freedom to tweak your day to what works best for you. What will, at this time, make you feel rejuvenated and ready to shift from life to work? 

Step 4. Balance your priorities and take action on your Life. Work. Map.

This is a great time to stop and create your own Life. Work. Map. if you haven’t already. This is as simple as copying this Life. Work. Map. Template document into your own Google Drive and adding in your own info.

5 Steps to Balance Your Priorities and Take Action:

1. Check calendar/email for any urgent actions:

•  Take action/Reply only if urgent – this is not a time to start diving into tasks. This is a time to respond only to let clients know you have received their urgent message and will look into it as soon as possible.
• Reality Check – This is a place where you can easily be triggered by your mind to feel overwhelmed by the day ahead, it is ok to feel this way but we can change our thinking. If we are focused on all the tasks ahead instead of the one next task that needs to get done we are not giving ourselves any other way to feel but overwhelmed. Give yourself another way and do a Reality Check. This will clear your mind and prepare you to move forward knowing that you can move onto the next step and these things are ok for now.

2. Your Life. Work. Map.:

1. Schedule out in your calendar or project management system any new tasks that have come in via email (I use Asana and Google Calendars to manage my tasks). I find it easier to just create the task now and schedule them all for today and when I follow my Life. Work. Map. I move them where they fit into the schedule and then reply to the client. 

2. Review your calendars and move all the new tasks you created to where they fit best. Really envisioning the workflow you desire, feel the freedom to organize your schedule in a way that feels good to you. Know that you can use your voice to tell your clients that they can have this back by X date and it will be okay, with a full knowing that you have set a deadline you can keep all while maintaining a life and work balance. 

You also want to be scheduling breaks and meals into your calendar. Block this time out intentionally. 

3. List the most Important Priorities for the day (life/work). These are the things that must be completed by the end of today: 

List Them Here

4. List the other priorities for the day (life/work). These are the other responsibilities you have for the day. 

List Them Here

5. Take action!

• Pick a task and get to work. Trust that you know where to start.
• Adjust your task list as needed as you take action. 
• Strike through the things that you complete
• Adjust your list to be in the priority order as you go so you know which task to start on next. 
• If it supports you add a couple of days ahead but stop if you feel overwhelmed by your schedule. 

What to do when taking action is hard. Are you freezing up staring blankly at your computer? Start to take notice of where you are freezing up and not doing anything. Give voice to those feelings of overwhelm of the day ahead, it is ok to feel this way but we can change our thinking. If we are focused on all the tasks ahead instead of the one next task that needs to get done we are not giving ourselves any other way to feel but overwhelmed. Give yourself another way. You took the time to create your life map for the day, you took the time to organize your tasks as priority changes, you know what needs to happen next, you deserve to live and work in a way that feels peaceful and aligned with your true self. Balanced.

Step 4: Review Your Life. Work. Map. that you created at the end of the day before you enter into downtime. Write down at least three things you are grateful for that happened today. Give thanks to this gift of a day. One more beautiful day you get to be alive working toward living your best life. Living and working in this new way.

1. Today I am grateful for:
2. Today I am grateful for:
3. Today I am grateful for:

Trust that you did a good job, and that is enough for now. Trust that you can be the creator of your schedule. Trust that you are worthy of everything you can create in your life. Trust that you can repeat the 5 steps every day to live your best life and a life full of balance.   

Step 5. Rest and rejuvenate. Rejuvenate and rest. 

Evening Routine:

This is dedicated time in your physical schedule for your evening activities – whatever they need to be to fill your tank. Feel free to use this time to your advantage. If you like a more laid back flexible routine then build that into your schedule. You are in charge of your schedule. What makes you feel rested and rejuvenated? Ready to face the next day.

Do a Reality Check – This is another place where you can easily be triggered by your mind to feel overwhelmed or anxious about leaving work behind, it is ok to feel this way but we can change our thinking. If we are focused on all the tasks we have to do tomorrow or are afraid of what will happen if we forgot something or did something wrong today we will never feel at peace. If you do not allow yourself to take the time needed to nourish, rest and rejuvenate you will not be able to peacefully approach the next step in Your Life Map. Give yourself another way do a Reality Check.

IMPORTANT:

Wherever you realize you have lost the way on the map stop and do a Reality Check. This takes no time at all. Take a moment to feel safe and really look around you and take in where you are and what is physically around you. Then continue on through each step and do a check in on each step of the map. Then take action on your next best step.