Do you ever feel like there’s just too much going on to think? I know I do.
Between running my own practice, helping my kids navigate school, and keeping up with everything around the house, it’s easy to end each day completely drained. When that happens, the path of least resistance is to zone out in front of a string of YouTube videos. But that’s not how I want to spend my evenings—and maybe it’s not how you want to spend yours either.
Lately, I’ve started to plan thinking time into my day. I’ve learned that if I don’t, it just doesn’t happen. I know I’ll be depleted by evening, so I carve out space in the morning—when I’m at my best. In fact, I’m writing this sentence at 7:30 a.m. There’s no way this same energy would show up at 7:30 p.m. after a full day of seeing clients and managing the rest of life.
What’s helped me most is scheduling a weekly check-in with myself. I look ahead at the upcoming week, identify what I need to do for others—and then make sure I’m including what I need to do for me. Of course, that only works if I actually stick to the plan.
And that’s the hard part.
It’s tempting to squeeze in one more client or errand during a time I’ve blocked off for something like writing a blog post. But if I do that too often, the space I’ve carved out for myself disappears. And when that space disappears, so does my clarity and creativity.
Here’s what I’ve found: setting aside time to think unlocks my creativity. When I allow myself to step back—to take a walk and let my mind wander, or to sit with a piece of paper and write whatever comes—it’s not just “vegging out.” It’s inviting my mind to do what it does best. Music, TV, and videos are distractions. True creative thinking takes focus. But when you give yourself that space, you’ll be amazed at what bubbles up.
In the end, you are the master of your own attention. And you only have so much of it to spend in a day. Don’t shortchange yourself—you are worth your own attention as much as anyone else.
