Don’t worry, you don’t have to start your day at 4AM (unless that works for you) and you don’t have to be rigid with your timelines, but be ready to take ownership when events spill over into other timeframes. To get ready for your day, your morning routine could look something like:

• 5:30AM-6:00AM: Wake up and check emails
• 6:15AM-7:00AM: Coffee and breakfast
• 7:15AM-8:00AM: Get ready for work and leave home

Owning your day can also look like setting up boundaries for yourself at work. Taking a lunch is something that many of us opt out of or cut short in order to finish up projects, send out emails, or catch up on yesterday’s leftover work. Try setting a boundary to make yourself take a lunch, even if it’s only 20 minutes. Take that time to eat, text your spouse, and just get a couple minutes to yourself. Believe it or not, it will be okay if you step away for a little bit to refuel your body. Other boundaries that you can build outside of work can look like:

• Not bringing your phone to bed
• Not answering emails or phone calls after a certain time
• Saying “no” to plans that interfere with already established events

When you get home, leave work at work. In positions where that is extremely difficult, or even impossible, try setting aside a few uninterrupted hours to spend time reconnecting with your family at the end of the day. Prioritize your family time; children are only children once and tomorrow is never guaranteed– take some time to play and talk to your loved ones. Winding down in the evening can look something like:

• 6:00PM-7:15PM: Arrive at home, change clothes, and reconnect with family/ spouse/ children
• 7:30PM-8:30PM: Dinner, clean up and pack lunch for tomorrow
• 9:00PM-9:45PM: Relax, shower, and get ready for bed
• 10:00PM-10:30PM: In bed. Lights out.

Taking ownership of your time, put simply, means prioritizing events, projects, and people and being honest with yourself. It means putting realistic expectations on your own capabilities and knowing that there’s only so much you can complete in 24 hours. Remember to make time for yourself, your family, your work, and your friends as well.

Tick-Tock!