Welcome to the Elevated Edit podcast.

I'm your host, Blakely Ramsey, and the goal of this podcast is to discuss all things personal development, wellness, and the art of editing your life in an elevated way.

From mastering morning routines to mastering your.

Mindset, we're going to sift through the.

Noise and empower you to take elevated action.

Make sure you catch the show notes for all the details.

Enjoy the show.

Hello, and welcome back to the Elevated Edit podcast.

Y'all know I love these short and sweet Friday episodes.

I personally love a good short and sweet episode because I can listen to it in the car or if I'm waiting on someone or whatever the case is.

So I want to provide y'all with some options.

So today's short and sweet episode is going to be one of those topics that.

That on the face of it, you're like, okay, Blakeley, you made a whole podcast episode about this.

It's pretty common sense, and I agree with you.

But we all know common sense is not always common.

Say it again.

Common sense is not always common.

We can walk around Walmart and see that.

Okay, I hope y'all are all nodding your head with me because common sense is not always common.

So this is just going to be a quick reminder, something that we can be super aware of, and hopefully something that will make your life just a little bit easier and run just a little bit smoother.

So a couple of years ago, I had a coach, and with the coach, I was required to do a time audit.

And this time audit was intensive.

It was seven day, so he wanted to be able to see, like, my full week through and my weekends.

And I had to, like, print off these charts and track what I did every 15 minutes for seven days.

And it was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done.

Not in, like a.

Oh, this is so difficult and so laborious, but just me remembering to fill that chart out was so difficult.

But anyway, it was very eye opening for me because I would get so down on myself because I was like, I can't follow a calendar.

I can't follow a time block.

Like, for some reason, things just keep happening.

Things keep popping up.

You know, I, like, had all these excuses about why I wasn't getting things done.

And when I did my time audit, what I realized was that I was not giving myself enough time time to get things done.

I wasn't giving myself enough, what I call it now, buffer time.

And on the face of it, it seems really obvious, like, you're like, oh, give yourself enough time to Drive, give yourself enough time to get ready.

Give yourself enough time to, you know, whatever it is.

But on top of that, there's so many little microhabits that we don't even think about and we don't account into our schedule and we're planning things, and those are what really trip us up.

So yes, driving and getting ready are going to be on that list.

But there's also other little microhabits that really honestly add up.

So think about it.

You know, like you say, okay, it takes you 30 minutes to get ready.

And you're like, okay, I've got a 30 minute drive.

So you give yourself an hour.

You go, okay, 30 minute drive, 30 minutes to get ready, Bam.

And I still run into this all the time because I live 30 minutes typically from wherever I need to go.

And so I'll be like, okay, I need 45 minutes to get ready and then I'm gonna drive 30 minutes.

So I, I'll set a timer.

I'm like, okay, I need to get ready in 45 minutes.

And then I look up and like, oh dear.

I still need to get my purse ready.

I still need to grab a drink.

I still need to get my keys.

I still need to turn the car on.

I still need to walk out to the car.

I still need to turn like, turn the radio on, get my music adjusted.

I like have to like back out of the driveway.

Wait, you know, like there's all these other little micro habits that you don't think about.

Like you just think about the big thing.

Get ready, drive, you know, get to your destination and leave.

You don't think about, well, I might run into somebody in the parking lot.

Or what if I don't know how to get in the door?

Or what if, like, there's all these little teeny tiny things that can pop up and if we're running late, those things can really stress us out.

There is nothing to me that puts me in a position of not seeing opportunity than being stressed out when I get somewhere.

So two different examples of me including buffer time and me not including buffer time.

So example number one, I, you know, give myself the 45 minutes to get ready and the 30 minutes to get there.

Okay, well then I don't get to bring a coffee with me.

I'm like, okay, it's fine.

Like, I don't really need coffee or I'll forget something that I wanted to bring.

Cause I was in a hurry to get out the door.

I'm like, you know what, it's fine.

I don't need that thing that I wanted to bring.

And then every red light that you hit is, like, that pain point because you're, like, five minutes late, and you, like, are trying to, like, make up for that time.

And so then you get wherever you are, and you see somebody that, like, you actually really do want to talk to, but you literally have 30 seconds to get in the door.

And so you're just like, hi and bye.

And then you're, like, sprinting in there, and then you haven't had a chance to breathe and collect yourself.

You're kind of just, like, flying into the room.

You're rushing around wherever you go.

And I know that y'all know those people, they literally come, like, flying into the room, and they're, like, sweating and they're stressed out.

And if they would have just given themselves, like, an extra 10 minutes, like, how much of a difference would it have made?

And so I started doing that for myself.

Like, once I did that time audit, I was like, oh, no.

I am essentially wasting time by not accounting for the micro time, the microhabits.

So now when I am planning my weekly, I'm very intentional about, okay, if I need to be at this location or on this call or whatever, that means I not only need to be ready and I need to get there, I also need to make sure I have a beverage, make sure my purse is packed, make sure I've got my sunglasses, make sure, you know, I've included a little time to stop and talk to somebody.

Like, if an opportunity comes up, I want to be, like, available for it.

Or if I'm going somewhere and it's closed, I can just sit in the car, turn on a song I really like, and just take, like, three minutes and either meditate or dance in the car, whatever it is.

But, like, adding in those, like, 10 to 15 minutes of buffer time will give you so much peace.

First off, you'll get a ton of peace.

Just, like, not feeling rushed, not feeling chaos.

And my friends that have kids, they.

They include a.

An extra layer of buffer time.

Like, I love going places with moms.

I was telling a friend about this.

I love going places with moms because there's nobody that is more time efficient than a mother because they are.

Like, we don't have extra time.

Like, we are so tight on the schedule, but they're always including that buffer time in case there's a diaper blowout, in case somebody spits up on somebody, in case somebody spills chocolate milk all over their shelves.

Like, there's always Like, a little bit of, like, I love organized mom because they always have that little tiny bit of buffer time.

They've got an extra change of clothes in the car.

We're still rocking and rolling.

Like, I love hanging out with moms because they're so freaking organized.

So nice.

And the best thing about a mom is when they're on a trip and they aren't with their kids, as soon as it's time to leave, the mom is leaving.

Like, I want to be in the car with the mom of the youngest child, especially if it's like close to baby age, because she's getting home, she's waking up at 4:00 in the morning, loading the car up and getting home to those kids.

I'm like, hey, I.

I want to ride with her.

Like, I'm.

I'm riding with you.

Okay.

That's just a little side note.

I love traveling with moms, organized moms.

I love it because they are the most time efficient.

They have dealt with all the problems.

They are so good at putting out fires.

It's just, oh, gosh, it's so nice.

It's so incredible to be around them and just like, I'm like, in awe of everything they're getting done.

But give yourself that little bit of buffer time.

Give yourself also the gift of the buffer time.

It puts me.

It kind of messes up my energy for the entire rest of the day if I'm rushing somewhere.

Cause I'm like, oh my gosh, am I gonna make it?

Am I gonna make it on time?

What are they gonna think about me when I get there?

Like, what am I missing?

And then you go in and you're not super prepared.

And you know, you're not like, you're not present in the moment.

You're kind of just like.

It takes you a minute, you know, to get calmed down.

And then for me, if I'm late to that, I'm probably going to end up being late to the next thing and the next thing.

And then I feel like I spend all day playing catch up.

All day playing catch up, all day playing catch up.

And I miss opportunities because I'm not present.

You know, what if getting to an event, or even not even just an event, getting somewhere 10 minutes early, you never know who's going to be there.

You never know the conversations you're going to have.

If you just get somewhere 10 to 15 minutes early.

Yeah.

You might look like a little dweeb standing around.

Like, being one of the only ones like that is when I'VE been given some of my best opportunities is when I get somewhere a little bit early, and you have the conversations.

Like, you have the conversations in the bathroom, and you have the conversations, you know, as you're, like, getting a drink or whatever.

It is like, the event that I just went to last week.

One of my best conversations that I had was there were, like, maybe 10 of us there at that point, and they had brought in, like, a coffee bar.

And I'm talking to one of the girls as we're getting coffee.

We were early.

Early we're getting coffee.

And she literally says something to me that is, like, so on point with what I've been wanting to do, how I've wanted it to be vocalized.

Like, she was looking for the service that I'm wanting to provide.

And I was like, hey, this is a business idea.

I've been thinking of.

Would you pay for this?

And she was like, tell me where I can buy that.

Like, tell me right now.

And if I had not given myself that buffer time, that little bit of time to get there early, I would not have had that opportunity.

I wouldn't have had my first client, my first customer.

Like, I would have missed out on that.

And I just think there's so many benefits to giving yourself that time.

It gives you that calmness.

It gives you that clarity.

It keeps you in a really good energy.

You show up feeling prepared, and if something goes wrong, you've got a little time in between.

I can't tell you how many times I.

I'll get a phone call, and, like, it'll be like, hey, we need this email to us, like, now.

And I'll be driving somewhere.

I'm like, okay, I got you.

I'll get there.

I'll get parked.

I will send the email, and everything's good.

Or, you know, there's a wreck, or you get stuck at a train, or I'm trying to think of other things.

Or you run into someone in the parking lot.

I don't know if it's like this everywhere else, but in South Arkansas, you know everybody.

And everywhere you go, you're gonna run into somebody that you know.

So I always plan in that little.

I might see Sue Anna, Joe's aunt, in the parking lot situations.

And I want to stop and say hi to her, because I know she's gonna go playing complain to.

What name did I make up?

Susanna Jo.

Like, I know anybody named Susanna Joe.

She's gonna go complain to her and be like, I saw Blakely in the parking lot.

She was kind of rude.

So I Buffer time will give you so much time back.

So when you are setting down and planning your week next, plan in a little bit of buffer time.

Plan in buffer time for yourself.

Like give gift yourself that.

Gift yourself an extra 10 minutes, an extra five minutes.

Just a little extra cushion in your schedule in case anything comes up.

And then if it doesn't, you have room for extra opportunity.

You have room to journal.

You have room to meditate or pray.

You have room to listen to your favorite music or whatever it is.

It just opens up for me at least, and I hope it does for you too.

It opens up your world a little bit more and it just kind of smooths the edges.

It smooths everything on the outside and on the inside out just a little bit.

Like it's just like, wow, okay, like this was working, but this feels way better.

Like it's just.

It's like that last little piece.

So like I said, it is common sense, but it is not always common.

So just a little awareness for your brain for your week.

The next time you're planning.

Keep that in mind.

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