Want to Have a Great 2020? Make Sure to Schedule Your “Ebb Time” Now!

We are already halfway through the first month of 2020, and I want to make sure that in your planning for this year, you have scheduled something very important to you, your loved ones, your team and your organization – you ebb time!

We often speak of the ebb and flow of life, using the imagery of ocean waves crashing ashore and pulling back with a rhythm that soothes and hypnotises, depending on the ferocity of the wave of course – there’s no soothing with a tsunami! As a child growing up in Jamaica, spending many a day at the beach, I observed that the greater the ebb, the more powerful the incoming flow. We children knew to prepare ourselves for a huge wave when we experienced a strong ebb. What fun it was to ride those big waves, and to relax in the ebb!

Observing how we work however, and listening to my clients’ complaints about overwhelm, having to be “on” all the time, ever-increasing workloads, limited vacation time, long hours, etc. it occurs to me that there’s little ebb and flow in the workplace – it’s all flow, or even, flood. Just like the ocean, this is impossible to maintain. At some point there must be an ebb which typically shows up as stress, burnout, illness or worse.

So what can we do to have our lives ebb and flow at work, so that we can garner the energy of the ebb to create greater flow? Since 2016, once I have identified my New Year intentions, the very next element of my annual planning is to schedule my ebb time – my vacation travel, long weekends, midweek days off. Then I work around these dates to schedule my work travel obligations, with flexibility to ensure that my clients’ needs are met.

Here’s how you can create a year of harnessing your energy to create the results you want:

1. Grab your 2020 calendar right now! Get a year-at-a-glance if you can. Here’s a site that offers free downloads: calendarlabs.com;
2. Highlight key dates in colour – your birthday, your loved ones’ birthdays, anniversaries, public holidays – any special days of celebration that you plan to take off;
3. Make a list of where and how you want to spend your vacation this year. Block out those dates in your calendar;
4. Highlight any fixed work travel dates e.g. conferences and consider adding a few days before or after to “ebb”. For example, I am planning to attend a facilitator’s conference in Sweden in October. Having never been to Sweden, I will arrive a few days earlier to spend some ebb time in this country that has such a reputation for high quality of life!
5. Apply for your vacation leave – note that you will have to be flexible as your co-workers also need their ebb time. But the earlier you book, the better;
6. Now, look at your calendar and see where you have long periods with no ebb – what can you insert there? A long weekend? A few days off midweek?
7. Call your travel agent!

I know that I am of better service to my clients when my life is ebbing and flowing rhythmically. But it does not happen by chance. We have to plan the ebbs in order to “go with the flow”.