In his book, Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself, entrepreneur and business guru Michael Michalowicz tells business people who are not spending enough time in the “vision” part of their business to keep things manageable by just carving out one per cent of their time to work on their overall vision.

He recommends doing this when they sense an imbalance and are spending too much time in the areas of doing, deciding and delegating, and not enough time designing; in other words, they aren’t spending enough time planning how they want to work ON their businesses because they’re too busy working FOR their businesses.

And it got me thinking. . .

Isn’t that like teachers who spend too much time planning, teaching, and assessing, and not enough time working on their “vision” for self-care?

So what if teachers did the same thing?

What if you committed to keeping self-care manageable by taking one percent of your time and devoting it to developing your own customized self-care system?

Surely everyone can spare one percent.

It sounds like such a small number.

Let’s do the math and see if that’s true.

The average workweek is (supposedly) 40 hours. But we all know that teachers work a lot more than that.

Let’s assume, then, that you work 60 hours a week.

That means that you would need to devote thirty-six minutes–less than one measly hour–each week to your self-care activities. But much as Michalowicz says in Clockwork, you’re worth rounding up to a full hour!

A full 60 minutes? Are you crazy?

​Do you know how much I have to do?

Nope! Totally do-able.

Yes, even with all those ungraded papers.

Yes, even with kids.

Yes, even with Netflix.

Yes, even with a husband (Ladies, I totally feel you on that one, by the way . . .).

Okay, so now it’s time for me to lay a little guilt trip on you:

Not taking that time to work on you or your self-care plan is the same as looking at yourself in the mirror and saying, “That’s okay. I’ll skip it. I’m not worth one percent of my work time.”

I hope you cannot do that.

In fact, I hope it’s impossible.

Because you are TOTALLY WORTH spending one percent of your work time on developing a customized self-care plan.

And once you decide you’re worth it, the next step is to plan it.

Look at the calendar and decide when it will take place. Sure, it doesn’t have to be the same time, all the time; It can be random and serendipitous, as long as you’re good about getting to it.

On the other hand, it might be wiser to set a standard time—say, Friday nights from 7-8 p.m.?

And the next question you need to ask is, what will I do with that hour?

There are a flippity-bajillion options:

A yoga class
A 60 minute Meditation
Reading for pleasure or learning
A long walk or hike
Calling an old friend
Journaling
A hot bubble bath or visit to the jacuzzi
A session in the gym
Absolutely nothing

The truth is: You are only limited by your imagination.

One percent is a rational, reasonable amount of time to give yourself each week.

In fact, after you’ve mastered the 5/10/15 break model, it’s where you should start.

Look at it this way:

My bank only gives me two percent on my savings account.

It’s pennies.

It’s minimal.

It’s nothing.

And one percent is even less than that.

(Which, technically, makes it half of nothing.)

You can do it. TZT

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Remember:

​Buy a copy of The Zen Teacher: Creating Focus, Simplicity, and Tranquility in the Classroom and get a free enrollment in The Self-Care Starter Kit or Self-Care 101: Finding Time, Creating Space, and Embracing Renewal. Find out how here.

Offer ends November 15, 2018.