People often ask me how I manage to do so much and my answer is actually pretty simple. If something is important to me, I make it a priority. Today, RSG Senior Contributor, Scott Van Maldegiam, takes a look at what he does to manage rideshare driving around everything he’s got going on. Many of us can likely relate as there never seems to be enough hours in the day, but with a little practice and discipline, you could make your life a whole lot easier.
When Harry suggested I write an article on this subject, I jumped at the chance. This topic strikes very close to home as I manage my responsibilities to this website and health insurance sales along with my rideshare driving around my full time Lighting/Energy Advisor responsibilities. Yes, I am busy and I work a lot.
So… how do I stay sane working so much while also having time with my family and for myself? Let’s just say that some weeks I am more successful than others. I will hope to provide you some valuable tips that have worked for me.
Why
While I don’t think any of us would rideshare drive if we weren’t paid for it, knowing why you drive is very important. Do you do it because you enjoy it, for networking or just because you need the money? We all have our reasons and our reasons will all differ from person to person a bit in what is most important. Since none of us are required to rideshare drive, knowing the “why” will help you prioritize your driving along with all your other responsibilities in life.
Planning
You have heard me preach about this in the past. If you already have a full time job along with other personal responsibilities, then your time is at a premium. It can be easy to just hop in the car to go out driving and ignore your other responsibilities, but these responsibilities will eventually catch up to you, so it is best to plan out your weeks.
I would be lying if I said I was great at managing my time through planning all the time. I have weeks where I am better at it than others. Lately, I have not been great at it. I have had a lot of things pulling me in different directions. Here are the steps one should take to plan.
- Schedule your time – Uber and Lyft don’t provide us a schedule to go out driving. Other than your full time job, the rest of your life is unscheduled. It is important to schedule out your time week to week.
- Prioritize – I have mentioned the book Seven Habits of Effective People by Steven Covey before. First thing’s first is preached over and over in that book. Knowing what is most important to you, and to those close to you, can reduce your stress level when deciding what to do when.
- Allow for changes – Stuff happens in life. Allow for changes when more important tasks come up and make the changes to your schedule.
- Communicate – If you have a family or other people in your life that are affected by the time you have available to them, make sure you communicate your plan to them.
Personal Examples
I am a work in progress. I think we all are, so I am more successful some weeks than others in implementing what I talk about here. Here are a few examples where I have been more or less effective.
- Daughter’s triathlon team – My daughter likes it when I help out on the bike rides for her triathlon team. For the summer, I committed to taking her to practice on Thursday evenings and Saturday midday. This was an agreement with my daughter and my wife. I kept this commitment most of the time as I prioritized this in my life. I also prioritized certain weekends for triathlon trips. This meant I was unable to drive for most of those weekends.
- Articles – This is an area that Harry will agree I have not always been good about meeting. The fact that I am supposed to have this article done on Sunday night but I am still typing this Monday morning is a great example of my priorities not being aligned with my actions. I have prioritized my website responsibilities over my driving, but yet yesterday, because of the Air and Water show, I decided to drive most of yesterday. The allure of driving was too great yesterday and I lost track of what was most important.
- Prioritize driving over fun – There are times where I am invited to go out or to a party where I decide to say no. I enjoy driving but I also depend on the extra money it brings in. This weekend is the end of the year triathlon team party. I always have a great time with the parents of the kids on the team, but last weekend I dedicated most of my time to events for my daughter so I had very little time to drive. My wife is available to take my daughter to the party so she won’t miss out and I will go out driving.
Do you have trouble prioritizing driving with your other responsibilities in your life? Or is this just me being a drama queen? Please share your thoughts on this topic and tell us what is the most important thing in your life.
-Scott @ RSG
