How I Make Room for What Matters

September has a way of feeling like a fresh start: a new season, a return to routine, a fuller calendar, and ample time to decide what deserves space in it.

I run my personal life a little bit like I run my business.

Every quarter, I sit down and think about what I want to accomplish over the next three months. I consider everything across work, finances, family, health, travel, and whatever else I’d like to prioritize over the next 4 quarters. It’s a habit that I adopted from working with business and leadership coach Kristina Sammut of Frontier Leadership.

Over time, this process became second nature. Making room for what matters most starts with being intentional about deciding where your time, energy, and money are going.

In this post, I’m sharing the simple systems I use to do exactly that.

Start With What You Want

I usually begin by looking at the next few months.

What’s happening at work? What does my family have going on? Are there any trips we want to take? Appointments I’ve been meaning to make? Financial decisions coming up? Something I want to do for myself?

Some things are practical: renew the mortgage, book medical appointments, plan around busy season. I also consider things that I simply want to make room for. A family vacation, workouts, time with friends, and more recently, golf lessons (a new undertaking!).

Once I decide what matters most, I can work it into my calendar.

If It Matters, It Gets Scheduled

I am a Google Calendar enthusiast.

I utilize shared calendars, family calendars, and personal calendars. They’re colour-coded. If there’s a document that I’ll need for an appointment, there’s a good chance it’s already attached to the calendar invite.

Putting something on the calendar turns an intention into a tangible and actionable plan.

“I want to work out more” is easy to dismiss, whereas knowing in advance that I’m working out Tuesday morning is tangible.

“We should take a family trip” can sit on the to-do list forever. Deciding when we’re going, when the planning needs to happen, and making room for it changes things.

The goal isn’t to schedule every minute. The goal is to make sure that the things I care about aren’t always competing with whatever could come up.

Money Needs Somewhere to Go, Too

I think about my finances in much the same way.

As a CPA, this might be surprising: I don’t keep a detailed personal budget.

I already have a good understanding of what I spend and where my money goes, so tracking every purchase isn’t what helps me make better decisions.

I find it more useful to think about what I’m working toward.

If I know I want to be in a new home this time next year, for example, that future goal affects the choices I make today. I know it will require money, so I prioritize allocating resources towards it starting now.

For me, savings and goals come first. Then I work with what’s left.

That doesn’t mean budgeting isn’t useful. For plenty of people, it absolutely is. The important thing is having a system that helps you make intentional and proactive decisions with your money rather than simply looking back, wondering where it went.

Plans Can Change

This might be my favourite part.

Planning doesn’t mean deciding exactly what the next year of your life needs to look like and then sticking to it no matter what.

Life changes. Priorities change, and plans can too.

That’s why I like revisiting mine regularly. I can look at what I accomplished, what didn’t happen, what no longer feels important, and what needs more attention moving forward.

Maybe travel becomes the priority next quarter. Maybe there’s a big financial goal on the horizon. Maybe work is going to be particularly demanding, and the realistic goal is simply protecting time for everything outside of it.

There has to be room to breathe.

Give Your Priorities Somewhere to Live

You don’t need my calendar system. You don’t need to plan quarterly. And you don’t need to colour-code. anything; that being said, I do think that there’s value in regularly asking yourself a few questions: What matters to me right now? What am I working toward? Have I made room for it?

Whether the goal is financial, professional, personal, or somewhere in between, deciding that you want
something is only the first part.

At some point, it needs a place in the plan.