35. The Self-Care Shift: Scheduling What Fuels You First

Send me a text - make sure to include your full phone number so I can reply (software blocks it) 💕

In this episode of The Nurses’ Breakroom with Jenny Lytle, RN, we’re diving into the messy, real-life struggle of time management for busy caregivers. Jenny shares her eye-opening experience with a time audit and how it revealed that burnout isn’t always about poor choices—it’s often about packed schedules and misplaced priorities.

We explore how common it is to delay joy for “when things settle down” and why that mindset may be keeping you stuck. Plus, Jenny offers a powerful mindset shift to help you reclaim energy by intentionally prioritizing what lights you up—starting now.

💡 Key Takeaways & Action Steps:

• Time Audit = Clarity: Track your time in 30-minute blocks for a few days to see where it really goes.
• Joy Isn't a Reward: Schedule the activities that fuel you before the to-do list is done.
• Awareness is Power: You’re likely not failing—your plate is just too full.
• Guard Your Time: Boundaries with yourself are just as important as boundaries with others.
• Proactive Scheduling: Don’t wait for “someday”—protect time for what matters most now.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or like there’s never enough time, I’ve got something just for you! Head to https://selfcareisntselfish.com to grab your FREE copy of my book, Self-Care Isn’t Selfish: The Compassionate Nurse’s Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you prioritize your needs—without guilt—so you can feel energized, focused, and ready to take on the day. Go to https://selfcareisntselfish.com 

Looking for connection with people who get the stress and self-care struggles of nurses and caregivers? Check out https://thenursesbreakroom.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylytlern/

More ways to connect here: https://linktr.ee/jennylytle

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Nurse's Break Room with JennyLytle RN.
Today we're going to focus ontime and scheduling and what our
day-to-day lives look like.
Like a lot of you, I havemultiple hats that I wear and
lots of different moving piecesin my life and while I knew that

(00:25):
, with everything I have going,that that I didn't have a lot of
extra time, I felt like I wasfailing and like I needed to get
it together.
And I actually am in a program.
I invested in a program thathelps with prioritization and

(00:46):
with planning and processes andthings like that, because I know
that is a weak area of mine andI also know how important
that's going to be as I continueto move forward in my business
and just in my life.

(01:08):
And one of the things that I hadto do first was to do a time
audit and in this particularcourse, she has us doing a
30-minute time audit.
For every 30 minutes you'rewriting down what you're doing,
and I really resisted doing thatbecause I already do a little
bit of it and my schedule variesa lot from day to day.
But as I skipped ahead to someof the other parts, then I

(01:31):
realized, ok, I really need togo back and do that, because
that's what all this builds on.
So go figure, like listening towhat the person who created it
says and the reasons for it.
So I went back and I did thatand the reasons for it.
So I went back and I did thatand when I took a look at my
week and I categorized somethings and looked, I thought,

(01:58):
okay, this, right here, is whyI'm not getting the traction
that I want to get in some ofthese areas.
It's not that I'm failing, it'snot that I'm being lazy, it's
that there really isn't muchfree time.
There really aren't manypockets of time where I can work
on the projects that I'm tryingto move forward.
I'm doing a lot of networkingand connecting with people in

(02:20):
the community and that'swonderful and been it's been
enjoyable and it's been verybeneficial.
But at the same time, it hastaken over a lot of things and
so, to be honest, I don't havethe the answers yet.
I haven't completely figuredout what I need to do
differently, but just havingthat awareness that it's not

(02:44):
this is not a failure and thisis also not something that is
going to get better on its ownif I don't do something to
change.
It has been really, really eyeopening for me, and I think it's
so easy to just think, oh, whenI get through this season, then
it's going to be okay.
And I know that's something Itell myself a lot oh, right now

(03:07):
things are really busy, but soonit's going to settle down.
And the reality is, soon itprobably isn't going to settle
down unless we do somethingproactively to put some
guardrails in place, to set someboundaries, and not just with
others, but with ourselves.
And I've talked about the factthat I want to do and see and be
everything, and the reality isthat's just not possible all at

(03:33):
once, and that was a big, it wasa big reality check for me.
And so I just wonder are thereareas in your life where you're
feeling some of that too, whereyou're like you know what I just
as soon as this gets done, thenI'll have all this free time,
or then I'll be able to do thesethings.
And so what that really boilsdown to is that we have to be

(03:55):
proactive about scheduling thethings that matter the most, and
not necessarily the things thatseem the most urgent or that
seem the most important to otherpeople, but the things that
really are the things thatmatter the most to us, because

(04:18):
that's what's going to give usthe fuel that we need to be able
to do those other things.
And I think I shared thisalready, but when I was doing a
presentation last month, therewas a woman in the audience and
we were talking about what kindof things do you do to take care
of yourself?
And she said I really like tosew, but I don't do that very

(04:43):
often.
And I said why is that?
And she said because I havethis to-do list and basically
there's all these things that Iwant to get done and my reward
for getting those things done isthat when they're done, then
I'm going to take time to sewand they don't get done very
often, so I don't sew very often.
And I said okay, you know thatthat makes sense, but what if

(05:06):
you turned that around?
What if you chose to sewbecause you know it's something
that you enjoy, that makes youhappy, that brings you joy and
peace?
And, instead of seeing it as areward for something, what if it

(05:27):
was a motivator for doing theseother things that maybe aren't
so fun?
When you do things that youenjoy, then that gives you more
energy and excitement to carryover into, maybe some things
that aren't quite as fun but arestill necessary, and so I'm not
completely sure if she ended upsewing or not, but I know that

(05:50):
I've talked with some otherpeople about this, about that
story of hers, and it's justthese simple mindset shifts that
we can make sometimes that areso impactful, and so I just want
to end with a quote by DavidNorris that says how you spend
your time is more important thanhow you spend your money.

(06:11):
Money mistakes can be corrected, but time is gone forever.
So I'd love to hear if you'rehaving challenges with your time
and and if this brought anyawareness to you or any ahas.
Until next time, rememberself-care isn't selfish.
It's essential if we want tocontinue to care for others and

(06:33):
live our best lives.
Have a great week.