Budget Equestrian Podcast #17 Having An Accountability Partner

Budget Equestrian Podcast #17 Having An Accountability Partner

Last week I was super excited that my husband would want to be on my podcast. THAT was awesome. And it got me to thinking about bringing on another guest, and I want to tell you why.

Life Happens

If you follow my blog, Budget Equestrian.Com, you know that I typically post 3 to 5 times a week. Normally, I post 3 to 4 times a week. But lately, I have only been posting like once a week. And I haven’t posted a new video to my YouTube channel for about the last 10 days. And it’s not because I am taking a break, or stopping, but it’s because I am studying for a test.

I think I have said it a couple of times that I am a Registered Nurse. And I work in an orthopedic clinic. This is where you go if you have bone or joint problems. And I am very specialized in the world of Orthopedics. Yes, Ortho is a specialty, but there are even more sub-specialties within that specialty.  And my specialty is feet. I’m the foot nurse. I look at feet all day long.

Now while that might seem gross to some of you out there, I love it. I love it so much that I have been even further specialized into the world of advanced wound care. So if someone comes into our office with an acute (new) wound, or has one that has been around for a long time (chronic) I am the one that the providers come to for advice, or special wound dressings.

Even Adults Take Tests

I have been specializing in this type of nursing for about the last 8 years, and while I have had specific training related to dressings, and wound care in itself, I have never gotten certified in it.

So for the past few weeks, I have been taking a course in advance skin and wound care. And hopefully in the next week or so I will be taking a certification exam for my training. It’s not easy. I have been studying for the past two weeks, and plan on continuing to study until I take the test.

And then after I take that test, I will become even more specialized with diabetic wound care, which is a world unto itself.

By the time I get done with all of these courses, and exams I will have about 50 contact hours of advanced wound care training. And hopefully, I will have two new titles to add behind all of the other letters behind my name. Right now, my name tag says “Lisa Goodwin, RN, BSN”. But after the tests, it will say “Lisa Goodwin, RN, BSN, WCC, DWC.” How’s that for a lot of letters????

My goal is to get every letter of the alphabet behind my name for my credentials.

And because of all of the studying, and focus I have put into my further education, I have taken a step back from my website and YouTube channel as well as my horses. I haven’t been getting much riding time in lately.

Having An Accountability Partner

So that started me thinking about having an accountability partner. Someone who also has horses, but is very busy and doesn’t always make time for getting into the saddle. So I thought it would be fun to team up with my friend Lynda, so we can keep each other accountable for making time to ride our horses.

Every summer Lynda and I go to the horse park for the summer long series of horse shows that are held each year. We are so lucky to have such a fantastic venue like the Colorado Horse Park that hosts this series of horse shows. And then we get sad, because we don’t have an excuse to hang out as much the rest of the year. So we have decided that we are going to come together once a month, to talk about what we are working on with our horses. And we are going to do it over this podcast, to bring you along our accountability journey.

Let’s Have Some Fun And Focus On Our Horses

I decided it would be fun to share what we are doing with you, while we are holding each other accountable! What do you think? And if you don’t have someone to hold you accountable, why not follow along with us, and have us be your accountability partner?

We are so fortunate to be able to have our horses that sometimes, ok a lot of times, we take them for granted. And I already talked to Lynda about my plan, and she thought it would be fun, so starting next week, we will have our first accountability meeting! We will talk about what we have been doing with our horses, and what we want to do.

And to get ready for the upcoming week, I’m going to plan for what we are going to talk about, meaning what I am wanting to do with my horses. And since I am still preparing for a huge exam, and talking an online course for my career, there isn’t a lot of time left for my horses. But if I plan for it, I know I can find that time. So that it what I am going to do, with you, right now.

168 Hours

Each week we all have the same number of hours given to us. No matter what, we all have 168 hours every week. It’s how we choose to use those hours that makes the difference. You don’t have to plan every hour of the day, but the more you plan, the more time you will be able to find to do the things that you love.

Sleep

Ok, so lets break this down. 168 hours a week. Let’s budget in sleep first, because we all need to sleep right? For me, I sleep about 6 hours a night, sometimes more, sometimes less. So I think a fair number of hours per night for sleep is 7 hours. So 49 hours for the week is gone. Buh-bye 49 hours.

Work

I should rephrase this and say work and commute. For me, I work 8 hours a day, and spend another 2 hours commuting to my job. Thankfully, I only have to do this 5 days a week. Now I have to subtract 50 hours from my week. This means I have 69 hours a week remaining to get everything else done.

A Lot Of Time Left Over For Horses

Ok, so I have 69 hours a week to budget. And I want to make my horses a priority for at least 3 days of each week. Meaning I want to have about 2 hours, three times a week to spend with my horses other than caring for them. And honestly, 6 hours is easy to find when doing this type of time budgeting. Then I just have to plan the days that I want to ride. And for me, it makes the most sense to plan on the weekends. So this is how it will break down:

• Tuesday: 1 hour
• Thursday: 1 hour
• Saturday: 2 hours
• Sunday: 2 hours

See how easy that was? Not only do I have 4 days a week reserved for my horses, but I still have 63 hours left over for fun, cleaning, horse chores, house chores and whatever else I want to do.

Horse Time

And now that I have figured out how I will dedicate 6 hours a week to my riding, I can then break down that time even more to what I want to work on. I can have the shorter time frames purely for riding one horse, and then use the longer time frames for more specialized work. The goal here is to simply make the time to work with my horses each and every week. I know my horses enjoy the time I spend with them as much as I enjoy spending the time with them! So honestly it’s a win win for all parties involved.

Developing Your Time Plan

I think that is what I am going to work on right now. And I now I can commit to it. How about you? What are you willing to commit to with your horse? Come up with a plan, and stick to it. I have found it’s way easier to stick to a plan when you make simple goals. So come up with a plan, with simple goals to stick to for the week. I wonder what Lynda will come up with? I wonder if she listen’s to the podcast? I guess we will find out next week!

So be sure to come back next week, and we will see if Lynda listened, and came up with her own plan!