One of the biggest things I’ve learned being a parent is taking time to manage our schedules is one of the most important jobs I have. So often I found myself just going with the flow trying to fit everything in and at the end of the day it left me overwhelmed, angry, and still not getting everything done. I never realized how organizing our schedules could alleviate so much of my stress. In this post I am going to tell you how managing my time helped me so much plus give you little tips on how you can manage yours as well!
#01 Priorities
Sometimes we just have too much going on. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way and sometimes we have to be ok letting things go. When I first started really managing our time I was shocked by how much we had to do. It made me really think about our priorities because I couldn’t fit it all in every day. Something had to give and had I not sat down to really try and figure it all out, I’d still be there struggling through each day.
When I bring up priorities I am talking about events or tasks that HAVE to get done that day. These are like the nonnegotiables. This includes making everyone’s lunch for the next day or making dinner. Other things like playground time after school or spontaneous play dates are super fun but not a priority and therefore they can’t be in our schedule every day.
I used to feel guilty because my kids always wanted to head to the playground after school and I wanted them to have that time to run and play with friends but I realized it was causing added stress to my nights and I had to learn to say no. So now we go into the week knowing which days we can stay and play after school and what days we just have too much going on. It helps me have calmer evenings and it sets them up with the expectations for the day.
#02 Self Care
How much time do you have each day or week for self care? Most of you are going to say not much and I get that, because I’ve been there. I used to laugh when people asked what I did for myself. Like, myself, Ha! I don’t have time for that! But I do now and it is because I spend the time planning out our week.
At the beginning of each week I sit down with my husband and we go over the schedule. Who has practice when and what meetings we have to go to or other obligations we have. This gives me a clear picture on how to navigate our time and the nights when we may need help.
It also gives me the ability to say we don’t have much going on this night, I’m going to (fill in the blank with your idea of self care). And my husband gets to do the same. This doesn’t mean it always works according to plan but at least there is a change of us getting some time for ourselves.
#03 Tips To Make This Work
Knowing you have to manage your time and actually doing it are two different things though right? And the action is where so many of us get stuck so I wanted to also include some little tips to help get your started!
The best tip I have for you is that you are most likely not going to be able to do everything so learning to say no is going to be extremely beneficial for you. I know we all have a little bit of FOMO but at the end of the day sometimes we just have to bow out of things gracefully! Recently I had a weekend where my husband was away and so were my parents. It was just me and the kids and obviously that is fine except, my younger one had dance, my older one had a soccer game and we had our best friend’s son’s first birthday, all overlapping in time. I tried for days to make it all work and at the end of the day I had to make choices. We skipped dance practice and the party and went to the soccer game. It wasn’t ideal but driving all over town trying to make it to everything was going to be overwhelming and well, impossible. Learn to say no!
Another way I help manage my time is to plan ahead. Every weekend I spend some time looking at the coming week. I have a big weekly dry erase calendar in my kitchen and I write all our events on it. This includes what the dinner plan is for each night. Being prepared is what helps me fight the feeling of being overwhelmed. Writing everything out lets me see which nights are going to be the biggest struggle and I can find ways to help myself those nights. Tuesday nights are especially busy for us so sometimes I can save some time and stress by cooking ahead. I may cook taco meat Sunday night and reheat it Tuesday for tacos or a salad night. Planning for the week gives me opportunities like this to help our week go more smoothly.
There you have it, reasons why you should start managing your time more. We all live busy lives and it seems like we just never have enough time. When you take the time to be a little more organized you will be amazed at how much more you can get done and without having added stress!
Finding time for self care can be a struggle. If you can relate definitely check out Episode 5 of The Coffee Donuts Fitness Podcast!
