I am really good at allowing tasks, dates, intentions live in my head. For most of my life I would mentally plan out all my school assignments and functions, then fast forward to baby schedules, work and then my own children’s school functions, my husbands schedule, home tasks, etc. I would then wonder at the end of every day, week, month, year why I missed so much and felt so scattered. I have many times had great intentions of using a some sort of planner and mapping it all out in hopes of keeping my sanity. I have also found am also really good at giving it up when I miss a beat or it didn’t immediately work in my favor. Last year I did improve greatly by entering every scheduled date into my phone calendar and at times writing it in my favorite planner. This year I am improving on where I began by not only putting in scheduled dates, but also adding in a schedule for blog and instagram posts, all home tasks that go beyond the normal daily cleaning, actually putting in scheduled times to see my friends, adding reminders to schedule the dr appointments and not just when I actually make said appointments, etc, etc. I am not one who likes to live by a set schedule or so I thought. I am finding though getting it out of my head and mapping it out is allowing me to feel more free than ever. It’s allowing me to stop over promising on what I can deliver, it’s allowing me to set a pace in which I can sustain, most importantly it’s getting the so called reality that “I don’t have enough time” out of my head and ordering my steps into a one that can fit in my work, my passions, and my family. This also is making me take a good look at what is realistic when it comes to budgeting time. Can I really finish that design or the photography edits in said amount of time or am I setting myself up to fail? Am I allowing myself enough time to write out well thought out posts or am just allowing enough to add to this already noisy life we all lead? Am I ordering my steps well enough during school hours that it doesn’t overtake my time with the kids and Mr? Will I succeed every time? NO. Is that okay? YES. By extending myself enough grace to try again and again will hopefully develop into a habit that allows me look back on my days and say “I did well enough” and in turn allow my millions of thoughts not overwhelm me.
A few practical steps I have taken to order my steps ~
I write every task, date, need in my planner. I recommend getting one that works for you and gives you joy when you open it. Once I know what is needed from me then I can thoughtfully schedule it out. This includes, but is not limited to:
all set appointments and reminders to actually make said appointment
kids schedules plus tasks I need them to accomplish
blog and instagram schedule with set time to accomplish it all with intention
the Mr’s schedule. I can’t tell you how many times he had to go out of town and I simply forgot.
pet schedules including, vet appointments, grooming, etc.
time for my own physical activity
time with friends
family fun days/nights
home projects
even times to rest
I then take every set date and enter it into our family free Cozi App calendar that lives on all our phones.
It allows me to label all activities specific to that person.
It allows the kids to enter times and dates for themselves such as after school meetings that I would not naturally know about
It allows us all to see when a specific family day is coming up so no one over schedules
It also has a space to add a shopping list that we can all add to. For example my son enters we need milk when he notices it’s almost gone. My daughter enters we need dishwasher soap when she sees they are coming to an end. I personally would miss both these things simply due to that fact I never touch the milk and my daughters job is loading the dishwasher and potentially would have to make extra store runs, because I simply did not know.
Does doing it all twice seem redundant? It may be, but my physical planner allows me to mark off tasks and I can list specific school hour work related duties of my own without cluttering up the family calendar. More so the physical planner allows me stay off my phone and keep from becoming distracted by emails, texts, and keeps the mindless instagram scrolling at bay. Are you an over thinker like me? Do you try to juggle it all? What practical steps work for you to keep the sanity?
* Not only do I love the Appointed Co planner, which sadly sold out, but I also love the notebooks and use there organizing tapes. If you use this code you can receive 10% off - http://i.refs.cc/qkpro4WC
