HOW TO PLAN MY SCHEDULE

Its the end of the school year and maybe you feel like you are barely limping through the last few days. Your schedule has been full and you are double booked. Somehow you have to plan out next years schedule at the same time as sign up sheets are sent your way. You don’t even know how you survived this year and you are counting down the seconds to those lovely beach days where you don’t have to watch the clock… and your book you have been waiting a year to read is calling your name…

As you think of September, do you begin to have panic attacks wondering how you will survive yet another year of the busy? Does it feel like there just isn’t enough time in the day for everything on your plate? So much so, the laundry never gets put away, your marriage feels more like it’s a working relationship rather than a romance story, and never mind about how to ever find time to reorganize your home to be somewhat enjoyable.

Does this feel like you, my friend? I totally get it! Life can sure get crazy! But more and more I feel like the Lord is calling us to make room in our schedule to breathe, play and for life unexpected. To find space in our calendar so we are not too busy to enjoy life and enjoy the people around us.

After chatting with my oldest daughter (she is young adult trying to figure out how to do life) about how to manage her schedule for this next year (she struggles with shutting down when she gets overwhelmed and busy, as most of us do). She asked: “How do I make room for everything I need to do?” And then it came to me! It’s simple… have less on your plate!

Plan your schedule!

Picture your to-do list like this plate. We all know that if we put too many things on our dinner plate, it will overflow and make a mess. We have trouble finishing everything, so we leave a bunch of food leftover, creating unnecessary waste.

I am finding we have slowly done this with our schedules over the last few years. As a society, we have slowly added in more and more to our daily expectations. So much so, our marriages are falling apart, our kids are stressed out, and our pocketbooks may feeling a little emptier. Too much of a good thing stops being good, ya know?

Soooo… what if you look at your schedule next school year like a plate?

What if we sit down to plan our year ahead now before the year begins, and we sign up for yet again too many activities (yes I know its hard to make time but…).

Start by planning out your goals. This will help keep you focused and headed in the right direction to know what your purpose is. It also helps keep the unnecessary things out of your schedule.

All these things are good things whether it’s our kid’s activities, volunteering, work, or appointments. But too much of a good thing can still be too much. We need to make room for all these things on our calendar so we are not frantic in just surviving life, God wants us to thrive and enjoy today!

Life comes in stages, so what you plan for this year may be different than next year, so it’s not like you don’t get to do all the things, you are just doing less at one time! And all work and no play never ends well either. So definitely make room for some play!

Use this plate layout as a guideline to help you proportion your next year well to make the most of every day! The rim around the circle is breathing room. So my friend, if it doesn’t fit… don’t do it. Or switch some things around until it works.

Once you have brainstormed on your plate, pop it into your weekly schedule. Make room for everything important in your life for this year with your life goals in mind. And as my dear friend suggests (which I love!), create a sabbath in your week as well (check out her post here).

Your schedule may look different than this one, but here an example to help get you started. Give yourself room, with times of rest to get creative and inspired, time with Jesus, and impromptu chats with family and friends chilling alongside you, or even room for that moment of inspired closet reorganizing (it can happen haha!).

Just let go…

Let go of some of the stuff. Lessen your kid’s dance and hockey schedules. Chances are they will not have anything to do with it once they graduate anyways. And if they do plan on it, then let go of the soccer and the piano lessons. We cannot possibly do it all! We do need time to sit around the dinner table together…

Refocusing our schedules and our expecations is the best thing we can do for our marriages, our kid’s health, and for our own. I have learned the hard way. I suffered hard last year because I had too much on my plate. So let go and refocus. Don’t get sucked into the vortex of the world busyness. It is not worth it. Make time to read a book and have a cup of coffee.

Yes, we need to work to make money as life costs feel like they are rising, but maybe some small life changes can make up the difference. Believe me, I struggle with this one as I am a bit of a workaholic but I share this wiht you because of my own experiences not wishing anyone to go through the cost of over scheduling, and because I have seen the freedom that is created in our homes when we lesson our load to make time to play together.

What are some things you do to create space in your life? Pop your email below for more heart and home inspiration right to your inbox!