6 Tips that Helped me Conquer my Schedule

Trying to juggle multiple tasks while also balancing family life, I encountered my fair share of challenges: having hundreds of activities left incomplete, failing to finish a project to the end, or not meeting deadlines. All of this added up to working extra hours only to be less productive. I’ve never experienced anything as challenging as getting the right resources to help me improve on my productivity and organization.

I was feeling overwhelmed with my schedule as a single mother, being pulled in so many different directions at the same time. Out of frustration, I purchased every planner or organizational tool that would offer me a solution to my overwhelm but each time, it all fell flat! After much frustration, I had an aha moment!

Introducing the 6 tips that helped me conquer my schedule and enabled me achieve more fruitful days, maximizing my time and most importantly allowing me to relax, taking a steady step in life while enjoying the little moments in life.

These are the tips that worked and are still working for me:

• Plan

If there’s anything the uncertainty of life has taught us, it’s how important it is to plan. Nobody loves a good plan as much as an individual who desires success. While many people may prefer impromptu activities and planning your day as it occurs, a system that allows us to layout activities so you can plan to carry out all year long is critical.  

• Set Priorities  

 I decided I wanted to build my life around the most important things to me, my top priorities. My list followed: God first, Vocation as a mother, Job/Business, family and friends, and finally health. This allowed me to audit what was important in my life and helped me see with clarity which ones I couldn’t compromise on. When at home and not working, attending daily mass is a vital part of my routine. My life is built around attending Mass, therefore I see that my faith commitments are my number one priority. Everyone has different priorities and it is about discovering what yours are and building your schedule to highlight them and focus on them. What matters most to you? Build your life around it and redeem your time! 

• Structure

One cannot underestimate the importance of structure. Scheduling time has been quite the balancing act as a mother! There are many complications when trying to master the schedule. Nevertheless, some sort of schedule and preparation is better than nothing! I reached out to my mother for some insight on how I could solve this problem. Her answer was fast and easy. She asked if I had ever looked into how monks lived. She further explained that the monks were the most organized and productive people. This set me on a journey of developing my own structure. Save yourself some time and gain those precious minutes of the day back by being a conscientious planner with a schedule that best fits you and your needs! 

• Write things down 

Not only does writing help relieve the stress and mental fatigue from all the information we have to keep track and record,  there are many benefits of writing things down.Improving your productivity and organization. 

• Helping you meet deadlines. 

•  Helping you set a to-do list for the day. 

• Allowing you to be time conscious, allocating time for each activity.

• Acting as a prompt reminder.

Writing things down clears your mind of the clutter freeing your mind for more creative things.

• Accountability

It is important to hold oneself accountable. If we have no processes and way to keep track and assess, or audit our systems to see what works and doesn’t, we wont be able to know where we need to improve. Plan ahead, and hold yourself accountable at the end of the day, week, month and year. Audit and plan the day before for the day, month, week, and audit the plan.

• Surrender

For our own peace of mind, sometimes things may not go our way but if we are willing to cooperate with God’s grace and accept everything as coming from his hands for our own sanctification, we will have interior peace and not get frustrated with all the things that go wrong or don’t work out in our life.

What are the results with following these tips? I am able to enjoy going to the park and spending the day with my daughter and not feeling anxious and  overwhelmed by all the things that fill up my to do list. I know where I am in my processes and structure my day so as to maximize my time to do  more in less time.

What has worked for you in conquering your schedule?