How to make a schedule

Having a schedule and using it

I am not naturally inclined to be careful with my time or get all of the things done in a day that I want/need to get done. I am a procrastinator. Now, I am not proud of this, it is something I wish I didn’t do. I have been known to say, “Why do today what I can put off until tomorrow”. That is such a stupid thing to say and even stupider to practice. Over the years I have learned a few things that I will share here. Now, just so you know, I have not arrived in this area (and most other areas). I am still learning and adapting as the days go by, but I have gotten much better.

When you think of a schedule, what do you think of? Does it make you think of rigid times, someone acting like a drill sergeant barking out times and orders? Does it make you nervous and tense? Let me tell you, it shouldn’t. A schedule can actually be freeing, the key is to not become a slave to it. If you are constantly watching the clock or getting stressed if you fall behind, then you are not going to feel good about your schedule. There are many different approaches to a schedule. Some people only put a few times on their schedule, like meal times and nap times for littles, etc. Some only schedule the morning and leave the rest of the day open and you have others who have almost the entire day scheduled. You have to find what works for you, what will work best in your family. Below I will list some steps to follow when trying to set-up your schedule. For most people slow and steady wins the race and that is what I have done here, slow, determined steps.

First you need to pray about it ask God to guide you. You need to get God involved in on this. We often fail because we try to do it on our own. If you make the first step getting God involved, you will have a much higher chance of succeeding.

Second, I recommend writing down all of the things that you feel God wants you to get done during the day. Once you get them down, write next to them the amount of time you think it takes to get them done. You need to add them up and see if you have more than 24 hours of time on your paper.

Another thing that can be done simultaneously with this one, is writing down what you do throughout the day. Take a piece of paper and write the times down that you are awake. Then as you go through the day you can see what you are really spending your time on. You might be surprised.

Third, make sure you don’t have more things that you need to get done in one day than you have time. This is often a factor. Now you need to start arranging things in your day at times that they will fit. One of the most important things you shouldn’t overlook is the amount of sleep you need. I am someone who really needs a lot of sleep. If I get less than 8 hours of sleep 3 days in a row, then I get very grumpy, can’t focus and have no energy. I have a friend who can manage just fine on 6 hours. But it is good because it takes her a long time to get focused and moving in the morning. I wake up and start going, I don’t need extra time to focus. I like to start with sleep times and wake-up times and then include those things that are the same just about everyday; things like breakfast, lunch and dinner. Do you have a morning routine or an evening routine (if you don’t have one, start one)? For a lot of us SAHMs the key to a successful day is the time before lunch. If we have a productive morning, then the rest of the day seems to be a lot smoother, we aren’t trying to play catch-up all day. One of the key elements in a productive day is time with the Lord. Like I mentioned earlier, we try too often to do things on our own strength instead of depending on God. Is it any wonder we fail? Work on the time from waking up to lunch and clean-up. Don’t forget to try and make all meal times sort of regular, this really helps. When you have that working for a week, I suggest filling in the rest.

Let’s recap what we have done so far:

1. We asked God for help in working on our schedule, we asked Him to guide our steps.
2. We wrote down all the things that we need to get done in a day. We also wrote down what we did throughout the day to see where our time really is going.
3. We started filling in our schedule. We started with the basics like sleep, time with the Lord, meal times and any routines we might already have in place.

Fourth, is where you start to working on the rest of the schedule. So many of us moms get so gung-ho and want to do it all at once. Can you spell burnout? If we start small and keep building we have a better chance at succeeding. How is the morning part going? Do you need to change some things around? Once that part is done, start adding to the afternoon. I have another article on here about morning, afternoon and evening routines. Read those when you have a chance, they help me break down the day into manageable chunks.

Fifth, you need to tweak the schedule. Very rarely does the first schedule flow perfectly. If it is working great, then just keep plugging along. That is wonderful. Now, for the rest of us, move things around. For the longest time I had my exercise time in the morning and I was never doing it. I felt like a failure. Well, I moved my exercise time to the afternoon and it works out perfectly. It may not be the ideal, but it works and I have been exercising 5 days a week for over 2 months now. Once I loose a little more weight, I will go down to 3 days a week. I was outgrowing my clothes and was running out of clothes to wear. Besides all of the incredible health benefits exercise provides, I couldn’t afford a whole new wardrobe. I have been seeing some nice results so I don’t want to give that up!

Finally, you need to stick to it. If you just keep tweaking and tweaking your schedule, then maybe it isn’t the schedule. We have to find out what isn’t working. If you think there is nothing wrong with the schedule, then stick it out for a little bit. Remember the saying, is takes 21 days to make a habit stick (or something like that), you need to stick to it. A schedule is only a tool, not the magic pill. For me, part of what keeps me motivated is a happy husband, happy kids and a clean home. Oh yeah, I am not so stressed anymore. We all have some stress in our lives but when I stick to the schedule, it is really kept to a minimum.

A full day totally scheduled may not be what works for you. You might just like to have certain parts scheduled and the rest open for activities or free-schooling or something else, that is fine. The goal with this is to help you focus your energy and be productive. A saying that I hear over and over when I taught was, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. If you are going through your days unfocused with no plans or goals, or maybe you have plans and goals but you are accomplishing them, then you need to find something that works. For a lot of people, it is a schedule. I don’t like to have every moment scheduled, but key parts of the day are best for me any my family. I hope you find what works for you and that a few things in this article might have benefited you.