Prioritize Your Time with These 5 Tips

I find when the school year starts, everyone in my family is going in different directions. Weekdays are crazy! Between work, school, keeping track of the kids’ after-school activities and having to feed the family… the days are not long enough! I struggle to find time to get things done.

Before we know it, Halloween will be here.  Then Thanksgiving and Christmas! As we enter the fourth quarter of the year, let’s make a game plan to focus on and achieve our goals without sacrificing our most important relationships.

The following are 5 tips to prioritize your time

1. Leave the mess

My husband probably won’t agree with me on this one. But I love this tip. Over the years, I’ve gotten good at practicing this. I have no qualms about leaving the mess. I will do timed spurts of cleaning up/organizing, but if things pile up for a while, I don’t stress. I know when I’m old and gray, I won’t be wishing I had a cleaner house. Put aside your OCD and let it goooooo (within reason, of course). It all gets messed up again anyway!

2. Do things 80%

Although I can be intense and labeled at times as a workaholic, a perfectionist I am not! I’ve learned to get satisfaction on getting things “almost right.” I can go back and tweak later, but obsessing about making things 100%  generally keeps me running in place. Do you have things that you have procrastinated on because it’s not exactly how you want it to be? Trying to be perfect is a waste of energy and time. Get it out there at 80% and see what happens.

3. Time Block

I’ve started planning every minute of my day on my phone calendar. I don’t always follow the schedule, and things often shift. But when I time block to-do lists and put the most unpleasant or most challenging things first, I tend to get more done.

4. Cut out tv

You know the saying right? Lack of time is an excuse. Get out of the habit of watching tv. It may feel strange at first, but trust me. When you get rid of it (or at least decrease your tv time), you will find space to do other things that bring you more fulfillment and make you more productive. Replace tv with exercise, meditation, reading, listening to an audiobook or writing! So many options to better ourselves and feed our mindset.

5. Set a daily agreed-upon time to spend with loved ones

When we are busy, it’s easy to lose connection and miss things that are happening in each other’s lives.

• My family recently started a family-time dinner schedule each day. At a set time, we will have dinner together as a family. Everyone will make it a priority to be home by this time and be intentional about our conversation. It’s only been two weeks, but I see how it helps to keep us in tune with one another.
• Another related tip to foster family communication is to stay out of our bedrooms unless it is time to sleep. Not sure how long this will last, as teens like to camp out in their rooms. But so far, so good.
• Finally, we’ve committed to doing at least one family activity each weekend. Even if for just an hour or two, it will be something fun we do together as a family.

What do you think about these tips to prioritize your time? Do you have tips of your own? I’m all ears! Let’s make the most of this last quarter of the year. Good luck!

And if you enjoyed these tips, you may enjoy my post, 7 Ways to Master a Growth Mindset.

“Flavor Your Life with an Ounce of Salt.” A lifestyle blog by Jen Oliak.