“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”  Gandalf, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings:  The Fellowship of the Ring

Time management is an overused term in today’s world. Most folks I talk to these days seem to struggle with that ever-elusive concept. Especially when you throw in an unexpected social distancing quarantine, which throws whatever notion you previously had about managing your time out the window. There’s a few things we can agree on,  we’ve all got 24 hours, and to varying degrees, we’re all wondering how to use them the  best way  we can.

One of the hardest challenges we face in managing our time wisely is that it happens in the middle of trying to live our everyday lives. Every single day shows up with countless opportunities for how to spend our time.

So often, we try to squeeze as much as we can into every day, thinking that is the key to managing our time wisely. Instead of focusing on getting more done, our attention should shift to getting the right things done. In order to do that, we’re going to have to choose not to do tons of very appealing things. It’s usually the good things that distract us from the best things.

Has your life changed in the last five years? In the last year? I’m pretty sure our new normal of social distancing has brought about quite a few life changes, and that’s just within the past few weeks. If you’re anything like me as a work from home mom, life can change pretty radically depending on what’s going on any given day or week, am I right?  Even in weeks, months, or years where our lives don’t appear dramatically different, change still happens, regardless of how minimal it has been. Our lives are made up of changing seasons, and one of the keys to effective time management is to understand the reality of those changing seasons, and to work within whatever boundaries or freedoms that current season is dictating. When my kids were younger, and story time sessions on my lap and sleep-deprivation were at an all-time high, my schedule looked radically different than it does today now that my kiddos are all teenagers and significantly more independent.

Speaking of the s-word, let’s talk about schedules. Regardless of how ever-changing they have been throughout my life, schedules have been a HUGE part of managing my time wisely.

Here are some ways schedules have been a blessing to me:

  • Schedules bring the reality of time limitations into focus.
  • Schedules help me think through how I want to spend my time.
  • Schedules help me accomplish goals and other projects that are important to me, and areas I’d like to grow in.
  • Schedules allow me to develop self-control and diligence.
  • Schedules help provide limits, which helps protect me from overextending myself. Insert here – burnout protection.
  • Schedules give me the freedom to say “no” to an unexpected request without guilt, or to say “yes” knowing how it will impact my day or week.

Here are some things to consider before coming up with your schedule:

  • Try to develop a general routine you can follow on a normal day. I know, our normal may be that our days never quite look the same. Our lives tend to have a certain flow to them even within that, so keep that in mind and take note of it.
  • Take time to sit still and think things through. Would an hourly plan work for you?  Or would a morning/afternoon/evening block of time schedule work better?
  • Think about what your best times of day are for things you’ve determined are priorities, those non-negotiable, solid rocks that need to be part of your schedule no matter what’s going on.
  • Be flexible! Hold that schedule with an open hand, knowing that it may change depending on life season and unexpected circumstances. I like to call it self-controlled flexibility!

One final note about schedules, the weakest ink is better than the strongest memory, a reality I’ve had to come to terms with more and more each passing year. All that to say—write things down! It is impossible to keep track in our minds all the bits of information we need to run our lives and manage our time effectively. A notebook, calendar, or planner can do the remembering for you. It also helps free your mind for more creative thinking.

Seasons change, and using schedules to manage our time effectively is a helpful and very real possibility, no matter how we’re called to use the time we’ve been given.