Too Busy Day? How To Get It Together 15 Minutes at a Time

too busy dayHave a too busy day? Have you ever wondered how to get everything done in the day? How to even get those few things you NEED completed in your too busy day? Have you ever wondered how to fit in the things you want to do for yourself? Not to mention the myriad of others requiring your help for their desires? Well, I have some help for you!

How did I find it?!

Well, by feeling the same overwhelm you do. By never having enough hours in the day to do what I need to do, much less those things that I want for me. Like reading. Like crocheting! I needed to find some peace. I started on this path several years ago. I’m not perfect at it. I often fall off the wagon, so to speak. But I always come back!

too busy dayIt’s a bit long winded for the whole story. I’ll just give you a brief bit of it to get you started on it. Papa and I had a daycare we ran those years ago I mentioned. We also had started a food program (much more on this another time). There are a LOT of things that must be done EACH day for both program and a state licensed daycare. It wasn’t easy. I was overwhelmed with trying to keep up with my scripture studies, my program needs, and my business. Oh. Can’t forget that we were both college students, as well, during this busy time.

I NEEDED peace. I needed to find time. There just never seemed enough time to get anything done. Maybe I’d get all my daycare stuff done. Maybe a bit of school work. Perhaps even some scripture study. But, I can tell you, I never ever got it ALL done in the day.

Get on with it! How do I deal with a too busy day?

Enter a prompting to really check out some emails I’d been getting for years. Enter FlyLadyFlyLady too busy dayI’d been getting these emails and sometimes I’d read them. Sometimes I’d think, “Someday I’ll get started.” Well, finally I decided to actually follow her plan. Not 100%. Just the part that helped me. A schedule. She calls them Control Journals. These control journals help a person to schedule certain things on certain days. Such as Mondays. Mondays is the day to do a quick vacuum (although in the daycare, that was a EVERYDAY thing!). Among other things. Wednesdays are for meal planning. Thursdays for errand running. Etc.

So off I started! I am not one to usually do things half measure. I planned out my whole day! From start to finish. I had my first 15 minutes after my wake up filled with such things as taking my meds, feeding the animals and cleaning out the cat box. Next came meditation (prayer time). Every hour was filled with what I needed to get done each day. It was amazing!

I had so much time! I knew when I was supposed to fix breakfast for the kids. When to fix lunch. We had lesson plans for the kids scheduled as to when we’d plan them as well as when we’d teach them. I had time to read. Time to crochet. I even had time to complete 4 years of college in less than 1.5 years!

Do I still have too busy days?

I am not as good as I was during that first too busy year. I am a work in progress when it comes to scheduling my too busy day. But I still get Flylady’s emails.

Despite not being as scheduled as I’d like, there is one thing I do use. I think everyone should implement this in their day. Take to heart and remember her 15 minute rule. You can do ANYTHING for 15 minutes. I use that for whenever there is a job I don’t want to do. Like quarterly taxes. I don’t now HOW many times I’ve thought to myself, “Ok, I only need to work on them for 15 minutes. I don’t have to finish them right now. Just 15 minutes!” Want to know a secret? I don’t often stop after those 15 minutes, it was just the impetus I needed to get started. But, I have given myself PERMISSION to stop after 15 minutes. I can move onto something else!

Perhaps…

If you are having a rough time of things. Can’t seem to get everything done in your too busy day. Perhaps you are planning too many things for your day. But perhaps you are just too easily distracted by life. No matter the reason, perhaps a schedule will help you get the things done that are MOST important.

 

 

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