Be the boss of your schedule!

Time – it’s the busy mother’s conundrum, isn’t it? The more you need it, the less you have of it.

What if there was a way to permanently clear your schedule so you weren’t frantically running around, trying and failing to get everything done?

There is, and it’s called minimalism for your schedule. If you didn’t have a jam-packed calendar, you’d feel a lot more peace, right?

And there’s a way to get it.

You just have to be the boss of your schedule, not let the schedule boss you.

Let’s dive in!

Introverts and Schedules

As introverts, our calendars are especially important. When there’s not enough buffer time between commitments (never mind overlapping ones!), we feel rushed, stressed, and frantic. If you could slow your schedule – remove a third of it, say – wouldn’t your days and weeks run a lot better?

Think back to a time when you got up in the morning without an over-lengthy list of tasks on your plate for the day. When did that last happen for you?

Can’t remember? We need to change that, right now. Not because I say so; because it’s not good for you to live in this state of constant stress, constant pressure.

“But that’s life!” you say. Then life needs to change.

Something has to change

And for that, you need to make the hard decisions.

Which is more important – the kids’ third extracurricular this season, or you being able to function well as a mom?

How does your day look? How does your week look? What’s going on this month? This semester?

What is your base level of functioning? Of peak productivity? Most important, of inner peace?

You can’t just look at your schedule top down; you have to start from the inside. What specific things about your day cause that frantic-rush-hurry feeling to wash over you?

Is it lack of time to prepare? (Maybe your preschooler takes forever to get coat and shoes on, but insists on doing it himself.)

Is it having more than one outside-the-house errand/activity in a single day? (Or having an activity on every day of the week, if you’re like me?)

Form (schedule) fits function (introversion)

There are fundamental changes that need to be made because of the way you function best. You’re an introvert; it’s not a curse.

(Read Quiet by Susan Cain, if you haven’t already.)

Look at your calendar from the inside out (the other way around). How can you build a day that makes sense for your productivity, optimum energy levels, need for breathing room?

How many things fit into that day?

It’s the overflow, the excess, beyond what you can handle with ease and grace that is causing you so much stress and worry. That’s what needs to go.

You can’t fit too many rocks in your bucket, or some will overbalance and fall out.

So let’s start from the bottom, dump out all those rocks, and commit to putting back only what fits (actually, less than what fits – your bucket shouldn’t be full to the brim).

Let’s embrace a not-filled-to-the-max life.

Let’s be the boss of our schedules.