How to Declutter Your Schedule
You know what absolutely everyone could benefit from decluttering? Your time commitments. How to Declutter Your Schedule is the first place you should start before beginning any physical organization project. Why? Because if we don’t make the time commitment to actually make organizing a priority – we’ll never be able to reach the finish line.
Most importantly, you actually have to SCHEDULE rest. God made the entire universe and still rested on the 7th day. Let that sit with you for a minute. Homie had a LONG to-do list and understood the importance of reset. Time to rest doesn’t happen naturally in our society. Oh do you wake up and think, you know I just have nothing to do today, I think I’ll just lounge and nap! Nope, doesn’t happen! We may end up doing that on a lazy Sunday but then we feel guilty and anxious about all the things we were supposed to do. Why not make that thing you were supposed to do, you know, resting our bodies and our minds?
Now we trim the fat in three steps.
Step One – Only water meaningful friendships.
Stop hanging out with people you don’t like. Instead of saying “we should have lunch sometime” when you don’t actually want to just say “you seem to be doing so well, great running into you!” and move right along. Invitation to your distant relative’s baby shower out of town? Send a card and a modest gift and call it a day. This goes for any invite with any people you hardly know or haven’t heard from since high waisted jeans were in style the first time.
Step Two – Delegate everything you possibly can.
And I mean everything! From work tasks to taxes to errands. If you can entrust someone with the responsibility, just do it! Now I am sure your first thought is cost. Consider two factors – does outsourcing this give me more time to focus on work or earn money? Can the cost be traded with another expense?
For example, my family and I only eat out twice a month in order to afford a housekeeper twice a month. She is an absolute God send and saves me an entire weekend that I would have spent cleaning. A few extra nights of leftovers is completely worth it. Can you trade out a spa visit for a meal planning grocery service? Perhaps there’s a budget adjustment that would allow weekly lawn care or a dog walker?
Dry cleaning can be delivered. USPS will pick up the next day. You can even pick up your entire list of groceries without leaving your car!
Step Three – Leave space.
Two days per month I schedule absolutely nothing. Where I can just breath and not feel like I’m in a hurry to be anywhere. I literally schedule by disguising a long meeting in my calendar. One of those days happened to be today! (The day I started writing this blog.) Turns out I still needed time to rest from a triple header of laryngitis, bronchitis and sinus infection. Today also allowed space to catch up on laundry and this blog in the comfort of my most comfy clothes. Another brag I accomplished today – all my email inboxes have less than 20 emails.
We need this breathing room in order to reset and avoid burnout. It never fails that I return to my regular schedule feeling refreshed!
How do you keep your schedule in line with your priorities?
Check out our “Three Life-Changing Time Principles” blog post for some other great tips!