How to Simplify Your Schedule
“My goal is no longer to get more done, but rather to have less to do.”
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We are currently doing a series of episodes focused on simple living. So far, I’ve introduced the concept of simple living and last week we discussed decluttering our homes. If you missed those episodes, be sure to go back and check them out! In today’s episode, I want to talk about how our spaces aren’t the only things that can get cluttered… our schedules can too.
I’ve said it before, but I’m going to say it again and again, work-life balance doesn’t happen by accident. It takes intentional action on our part. Often the clutter of our schedules is what causes us to feel overwhelmed by the pressure to do it all. When we are faced with demands from work, family, church, friends, and more, we are likely to experience work-life conflict, which is when role pressures from roles and responsibilities we have are mutually incompatible (Kossek & Lee, 2017). Work-life conflict negatively impacts our satisfaction at work, at home, and in our lives in general (Amstad et al., 2011).
The crazy thing is that many of these demands are things that we’ve taken upon ourselves; and sometimes they can even be really good things… just too many of them. If work-life balance is “being actively engaged in and having a sense of competence and satisfaction across life roles in accordance with personal values” (Hirschi, 2020, p. 2), we need to make sure that we are playing the right roles and that we aren’t taking on so much that we can’t possibly feel competent or satisfied in them. Thus, simplifying our schedule is key to creating the work-life balance that we all desire.
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1. Get clear on your priorities.
This is possibly the biggest piece to simplifying our schedules. When you take the time to truly identify your priorities, scheduling things becomes so much easier. Suddenly it becomes very clear what we should say “yes” to, and what we can confidently say “no” to. I know so many women struggle with saying no, and I’ve done an entire episode on this exact topic – I’ll link it in the show notes.
Going back to the last part of the definition of work-life balance, we are going to feel more balanced when we are living “in accordance with personal values”. These values will help you identify what is a priority for you and what is not. Emily Ley, author of A Simplified Life, states that “the goal of simplifying is to eliminate distractions so you can focus on what really matters”. What is distracting you from your true priorities? Like I said, the distractions might be good things… just not the best things to spend your time and attention on.
So how do you get clear on your priorities? Start by reflecting on your values. Here are some questions that you can consider… What is important to you personally? As a mother? As a spouse? As an employee? If you’re married, it can help to discuss values with your spouse. You can also start to consider what your life goals are. Who do you want to be as a woman, mother, spouse, friend? What goals do you have personally, professionally, and as a family? Getting clear on these – even writing them down and revisiting them every few months – will help us know what is a true priority and what isn’t.
Some books that might be helpful in the process of identifying priorities are Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown and Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. I’ll link to both in the show notes!
2. Find a calendar system that works for you.
Walk down the calendar aisle at Target and you will see a number of beautiful calendars and planners created for the purpose of keeping track of your schedule. I have to admit, I LOVE looking at all of these but can get overwhelmed when it comes to picking the perfect one. But you know what? There isn’t a perfect planner. Yes, some will fit my needs better than others but what I need in a calendar system isn’t necessarily going to be what you need! The important thing is to find a system that works for you and your family to keep track of the things you need to do each day, month, year.
The BEST calendar system is the one that actually gets used to move us forward toward living a life that we want to live. You can have the fanciest online app or complicated wall calendar sticker chart, but if you don’t use it to live intentionally it’s worthless.
Personally, I use a combination of a traditional paper and pen planner and Google Calendar. I use the traditional planner to jot down my daily/weekly to-do lists so that I can visually see the tasks I want to accomplish each day (and so that I can get the joy of crossing them off the list). I use Google Calendar to keep track of appointments, zoom meetings, and events. The cool thing about Google Calendar is that you can create different calendars for different areas of your life and then share these calendars with the appropriate people. My husband and I have a linked calendar that way he can see when we have appointments or the kids have practice, and as a couple we can plan accordingly for each. Again, my approach might not work for you so I encourage you to figure out what works best for you and your family!
I haven’t used either of these traditional planners yet (I’m planning to get one for myself in January), but I wanted to share some that I’ve had my eyes on: The Simplified Planner by Emily Ley and the Goal Planner by Cultivate What Matters. As for Google Calendar, you can use it if you’ve created a free google account!
3. Play to your strengths.
We all have different rhythms to our lives. Not only are we different people but we’re also all in different seasons of work, motherhood, and life in general. Because we’re all different, we’re going to have different strengths that we can play to in simplifying our schedules. This truly comes down to knowing yourself – how you work best, what you like to do, and when you like to do it.
When I think about an elegantly balanced life, I envision myself moving through my daily schedule with ease. If we want things to be easy (which I certainly do), we need to play to our strengths and not make things harder than they need to be!
Some ways to do this are to:
Schedule your most intensive work during your peak performance time.
Schedule the less important/cognitively draining tasks outside of your peak performance time.
Delegate or even delete the tasks that you truly hate doing
4. Create some routines.
This is one of my favorite ways to simplify my schedule. Routines allow important things to get done without a lot of mental effort on your part. Not only do routines help us get through our day effortlessly, but they also help our children know what to expect and when to expect it.
You can create a routine around almost every aspect of your life. However, I don’t suggest that you try to do that all at once. Ease yourself into it.
Here’s a snapshot of my daily routines:
Morning routine – coffee, Bible, quiet time
School day morning routine – get kids up at same time each day, get dressed, brush teeth, eat breakfast, pack lunch, get shoes and backpack, get in the car
Workday morning routine – list out priorities for the day, work on the hardest one first (during my peak productivity time), check email
Lunch – eat a meal that I’ve planned in advance
Workday afternoon routine – tackle the priorities on my list, check email, create a list for tomorrow
School day afternoon routine – pick up the kids, drive home, eat snacks, do homework
Evening routine – playtime, eat dinner, bath, brush teeth, read, bedtime
Remember, your routines will look different than mine and that’s okay! We are not the same person, and we may not even be in the same season of life. The key is to create a rhythm around the things you do each day instead of having to waste precious mental energy on deciding what to do every second of every day.
Ask yourself, what’s one area that you could create a routine around this week?
5. Leave some margin.
Finally, in the midst of all your planning and scheduling you must remember that it won’t happen perfectly. Life is beautiful, but also messy. Things come up that you didn’t plan for. Tasks might take longer than you hoped. The best way to address this is to allow some margin in your schedule so that you can attend to those things with grace. I’m lucky if I stick to my schedule even 50% of the time, but because I’ve left margin it doesn’t (usually) stress me out.
How do you create margin?
One of the best ways I’ve found to do this is by limiting my “must-do” list to three items each day. If I accomplish those three things that day, it’s a win. Anything else that gets done is just the cherry on top.
Remember, the goal isn’t to cross everything off our to-do list, the goal is to create a life full of beauty and joy.
Before you go, I wanted to invite you to join my 5-Day Closet Cleanout Challenge. It just started today, and we’ve got a fantastic group of women ready to simplify their wardrobes, closets, and homes. Over these 5 days, we'll be creating a closet that we love to open each morning. Decluttering is never fun, but a challenge with some accountability can make it better! Plus, there will be live Q&A and opportunities to win some fun prizes!!! You can register for the challenge by heading to www.kayleehackney.com/closet. I hope to see you there!
Have a beautiful joy-filled week friends!
Is a better work-life balance one of your goals this year?
I’ve created a workbook just for you!
If you’re interested in creating a work-life balance characterized by simplicity, joy, and beauty, why don’t you start by checking out my Elegant Balance Workbook? In it, I help you define what work-life balance looks like for you and share some tips on creating that balance. I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it – Balance doesn’t happen by accident.
What are you waiting for?
Let’s pursue our Elegant Balance together!
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We spend a great deal of time at work. Like Annie Dillard once said, “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” I encourage you to look around your office and see what steps you can take to add simple luxuries to your workday because in the grand scheme of things, they will add up and lead to a luxurious life!