Taking a Break for Priorities' Sake

I've missed blogging this week, but I'm not going to apologize for taking a break. It's been busy around here! My husband and I were able to get away for a couple of days to celebrate our 8 year anniversary. I can't believe it's been that long already! We went up to Lake Tahoe for a night, shopped, had a nice intimate dinner and finished off our celebration with a day on the slopes of Sierra-at-Tahoe. It was a much needed break for us, and we enjoyed every minute of our time together. There was a whole lot of laughing (which we seem to do often) along with reminiscing about our past and looking forward to our future. We had a great time! It's amazing to think back on the day we got married. We were so in love (or so we thought), but that is just a tiny portion of the love we have for each other today. We are so blessed! It will be interesting to see what our relationship looks like in 8 more years. I'm excited to find out!

I've been thinking a lot over this past week about priorities and how I use my time. My church is in the midst of doing a weekly Bible study campaign. Last week we learned about stewardship. While most often stewardship is linked to our finances, the lessons over that week focused more on our spiritual gifts and time. We need to be wise stewards of all things whether it be finances, time or gifts and skills. The time thing seemed to hit me the most. I'm guessing that's because it's my greatest struggle right now. If I were to keep track of every minute of my day, I would find a whole lot of waste going on. I'm not one for keeping a tight schedule or living by my day planner. While I think there are extremes on both sides of the time scale (being too busy or being too lazy), I often find myself somewhere in between lingering towards the lazy side. How can a mom of three kids be lazy you ask? By procrastinating, misusing my time on unimportant things and not being purposeful with the hours given to me each day. These are the same hours that everyone gets. You can't "make" more time or "save" time, you can only manage the time you have wisely. It's a balancing act.

I've decided that in order to use my time wisely, I need to sit down and make out a list of priorities. Once I have an idea of what I want to do with the hours in my day, it makes it a lot easier to accomplish my goals. You can set daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly goals. Overall, I just wanted to write down a general idea of what I want to accomplish each day along with goals I can work on in how I use my time. In writing it down, I can go back to it and stay mindful of it. Seeing it written out also somehow gives me a sense of accountability.

Some days will be different, and I still have my schedule of "out-of-the-ordinary" events on my calendar, but for the most part, my average day is the same. Some of my goals include spending more time focused on and interacting with my kids individually and as a family, using more of my time with my husband to really connect and focus on him, spending a set amount of time on my cleaning schedule each day, planning meals a week ahead of time to save time (not running to the grocery store last minute) and money (not wasting food), spending LESS time on the computer and watching t.v., and taking five minutes each morning to write down and go over what I need to get accomplished that day (in order to stay focused).

Everyone has different priorities in how they spend their time. The important thing is to not be wasting it! Remember when we talked about being mom's WITH purpose ON purpose? Prioritizing your time will help you become that mom! It will also help you to take the time you need for a break once in a while without feeling guilty about it.

Take some time this week to sit down and write out some goals and priorities concerning your time and how you want to spend it. If you have a hard time with this, try documenting your time over a couple of days and see if there are areas where you can be spending less or more time on things you already do. Don't set so many goals for yourself that you can't keep up with them. Remember to prioritize...what's most important to you? Once you've decided what you want to "shoot" for, put them up somewhere to remind you (bathroom mirror, refrigerator, nightstand), and review them daily to help you stay on track. If you're already very organized with your time, don't forget to schedule "fun" time and "relaxing" time in your day, so you can stay refreshed and healthy!

Here's to using our time wisely!