Last updated on August 19th, 2020 at 09:25 pm
Y’all, I’m gonna say something B.O.L.D.
Ya ready? I’m a stay-at-home-mom….and I swear I’ve never been busier. 😳🙄
Okay, okay – so the above statement isn’t earth rattling in any way, but I find it interesting that whenever I make this statement, I sense a “mmmmmm-hmmmmmm……SUUUURE you are” (add an eye-roll afterwards and you’ll get my drift!) energy from not only random acquaintances, but also those peeps near-and-dear to my heart!
No, REALLY. It’s true….and, I’ve discovered it is a LACK of routine that makes this statement so glaringly (okay…maybe NOT earth-rattling-material) true!
But seriously, friends – once I had my son and stopped working, I had never felt so unorganized and jumbled in my life!
In the years I’ve been home (which has been over 8 years now!) I have managed to develop a system that I’m embarrassed to admit took me waaaaayyyyyy too long to achieve! I wish I had adopted this system LONG LONG AGO!!!! 🤦
So, in this weekly tip I will share with you what took me far too long to perfect. Hopefully you won’t make my mistake and will start incorporating these ideas immediately! Once you do, dear readers, you will feel a literal weight lift off your shoulders, you’ll be less likely to reach for that glass o’ wine at (almost?) 5 o’clock, and your children will even whine less…..
Okay – that last one was a cheap trick. Forgive me…..I was on a roll. BUT! That IS how excited I am to share these tips with you! And, as per usual, you will hear me repeat that it is actually TAKING the steps to incorporate these tips that you juuuust might find the hardest hurdle to overcome!
But, I believe in you! You can do this! And, you NEED to do this!
If you are anything like me, you might really look forward to the school year beginning again: along with the changing of the season, there is also a slowing down of the free-wheeling approach that we experience in the summer.
Getting the alarm clock back out and settling into the predictability of familiar and conventional activity is something that you can look even more forward to each fall season! I know us Mama’s out there look forward to a wee bit more A-Time (IF ya can get it! 😝) that the school year brings, but once you manage to integrate these tips into YOUR new-and-improved-routine – well, you’ll just have to give this advice a go and see what a difference it can make!
Here we go, friends!
WHY (and, how) ROUTINE SHOULD BE A TOP PRIORITY:
👉 Think About What DIDN’T Work Last Year, And Remedy….
This is how I like to approach the fall season. This is what works for muah, but if you don’t have kiddos or it makes more sense to you to start up your routine at a different time of year, by all means do it! Regardless, I find doing this and noting what DIDN’T work from the previous season is super beneficial.
Were you always rushing out the door to get your kid(s) to school in the morning? Change things up: start making lunches the night before without fail, or lay their clothes out the evening before. Or – dare I say it – get them up earlier! I actually had to do this recently with my son, and at first it WAS painful (for both of us!) but just like anything, he did get used to it and now it’s seamless…..
👉 What Am I NOT Accomplishing On-The-Regular?
Aaaaand……this just might be more than one thing, y’all! It was for me! I found myself utterly shocked each day at how quickly the time came to leave to pick-up my son from school, and I also found that I was giving myself a hard time for not getting the always-staring-me-in-the-face-to-do-list DONE! 😔 Don’t do that, by-the-way….life’s too short!
So, I started to look at the major things that weren’t getting completed on-the-regular. I especially looked at prioritizing what was a daily task versus what was a weekly task. In doing so, I have really been able to make this teensy-weensy adjustment produce profound results! It’s funny, because this seems so obvious, but I wasn’t personally making this distinction and was finding myself always scrambling to “get it all done today.”
That mentality is – I believe – what really causes overwhelm….
When you KNOW what to expect each day, you therefore don’t set yourself up for unrealistic expectations or a list of things that you’ll regret NOT completing at the end of each day! Psychologically, this mental fatigue adds up, you guys! It wears on us, and it wears us out!
And, on top of that, when you are putting things that are important to you (code for: prioritizing daily vs. weekly vs. super important vs. somewhat important) on the back-burner, you will undoubtedly feel even WORSE about yourself.
👉 So: what frustrates you the MOST about your current routine?
[bctt tweet=”Here’s the thing: whatever comes to your mind first that you feel stressed about NOT getting done, is exactly what you should be getting done on-the-regular. Maybe it’s time to re-structure your priorities list. – A Substantial Life Blog” via=”no”]
Personally, I had always wanted to blog, but it also always managed to end up on (that aforementioned) back-burner! Simply put, I just wasn’t prioritizing it! I was spending way too much time putting energy towards things that, in the long-term, didn’t really make much difference. Dusting and vacuuming for the magazine crew that never show up? Yup, guilty. I have a number of friends who jokingly say to me before a get-together: “it’s okay, Tara: the magazine crew is NOT showing up….” ⌊Insert laughing-at-my-expense-experience⌋ 😏
Yeeaaahhhhh…..that was me. And, I still fight those urges!
Attempting to keep up with my favorite Bon Appetit chefs? Yup, totally attempting that – and TOTALLY not getting the enthusiastic responses I’m always desperately seeking! Well, it doesn’t help that my vegan husband doesn’t really want to hear all about my traditional cooking beliefs! 🤣 Hey, when everyone in a household eats differently – you gain a serious sense of humor about everything!
So, the major difference you need to make is this:
👉 Am I keeping it all SIMPLE ENOUGH???
If I can stress anything to you all, it’s that. Should you listen to a woman who makes three different dinners most nights? 🙄
You should….
I know, that’s kinda an example of NOT keeping things simple, but y’all: I have no choice! I follow an Ancestral diet, my husband is a Vegan, and my son is a Vegetarian….the men in my life gotta eat!!! 😆
In creating a routine, make it just that: a routine! What are the absolutely critical things that need to happen in your household?
List these items out as Priority #1, then follow-up with secondary items. I’m not going to list out ALL my ‘what these might be’, because this is supposed to help you envision what it will be for YOU! But……
For clarification sake, I’ll throw out some options: it could be meal planning like it is for me! Lemme tell ya: before I totally committed to meal planning, things were WAY more hectic, frustrating, and vexing!
It could be prioritizing essential extra-curricular activities and losing (giving up/sacrificing) those that don’t fall under the “PRIORITY” category. Ex: Kiddo totally into karate, but only so-so into basketball? Cut the basketball, y’all!
It could be giving up the side hobby in order to get healthy. Ex: It could be spending less time binge watching Netflix or scrolling through social media and swapping that time out with the gym. You’ll truly feel better if you make THAT swap!
You get it? Then, follow through with the next list of priority’s, and so-on-and-so-forth.
Once this is completed, you will have a very clear picture of what needs to be tackled on the daily; versus on the weekly, versus on the monthly, versus every-so-often, etc, etc….
Ex: Do the dishes need to be done everyday? Yup. As does the doggie doo-doo, the homework with kiddo(s), self-care necessities, making the bed(s), a reasonable amount of blog work, etc.
These daily chores should always be your top priorities!
I find if I tackle those first, then I have a much more motivated mind-set to move further down the list. Of course, this list will most likely look completely different given your own personal circumstances, but hopefully you get the idea.
This simple mind-switch has made a ton of difference in my own life. I wasn’t thinking of things as daily, weekly, or monthly. I was getting overwhelmed by ALL of it; zeroing-in-on this simple shift in thinking seems so obvious now….but I wasn’t doing it!
My mind is now habitually thinking in terms of things that need to get done daily, versus weekly, versus monthly, etc….
Laundry? Try to do it just once a week. I know, it’s easier said than done. But, marinate on just what day you have the most time. And then schedule it for that day. Will the karate gi need to be washed multiple times a week in order for your kiddo to look presentable during karate lessons? 🥋Yes, M’AM! 🤣 But even so, that won’t put too much of a dent in your day. Limiting laundry to just one day per week and really committing to getting ‘er done – I find – makes a SERIOUS difference in my week!
👉 DESIGNATE CERTAIN DAYS FOR CERTAIN TASKS
I know this seems obvious, but how many of you actually DO this? AmIright???
This is another super simple way to keep yourself on-task:
Laundry Mondays. Housecleaning Tues/Thurs. Garden/Landscaping Wednesdays. Meal planning and prepping Fridays.
You get it….
Even though I have only adopted a loose version of this, I still find using it as somewhat of a template really does help. In my life, things just come up randomly too often to completely commit to this system, so although I stick more to the what-needs-to-be-done-daily-vs.-weekly-vs.-monthly-vs.-only-ever-so-often-mindset……this system might work much better for YOU.
Now, along with all of the above 👆, there is obviously the things that you know you need to cut back on.
For me, it’s the internet and its rabbit-hole tendencies. I find SO many things SOOO fascinating — but what I have personally started doing is setting my phone timer for 30 minutes when I first sit down to “check emails.” I realized it was this act that was taking waaaaaaaayyyyyyy too much out of my day! 💡
Sometimes changing our not-so-great habits really is as simple as just taking the actual steps in order to create results we desire. It’s like, just getting in my car to get TO the gym is way harder than the actual workout! 🤣
So, marinate on what you personally need to cut back on, and just rip that band-aid off and do it! I promise you, you will feel SO much better when you actually do so! I still struggle with not getting sucked into internet rabbit holes, but that timer goes off and it’s like someone screaming at me with a bullhorn 📢 to just close the laptop and get goin’ with my list of to-do’s!
These are some key points in how to strategize not only creating – but maintaining – routine in YOUR life!
Remember, I find physically writing it all out to be the most beneficial way to create your priorities list!
For example, there are a lot of things I’d personally love to be involved with, or more involved with: my son’s school PTA, Mom’s Across America, my doTERRA business, volunteering at my local animal shelter, YouTube video creation and editing, photography classes, cooking classes……honestly, the list really could go on and on! But, I’ve decided that my blog has to be high up on my personal priority list because it is super important to me and I get a lot of creative energy and fulfillment from it!
So, it lines up there on my DAILY list along with the dishes, the dog doo, homework with my son, extra-curricular activities for my son, general house clean-up/maintenance, tending my veg garden, and getting dinner on the table.
It is SO much nicer not feeling that overwhelming thought that E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. has to get done T.O.D.A.Y.!
Approaching each new day now has me excited to get up and accomplish the realistic set of tasks that I know lie before me.
Hopefully, now you have a much clearer idea of how to create – and establish – more routine in your own life! I know you, too, will soon wake up looking forward to crossing each (achievable) task off your own personal list! I know what a difference these tips and strategies have helped me with my own routines, and I am confident these simple steps actually make a monumental difference!
I’d love to hear comments on how you utilize routine in your own life, so make sure to comment below for more helpful tips for myself and all readers!
Always Here,
Recent Comments