Welcome to the second post in my Anti-Hustle Fall Series!
This week, I want to talk about our schedules. Fall is a time of transition, and a natural point for many new activities and responsibilities to begin. Often we’re tempted to say yes to too many things, feel overwhelmed, and sometimes even end up resenting the activities that we had looked forward to doing because we’re burnt out.
So how do we approach our schedules with intentionality this season?
The More & Less Strategy
This is a gentle method to evaluate your schedule and life responsibilities this fall without overhauling everything. It’s simple, quick, and effective to do. The first step is evaluation and the second step is action.
There’s not one right way to set up your schedule or define exactly what you should say yes and no to. That’s why I prefer this method—it helps you set your own boundaries and limitations by determining what personally works best for you.
Remember, for this strategy to be effective, you need to have both thoughtful and honest evaluation and intentional action. Let’s get started:
Evaluation
First, create a list of the different areas of your life and typical routines. These should be broad categories that most of your weekly activities fall under. For example, your list could look something like this:
- Work
- Home
- School
- Kids Activities
- Leisure/Fitness
- Faith
Consider the categories one by one and define one thing that you need more of and less of.
You may find some categories are much easier than others, but remember to limit yourself to only one thing. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas for a category, consider the following questions to get you started:
Have there been seasons in the past that were easier or you felt more at peace? What stands out about them? Were there activities you or your family were involved in that were very life-giving last fall? How about activities that were draining? Are there new skills you want your family to learn? Or new ways you want to challenge yourself?
Here are a few examples of more/less statements for these categories. It’s okay to have statements that are broad or specific at this point—we’ll narrow them further to an easy and concrete action point in the next step.
Work
Less: Time spent constantly checking emails and messages throughout the day
More: Focused time on large work projects that make an impact
Home
Less: Time spent on phones and watching TV
More: meal-planning
Once you have ideas for each of your categories, it’s time to move on to the next step.
Action
Now it’s time to take these ideas and turn them into concrete action steps.
For example, looking at the Home example above, I would determine that I should set boundaries on phone and TV usage and then create space for intentional time spent with the family (i.e., a family supper). Knowing that I want to have intentional family meal times, I would be more aware and careful that the opportunities and things I am saying yes to for myself and my family don’t overlap or infringe on this time.
If a little more organization and meal planning will help you feel more at peace in this chaotic season, lean into that! Now you know that you need to leave space somewhere in your schedule to sit down and plan meals and go grocery shopping.
A Few Tips
Life happens—it’s messy and crazy sometimes, even with our best intentions. What if you want to have dedicated family meals, but there are always kid’s activities that overlap?
Get creative and carve out another time in the day to be together. It can be short and sweet or makeshift while on the run, but if you’re there and present, it will be great.
The other option is to be a little ruthless and say the hard no. We need to choose what’s best for our families, and sometimes the best thing is saying no to rushing and hustling.
Delegate and ask for help! Just because you decide to meal plan this fall, doesn’t mean you have to do all the grocery shopping or meal inspiration yourself! Ask your family for help, and get them to pitch in however they can.
I hope you find peace, joy and more simplicity in your schedules this fall!
What are some things that you need more or less of this season?
Little Minimalist on the Prairies 