What to Do When You Can't Do It All

I do not have time to do all the things that I want to do.  I don't even have the time to do all the things that are IMPORTANT to me.  I lived a pretty full life before starting to homeschool and so adding in a 5+ hour a day commitment (planning + teaching) wasn't an easy squeeze.  I still haven't figured out a way to get exercising and language study back into the schedule. Life is full and it is full of GOOD things...things I don't want to give up.

And you know what?  It is okay.  The question is NOT, "how do I fit it all in."  There is no possible way, or at least no possible way that would work on a long-term basis, to fit in EVERYTHING I want to do EVERY DAY.  I am just at a time in my life where there are more things to do than time to do them. I have to be okay with that.  The trick, then, is to figure out what goes and what stays.  So how do I do that?

Here are a few of my suggestions (to myself as much as to anyone else!)

1. Make a list of everything that you really want/need in your life right now. 

2. Make a list of time-wasters in your life that you DON'T need -- get rid of them.

3. Find out if there are ways to do something faster, to do something less, to combine it with something else, or to be more efficient when doing it.

4. Be realistic and be wise.  Cutting sleep to four hours a day is NOT a solution.

5. Pray for wisdom to know what is most important TODAY. Understand that they may be different from what is most important TOMORROW.

6. Trust that God knows what is important and trust that He alone can stretch time.  I am often amazed that when I take time to be in His Word (which is hard because I am usually thinking of all the things that I need to get done) that somehow, the day seems to expand and I have time to do much more.  I have to believe that He knows my heart, he knows the effort I put in, and that there really are only 24 hours in the day and there is a limit to what can be accomplished.

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And this is how this looks for me:

1. Things that are important to me that I am not willing to give up (knowing that not ALL of these will be done EVERY day): Time with God ♥ Homeschooling my kids ♥ playing with and enjoying my kids (outside of school time) ♥ time as a whole family ♥ time with Jason ♥ my website (though if push came to shove and something had to go, this would be it) ♥ my own scrapping ♥ photography ♥  hospitality and having people over ♥ being a listening ear when a friend needs me ♥ making our house a home ♥ helping Jason when he needs it (proofreading, helping with lesson planning, etc.) ♥ exercise ♥ language study ♥ relationships with women (on and offline) ♥ down time to relax and do NOTHING ♥ sleep. 

2. Things I DON'T need to be doing: wasting time on Facebook (I don't have a problem checking in because I love that I have reconnected with so many, but I don't need to be on multiple times a day doing nothing but being nosy about other people's lives) ♥ watching TV (other than the occasional show at night to unwind) ♥ doing everything the hard way for the wrong reasons ♥ blog reading (I am learning to skip over stuff that doesn't really interest me and instead focus on the blogs that I find informative and inspirational.  If there is a recipe for baked beans and I hate baked beans, I move on) ♥ doing projects in parts when it would be more efficient to do them as a whole ♥ fretting over what we are going to eat (answer: meal planning) ♥ chatting online with friends just for something to do.

3. I am definitely looking at ways to be more efficient with things -- crafting while hanging out with my kids ♥ teaching other women how to craft/scrapbook ♥ less blog reading ♥ getting my creative needs met while creating stuff to use with homeschooling ♥ editing photos in batches ♥ meeting up with other homeschool moms for our kids AND us to connect, etc.

4. I will be realistic and wise -- I will NOT cut out sleep (for the first time in many years I have been getting 7+ hours of sleep a night at least 6x a week and it has totally changed me.  I am more patient, more loving, more ME than when I managed to live on >6. I didn't know what real sleep felt like and what NOT being tired felt like.  I will not go back.  I will also be wise in time commitments -- if I can't do something with someone I will say no.  If my kids need me I won't have coffee with a friend.  I will not invite people over to the house more than 2x a week (I love to do it but it is costly in terms of time and money.)

5. I will pray for wisdom to do what needs to be done TODAY (and today that is school with the kids, cleaning the house, making a nice dinner, going to the zoo with some other homeschooling families, and doing something creative. Tomorrow that is doing a lot of stuff for my website, having coffee with a friend (sans kids), grocery shopping, and meal planning for next week).

6. Trust that God knows how much is truly possible and make sure that time with Him is not the first thing to get cut off my list of things to do.

Comments

[Gretchen]

Wonderful suggestions!! Thanks for sharing this. I'm very encouraged and motivated. :)

[Amy]

That's a great post!

And the sleep thing? Wise choice. I am a different person when I get the rest I need.

Going to bed now...'night.

[Beth]

Thank you! You have put into words what I've been struggling with as we enter this wonderful world of homeschooling too. There is so much that is different for my schedule that I was trying to figure it all out and getting frustrated. Thank You!

Beth

[Jennifer]

I just recently discovered your blog and am so enjoying it! What a great post I needed to read today as we are gearing up to start school Monday. Your thoughts are very similar to what mine have been as I've been planning our new year. And I think deliberately "planning" what is going to be left *out* during this season is such a good idea...I need to be as purposeful about what I'm *not* going to do as what I *am* going to do. Thanks for sharing this!