How to Master A Chaotic Schedule
Hey friends! Welcome back to our Finding Balance Series, where we’re spending some time talking about 4 steps to finding real balance in your life!
Today? We’re starting with Step 1 – Mastering Your Chaotic Schedule!
We’re starting with out schedules, because honestly – that’s the place where it’s way too easy to get off balance. And it’s not because we’re over-committers by nature.
It’s because we’re nice.
As women, it’s so natural to want to be kind and gracious and add just one more thing to the calendar because “it was really important”. Or “someone needed me”. And while those aren’t bad things, they do come with a cost.
So we start here, with our calendar. The calendar is a visual representation of how we’re spending our time – and our time is often the thing that feels really OUT of balance. So when we’re talking about balance, we have to start with our time. What’s filling our schedule, and where do we have some margin?
Once the calendar’s under control, everything else falls into place a little more easily! Here’s how to tackle your Master Calendar, one step at a time.
1 // Create ONE shared calendar space where everything lives.
In my house we have one master calendar – and it’s a shared calendar on both my phone and Jon’s phone. (And when the kids get older and get phones of their own, we’ll add them to the calendar, too!)
This shared calendar is the final say in our schedule – if it’s not on the calendar, it’s not happening. Jon can edit it, I can edit it, and we have both agreed that basically whoever gets to the calendar first, secures the time.
You can do this with a physical calendar in your home, a whiteboard on the fridge, or a shared calendar on the phone, like we have. The GOAL is for this calendar to be accessible by everyone, visible to all, and something everyone can see on a daily basis.
2 // Color code by person.
Each person in our home gets a color. I’m purple, Jon’s orange, Emily is pink, and Nathan is green.
We use these colors for EVERYTHING – both the calendars on our phones, our shared Digital Planning System, AND the physical calendar in our kitchen. Color coding makes it super easy to see who is busy at what time, and be able to plan accordingly.
3 // Make it VISUAL.
While Jon and I share our master calendar in our phones, I consult that master calendar once a month and transfer it to two places – the monthly spread in my planner, and the monthly calendar hanging on our pantry door.
The phone calendar is great for staying up to date and being easily accessible. But it’s NOT great for being able to see everything all at once. That’s why we copy everything into a physical calendar, too!
This visual schedule can be a whiteboard, a physical paper calendar, or even a page you’ve printed out of the S.O.S. Planner. The point here is to be able to see the whole month at once! When we do that, we are much more able to see where we have margin and where we don’t.
Get that calendar on paper!
4 // Assess your margin.
Once you have your calendar all written out, take a good look at it.
What does your month look like? Where do you have a little room for margin? Are there any days that you can protect as rest time for yourself and your family? If not, are there things you can move around to MAKE some time for margin?
Listen, when your calendar is so full that there’s no time to rest, you’re on the very short road to burnout. You were not made to run hard all the time – you need rest! Sleep! Refreshment!!
If balance is what we’re going for here, we have to have the right ratio of work to rest. Is your schedule so full of work (commitments, responsibilities, anything where you have to be “on”, so to speak) that you have no time for rest or play? Then your schedule is too full of work. You’ve gotta take something off your plate, so that you can make sure PEACE is possible.
When given the opportunity, productivity is going to run us right over. So let’s protect ourselves from that by building serious margin into our lives where possible.
Your Turn! //
Today, grab your calendar and get to work, friend! Get all those responsibilities and commitments down on paper and really take a hard look at where your time is going in this next month or two. Carve out some margin where you can – don’t be afraid to say no to the things that aren’t TRULY important.
Balance in our schedules is all about leaving enough white space for you to breathe, while prioritizing the things that matter most. You can do this. You might have to learn how to say “no” a bit more often, but that’s not a bad thing!
Need a place to start?
- Here’s my favorite hanging calendar: https://amzn.to/4lSOwvU
- And my favorite planner: https://anchored-women.com/planner
- And my favorite highlighters for color coding: https://amzn.to/3AizJru
Want to join us for a FREE workshop designed to help you put all these steps together? We’re hosting our new Finding Your Balance Workshop on April 20th at 11:00am – RSVP now to save your spot!
Kayse Pratt serves Christian women as a writer + designer, creating home + life management resources that help those women plan their days around what matters most. She’s created the most unique planner on the market, helped over 400 women create custom home management plans, and works with hundreds of women each month inside her membership, teaching them how to plan their days around what matters most. When she’s not designing printables or writing essays, you’ll find Kayse homeschooling her kids, reading a cheesy novel with a giant cup of tea in hand, or watching an old show from the 90’s with her husband, who is her very best friend.
I just saw this email. Is there a copy of the workshop I can access? Thanks for what you are doing. I appreciate your help.