If you have done any research on time management or routines, you have probably come across the concept of time blocking. Time blocking isn’t a new concept, in fact I have written about it a lot. Batching my day and routine into blocks of time, instead of trying to plan every hour, has allowed me to be more in control of my time and less restricted. I have been able to easily divide my responsibilities up over the week into blocks that allow freedom for what changes on a daily basis. Time blocking has allowed me to be in control of my time instead of it controlling me.  But I have realized that no matter how much routine I put into our daily lives, time blocking won’t work for me if I haven’t done the most important thing first…prioritize.

Prioritizing Your Time

The key to make time blocking work for you is to prioritize your time. It’s so easy to look at your daily life and realize how busy you are. Just one look at everything you do can open your eyes to the responsibilities you have on a daily basis. The busyness can hit us differently in different seasons. Sometimes, it makes us feel like we are accomplishing a lot and hitting our goals. Other times, we may just be overwhelmed. But one thing I have noticed in my own life is that a full schedule doesn’t mean I am accomplishing the things that matter the most to me. That is where prioritizing comes in.

You can be busy and not be spending any time doing what’s important to you. Without taking time to lay out your priorities, to really look at where you want your time to go, time blocking won’t make you feel less overwhelmed or less stressed. Many times our overwhelm stems from feeling like there isn’t enough time to give to what the things you really want. Even subconsciously, it can feel like our entire day has gone by. Even through being productive, it can feel like we accomplished nothing.

If we say yes to everything, we won’t accomplish anything well.

Guarding the things we say yes to in our life is important. There is power in saying no to even things that could be good so that we can say yes to things that matter most. It’s not always easy to say no. Some times even fear can guide our decisions. But if we don’t prioritize the things in our life that matter most and make time for them, everything else will crowd in and take over. We have to take control of our time, so it doesn’t take control of us. When you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed, take a step back and look at what you’re doing with your time? How much of that time is being filled with busy work that isn’t even important to you? Maybe you feel pressured to do something but it isn’t working for you. Really, step back and evaluate your time and priorities.

Evaluate Your Time

At the end of last year I took on a lot. I decided to pick up another side job on top of the three jobs I was already working from home. In addition to that, I was in my second trimester with my fourth baby. I was absolutely exhausted. Every ounce of my being was telling me it was too much. I was sick, I was hurting, I was crashing at noon. I distinctly remember feeling hopeless. Why couldn’t I manage this load when so and so was managing it fine? Plenty of moms are carrying a similar load and I’m over here drowning. It was in that moment that I truly felt the Lord speak to my heart, “You’re not everyone else, you are you. Don’t pick up what I didn’t ask you to carry.”

So, over the Holidays I stopped everything. I took two weeks to evaluate my time. I removed everything and just dealt with the day to day. At the end of the two weeks I was excited to jump back into a couple things, and dreading the others.

It was in that moment that I realized those were the heavy loads I wasn’t meant to carry.

Some of these things were good. Many of these things were meant to help our family financially. But all of them were costing my mental health and who I was as a person. I wasn’t the wife or mom I want to be for my family because I was carrying too  much. I was stretched to thin. My priorities were out of balance and it was effecting me as a person. It wasn’t worth it.

It was a life changing decision for me. A decision that relieved so much pressure and opened me up to do the things that really matter in my life. It wasn’t complicated to figure out. It just took time and honesty with myself, and letting go of control. Maybe it’s something you need to do as well.

Determine Your Priorities

So mama, if that’s you right now, feeling overwhelmed know that you aren’t alone. Pause. Breathe. Make a list. Write out the most important things to you in order. Then work with those items to prioritize your time. Once you’ve done that, you can see if there is room for anything else. You aren’t meant to live in this constant state of overwhelm. You can do life well when you say yes to the things that matter most.

I created the Time Blocking workbook to help you do just that. If you need a place to work out your thoughts and figure out what’s most important, this is a free resource you can use. Download it by signing up for the mom tribe below. You’ll also gain access to all the other freebies found in my resource library.