Make Time For What Matters

We spend so much time saying “we don’t have time” that you may wonder just how to make time for what matters. But the key is we ALL have the exact same amount of time – there are 24 hours in a day for you. for me. for everyone. So if there are things that are important to you that you aren’t finding time for, it’s time to figure out those roadblocks.

“Hillary,” I heard my mother-in-law say on the other end of the phone…”have you finished the calendar for this year?” It’s been an annual tradition since my first child was born to make a picture calendar for myself and our family.

I love to take pictures and I love to use them even more in our daily lives. So this is one of the most important gifts I give every year at Christmas.

Yet, this year, my response was “No, I just haven’t had time.”

And it’s a standard response I have given more times than I care to recount…

“Girls I would love to go to the park with you but I just don’t have time.”

“I wish I could make time to exercise every day but there just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

“I’d love to make a homemade dinner but I just can’t find the time.”

But here’s a little known fact…we all have the same number of hours in a day. We each are granted 24 hours to do with as we please. And sure, we don’t always control what happens in those hours (sick kids, an unforeseen emergency, a deadline at work pushed up).

But, in general, we do get to determine how and where we spend those hours.

I’ve long admitted we make time for what we find is important. So while I will incorporate 45 minutes a day to exercise, I somehow can’t find time to iron clothes. This isn’t true though. It’s that I don’t find ironing to be important (I mean, my kids will just rummage through their drawers and stuff everything back in so each piece is a wrinkled mess…so what’s the point).

But I believe there are things in my life…and yours too I’m betting…that we do actually find important yet we feel so “busy” we chalk it up to not having enough time.

I think we can do better.

3 WAYS TO MAKE TIME FOR WHAT MATTERS TO YOU

1.Know Your Roadblocks

For me, my 2 biggest roadblocks are Facebook and what I’ll refer to as my own “distracted ADD.” If I would cut out my “scrolling” time on Facebook each day, I’m sure I could “discover” at LEAST an hour each day.

And when I sit down to finally do a project, if I would quit working for 10 minutes only to get up, walk around, vacuum, dust etc, I would probably finish said project in a lot less time.

Figure out what’s using up your time in a wasteful way and limit those things.

2. Figure Out Your Priorities

I wrote a post on how charity begins at home. It talks a lot about how we feel this need to be “busy” to the point that it actually takes away from our level of happiness at home and with our family. Which isn’t a good thing.

But there are activities we WANT to do and it’s also important to give back. By prioritizing those things that are most important to us, we can get rid of the fluff so to speak and focus on what truly brings us joy.

For example, my husband mows the grass late Friday evening so that Saturday and Sunday can truly be family days. He may be a little tired that night, but it’s worth it to make time for what matters.

3. Put It In Writing

There’s something about writing your stuff down that makes you stick to your word. For example, a year or so ago I realized that it was really important to me to make time every 3-4 weeks to have a pedicure with my mom. She is truly my best friend (and my feet are truly a mess), so this time together was a win-win.

So in my calendar, I make an “appointment” every 3 weeks so that I don’t forget what is important to me.

So if you’ve been wanting to take your kids to that new park across town, pencil it in for this Saturday. Tell your kids about it so you BOTH have something to look forward to.

And you will have someone to hold you accountable.

Because life is way too short to not have lived it well. To not do those things that bring us joy and bring us closer to our family. Because ultimately, one day, the answer really will be that we don’t have enough time…will we look back on what we made time for and be happy with our choices?

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