How many hours do you have in a week?

This is the question I asked myself out of curiosity one night, and the answer wasn’t the obvious 168. I started with that number, then subtracted the time required for all of my needs like sleeping and eating. Okay, so far, so good. I continued by subtracting my non-negotiables: Bible and prayer time, time with my husband, my daily workout, personal writing time, and breaks. Then there was the other stuff I had to do: work, chores, making meals, taking care of the cats, etc. 

I couldn’t believe that the number I was left with had a minus sign in front of it. 

No wonder it feels like I can’t get everything done! I thought to myself. I literally can’t! 

For a couple of minutes, all I could do was gape at the sloppy math scrawled across the paper. I couldn’t even think. What do you do when everything you have to do takes up more time than you have to begin with?

Eventually, I took a deep breath and looked closer at the schedule I’d drawn up. It occurred to me that I was spending way too long on meals, about double what I really needed to prepare and eat. Down the line I went, realising that I was spending far too much time on things that could easily be cut back on. 

And, after a little while, panic turned to complete calm as I figured out how to make my schedule work. That terrible number slowly slipped into the positive. 

This method of dividing your time might not work for everyone, but I highly suggest doing it at least once to see exactly how you’re spending your hours. You can even just break down one day rather than a whole week. It’s eye-opening to see what you actually devote your time to. If you cut back on just a few things and figure out some ways to be more efficient, it’s incredible how much freer your schedule can feel. 

And if you’re in the negative like I was or getting close to it, here are some helpful hints to optimise your time:

1. Where can you “bulk prepare”? For a long time, I thought meal-prepping was overrated. “I’m going to prepare my meal anyway,” I said. “It doesn’t make a difference when I do it.” But it does. Doing the same kind of task once is much more efficient than splitting it up over several days. In other words, if you’re already in the kitchen, it saves time to prepare a few more meals while you’re already there instead of waiting until you’re tired after work and dragging yourself to the kitchen to cook day after day. Even if you can’t completely prepare your meals, a little goes a long way. Even just chopping things up beforehand is a huge time saver.
   
   You can apply this to other aspects of your life, too. Consider broadly planning your whole week at once rather than trying to catch up with what’s next every single day. You might need to fill in the blanks day by day, but doing some preparation in advance will save you time and stress.
   
2. Figure out where you sneak in free time. You might not have your “free time” labelled in your schedule right now, but what about all those times you sit on the toilet for an hour while scrolling through your phone? That doesn’t count as a potty break. For me, I realised I was taking way too long to eat my meals because as I was eating, I was also reading, watching videos, or doing something else fun. You don’t have to completely cut out your breaks (and, in fact, I strongly advise against that), but take note of where you tend to linger and try to cut down on that unneeded time. Schedule your free time separately instead so you have something to look forward to.
   
3. Beware of multitasking. Is it really saving time to eat breakfast while I’m trying to do my Bible study? Nope. And it’s dividing my focus, too. Multitasking is often seen as a useful skill, but it can be quite harmful. Too much multitasking and not only do we end up actually wasting time, but we lose out on individual experiences and don’t put as much effort into singular tasks.
   
4. Prioritise, prioritise, prioritise! Work backwards. What time can you absolutely not budge on? For me, it’s sleep, Jesus, family, and me time. This means that some lesser priorities might have to go, especially if they’re not contributing to your current goals (which are good to know before you start chopping away at your schedule). I had to make some really tough decisions when I cut things from my schedule. Some of my dedicated writing plans got chucked out the window.
   
   In the end, though, I realised that it didn’t mean I had to give up on those dreams. Now just isn’t the right time for them; I’ll get back to them soon enough. Letting go is hard, but sometimes it’s necessary to move forward. Just don’t give up!
   
5. Ask for help. You can’t do everything. Sorry! Taking care of a home, especially when it’s more than just you living there (including furry friends!), is hard work. It struck me as I looked through my schedule that I was taking care of 90% of the chores and 100% of the cooking. It wasn’t always like that; it was easier for my husband to help out when our schedules aligned better a few months ago. I realised I’d taken on more responsibility ever since he changed jobs in August because he was no longer at home at the time he used to do the chores and cooking. I didn’t even consciously notice the change, and neither did he. We realised that we needed to adjust some things to make sure the burden wasn’t all falling on me to take care of the house.
   
   Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Sharing the burden, even just a little, can free up so much time and energy in your daily life. 
   
6. Don’t get lost in the process. If you get in too deep, you start planning out every single minute of every single day, and that’s not healthy. The goal here is to have an idea of what your week looks like, not a schedule written in stone. Overplanning can be just as harmful as underplanning! Life happens, and we still need to be flexible. But setting yourself up for success in the first place is an important step for flexibility. How can you make a schedule flexible if there’s no schedule in the first place?

No matter how you prepare your schedule, I hope you’ll take a moment to reflect on how you spend your time this week. Set your goals, make sure your daily activities align with them, and cut things that don’t belong, knowing that you can always come back to them later when you have more time in your schedule.

What’s your favourite way to plan your week? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Happy writing!
—E.J.

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Photo by Djim Loic on Unsplash