On The Simplified Podcast, we want to give you practical tools to help you build a life you love. One of the ways we’ll do that is by helping you create calm and clear clutter from different parts of your life. And today, we’re asking you this: have the words, Gosh, I’m so stressed, rolled around your mind this week? We’ve all been there. We’re constantly working, loving, cleaning, caring, organizing, grocery shopping, and dealing with the minutiae that make up every single day—often without scheduling a break for ourselves. Our calendars are filled to the brim, every square scribbled with activities and commitments. But what if you decided to take an eraser and scrub some of those commitments off your calendar? What if you said no to a few things so you could give an enthusiastic yes to something else, like margin and rest for yourself, or more time with your family? Emily walks us through four steps to simplifying our schedules so that we can unapologetically declare what matters to us and learn to be fully present in the lives we’ve worked so hard to build with the people we so fiercely love.
4 Steps to Simplify Your Calendar
-
Unapologetically declare what matters to you. A few questions to ask yourself as you pin down what truly matters most to you:
- What commitments and responsibilities fill you with joy, like working, taking care of the kids, spending time with your parents, or volunteering?
- What distractions on your calendar take your mind away from those important things? What can you say no to in order to give your mind, and your calendar, a little breathing room?
-
Create a Time Management System that works for your family.
- Choose a family organization system (Will you use a paper calendar? A digital one? A huge wall calendar everyone can add to?)
- Commit to using the system daily
- Keep it as simple as possible
-
Learn to be fully present. This becomes much easier when you’ve created the margin in your life to shift your focus away from the clutter and instead give it to the priority.
-
Honor your priorities. Listen, prioritizing and juggling isn’t easy, and I’m not sure it ever will be. But after simplifying and committing to our new definition of success with zero apologies, it’s become so much easier to shift my focus in the right direction at the right time.
A Blessing for Your Week
May you take the first small steps to letting go of the things that matter, no longer. May you find the courage to make space for what does, even if it's something new, even if you don't know if it belongs yet. May your mind be where your feet are. And through it all may your heart find the calm it has been seeking.
Thought-Provoking Quotes
“Why does it all feel so hard sometimes? Because we're running on empty. Because our wells are often bone dry. Because we are working, loving, cleaning, caring, organizing, arranging, grocery shopping, preparing, raising, nurturing, and dealing with the minutiae that make up every single day, often without scheduling a break for ourselves.” – Emily Ley
“When your brain is moving ninety miles an hour and your hair's on fire all the time, you will eventually burn out.” – Emily Ley
“Whatever your circumstances are, whatever season you are in, you get to decide what gets your yes and what gets your no. You are in control of the commitments and distractions that chip away at your limited time and brain space each day. Time is our most precious resource, and the way we choose to spend it defines our lives one minute at a time.” – Emily Ley
“Sometimes letting go of commitments is tough. I get it. You want to please and help everyone that you possibly can. But friend, you cannot pour from an empty cup. And that cup is filled when you fill your schedule with the things that matter and take away the rest, even if just for a season.” – Emily Ley
New Book Alert: Build a Life You Love!
Pre-Order Growing Boldly: Dare to Build a Life You Love, out March 23, 2021!
Subscribe to The Simplified Podcast!
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher
Let’s Be Friends!
