If you’re feeling overwhelmed more often than not, if you feel like there’s just not enough time in the day, enough money in your bank account, or you are just struggling to feel on top in many areas of your life, THIS is for you sweet friend. You don’t have to lose battles every day. When I realized the total freedom I gained in planning out my life, I asked myself, “why didn’t I do this sooner??” Here’s what I learned…

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.

Remember that. Write that on your bathroom mirror if you have to because it’s sooooooooo true. I use to tell myself the excuse of “I don’t have time to plan.” Oh how foolish that is. I use to cringe at the idea of planning everything out, budgeting, meal planning, scheduling out my to-do’s, etc. I use to feel like if I did that I was imprisoning my free-spirited spontaneous self. I love being in the present and enjoying life in the moment. I thought planning things out would put a reigns on that.

That’s a total lie.

In fact, it’s the total opposite. Let’s face it, life happens. Responsibilities pile up and there’s no way to escape them. If you don’t learn to face them and take control of them, they will run your life. Trying to mask them and put them off with all the fun, light-hearted experiences will only make them sneak up on you when you least expect it. Not controlling your time and making yourself aware of what you do with it will only make the time that brings you joy even more limited. There is freedom in planning. Why? Because you are in control. You say when, how, and what.

“Time is fictional until you see it” – Jon Acuff

The only reason time, money, health, etc. overwhelms you is because you are not making yourself aware of them. If you lay them out, bring them to light in front of you (on paper), you can see the areas you need to work on. The only way to improve on things, is to be aware of them. Think about any fight in a movie. The only way the “small guy” beat the “big guy” was when he caught him off guard. When he prepared himself and strategized his moves. That’s how it works with things in our life. Even the small issues can beat us down when they catch us off guard. It is impossible for us to show up as our best selves when we are unprepared and least expectant. We have to stop always reacting. We have to be PROactive.

If we’re failing at staying consistent with eating healthy, did we set aside time to plan out our meals? If we can’t afford to put money in savings, did we look at where our money all went the past month? How many times did we go through the line at Starbucks, or the pit stops here and there for whatever it was we didn’t think would affect our bank account? Did we come up with a budget plan to tell our money where to go? If we didn’t have enough time to get what we wanted to do done, did we reflect back at what we did with our time? Did we spend too much time on our phone? Maybe too much time at the store because we didn’t have a set list/plan before we walked in? We can’t stick to something or become successful at any one thing if we don’t have a step by step road map to follow to get there.

Here’s what you have to do. Look at the areas in your life that stress you out the most or take up much of your time. Now ask, are they preventable or fixable?

Is there a way to get better at or cut back on those things? Sometimes it means that you have to say no to other things first until you better manage what your biggest stressors are. Once you come up with your own system of managing those stressors, you’re no longer going to see them as stressors. You’ll start to feel joy and control again.

For me, managing my money and all my to-do’s were hard. Finances and time management were my biggest stressors. I wanted financial freedom. I wanted time freedom with my family and with what brings me joy. Well, I had to face the facts. Those things weren’t just going to fall in my lap. I had to make it happen. I work full time as a nurse (sometimes over time), I homeschool my kids, I have to stay eating healthy and working out in order to manage my autoimmune issues, on top of 50 million other things. It’s hard. I get it. But guess what, it’s wayyyyyy easier when you plan ahead. So I had to come up with a plan for what I needed to fix. I have to reevaluate that plan every single week.

I look at the things I can control, prevent, and fix and I lay them out on paper. Yall, it doesn’t take that much time to plan. Here’s what I do every week…

I spend one hour a week. ONE HOUR. It takes me one hour to plan my meals and my budget every week. I write out my to-do’s and goals for the week and map them out according to my weekly schedule. If something didn’t get done, I look at where my time went to prevent that from happening and I fix it and adjust. When I write things out to physically see it, it acts as a step by step guide for me to manage and adjust things according to my goals and what brings me joy.

I treat that one hour as sacred and I don’t let anything prevent it from happening. I had to create a habit once a week to plan. I can change the day if needed, but I don’t omit it. I sit down with my weekly schedule and my husband. We get on the same page. We plan as a family. We create an intentional life. What does that mean? We do things with purpose and on purpose.

We didn’t ever prioritize this before. We let our excuses run us. I’m here to say, with every excuse exists a plan for action and change. It’s just a matter of you doing something about it.

Since we started being intentional and prioritizing our planning hour once a week, we have saved over $1500 a month. Yep, you read that right. I have more time to work on goals I’ve had written down for years. We have more time as a family in the evenings because we no longer waste so much time thinking about dinner or cleaning because everything was already mapped out ahead of time for what needed to be done. The planning eliminated the thinking. Over thinking wastes time. Not to mention, it over stimulates our already exhausted minds. Less thinking = less stress.

When you invest ahead of time, and put in the work, it saves you so much precious time later. We have to value our time. The only way to value our time is to be aware of it and manage it. The benefits you accumulate throughout the rest of your week make that small amount of time of planning and working all worth it. You start to feel proud of yourself. You feel free and less overwhelmed. You now have more time to invest in your goals and what drives you to fulfill things you are passionate about.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can live life on the fly. The only things living are your excuses and the road blocks that hinder you from being your best self. YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF WHAT’S KEEPING YOU FROM LIVING YOUR BEST SELF. We have to stop blaming and start taking action. Your goals, your passions, your health, your family, YOU are worth it. YOU are valued. The only way to prove that value is to take care of it and plan your days and choices to reflect it. Stay ahead so you can stay FREE!

Now, let’s get to planning!!!

If you would like a FREE downloadable guide to help jumpstart you into managing your time, click here so I can send it to you!  

Comment below if you found this helpful and what steps you are going to take to start managing your time better!

               

P.S.: If you haven’t yet followed the Whole Lifestyle Momma Facebook page, do so now! Every week I’ll be going live, discussing new topics each week and providing you other free tools and resources to help you live better every day! 

Tune in on 8/1 at 7am as I discuss, “Becoming Financially Free On Any Income!” Get ready!