5 Life-Saving Steps to Simplify Your Schedule

Benjamin Franklin said it long ago.  The Poor Richard's Almanack of 1746 counseled "Dost thou love life?  Then do not squander Time, for that's the Stuff Life is made of."  That's right – almost 300 years ago, Franklin was pointing out how dangerous it is to use time unwisely.

There truly is nothing new under the sun.  Most of us complain that we're too busy.  We want more time with loved ones.  We want more time for exercise, hobbies, even for work.  We want more time to travel, and more time to learn.  And we desperately want more time to sleep!  Yet we rarely make changes that will ease our time crunch.  We complain about our situations as we let the days, weeks, and years slip past.

I make no claim to perfection in this area.  But I have worked at it, and tried to prioritize what I think is most important, instead of just trying to keep more balls in the air as my time-juggling becomes more frantic and out of control.

Minimalism has definitely helped.  Owning less creates more time and energy to discover and focus on my priorities.  Minimalism can apply to our schedules, too.  When we remove time sucks and distractions, we create more time for what we value.

Essential time-savers

Nothing we do can give us more than 24 hours in a day.  All we can do is make the most of those hours.  Here are five life-saving steps we can all take to simplify our calendars.

1.  Perform a time audit.

Financial experts recommend a spending audit to help get control of your budget.  When you track your spending, you gain a clear picture of where your money is going.  You stop guessing, stop wishing, and gain actual data on what you're doing with your hard-earned funds.

A time audit can do the same.  As with money, many of us don't really pay attention to where our time goes.  We feel busy, but we don't know the full truth.

Recent studies tell us that the average American spends 2.6 hours every day watching television, 2 hours on household chores (cleaning, cooking, bill-paying, etc.), 2.5 hours on social media, and almost 1.8 hours on email (wow!).

Now, maybe you're thinking "That's not me!"  And maybe it isn't – these are averages, so some people spend less time, and others spend much more.  How much time do you spend on various activities?  There's no way to know for sure unless you decide to keep track, and that information is essential if you want to simplify things.

For the next three days, or (preferably) up to a week, track your time by the hour.  You don't need an app or a fancy watch – a sheet of paper and a pen will do the job.  Every hour or two, jot down how you spent your time, using 15-minute increments.

2.  Create a morning and evening routine.

Let me be honest – I am not by nature a morning person.  I get a second wind and do some of my best thinking after 10:00 p.m., which makes going to bed before 1:00 a.m. or so difficult.  However – and this is important – when I wake early, I get more done.  It's a simple fact.  When I wake at 6:00, I feel energized, even if I'm short on sleep from the night before.  I get dressed, make my bed, eat, and do morning tasks, and it's still not even 8:00.  I feel like I have a jump on the day.

When I get up at 9:00 or 10:00, even if I got 7 or 8 hours sleep, I feel less awake, less motivated, and as if I'm already behind on everything.  I dawdle.  And by noon, I haven't accomplished much.

I don't know if the reason is physical, psychological, or something else, but the difference is too marked to ignore.  And I'm certainly not the only person to notice this.  People from Aristotle to Benjamin Franklin to children's author Lemony Snicket have noticed this truth:  How you spend your morning matters.

Lose an hour in the morning, and you will be all day hunting for it.

Richard Whately

I've crafted a morning routine, and I suggest you do it too.  And to bookend the day and use your time intentionally, choose a bedtime and figure out how you'll prepare yourself to wind down.  (Turn off screens an hour before, to begin with, and do a quick evening reset to start the next morning without chaos.)

3.  Quit one nonessential, recurring commitment.

If you have a family and/or a job (even a part-time, at-home job like mine), your days are already pretty full.  Add a couple of hours for household chores and errands, and maybe an hour for hobbies, and you have plenty to take your attention and keep you busy.

That's why I've simplified my schedule by being very careful of the recurring commitments I choose to accept.  When a new project or opportunity arises, my first question is always, "Is this a one-time event or an ongoing responsibility?"

If it's ongoing, I'm more reluctant to agree, and will only commit if it can reasonably fit into my life long-term.  For that reason, I'll probably say yes to six weekly rehearsals before my community's annual Handel's Messiah performances, but no to the year-round Sacramento Master Singers (which also requires a 45-mile commute each way).  I'll say yes to a few hours helping with my husband's chess club fundraiser, but no to an hour-a-week commitment at my church's food closet.  (I can still regularly donate canned food.)

Of course, in the past I've accepted recurring commitments with great enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment.  But I can also say from experience that it's easy to get involved in too many extra projects, and then you wind up cutting corners in other areas, like family time, home care, or self-care.  This always leads to resentment and burnout.

I understand that it can be hard to disentangle from an ongoing commitment.  But if you don't have time for what matters most, quitting a recurring duty that isn't essential to your purpose for this stage of your life is the most effective way to uncover it.

4.  Learn to say no.

Over the years, I've learned that those requests for your time will keep coming – there's always another meeting, another favor, another good cause.  There's no end to the opportunities to get involved, but if you don't decide to protect your time and energy, no one else will.  Whenever you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else – and that something else might really matter more.

So learn to say no with confidence.  Remind yourself that "no" isn't selfish – it's a thoughtful boundary that protects your limited resources.  If it helps, choose one simple answer and keep using it, such as "Thank you for asking, but I'm not adding anything new to my schedule right now."

5.  Plan quiet time.

We live in a noisy world.  And I don't just mean the sounds of machines and vehicles which are always in the background for most of us.  There's also TV and radio, with their relentless ads pushing us to buy more and more.  You can't drive down the road without encountering billboards, neon, and LED displays.  Social media and the internet are plastered with intrusive ads.  News outlets demand your attention and do everything they can to shape your opinions and your worldview.  Influencers of all types are everywhere.

If we don't remove ourselves at times so we can tune into our own thoughts and preferences, others will control us.

It's impossible to overcome consumerism when you're immersed in it.  And you can't live with intention and self-determination if you don't take time to decide what's important and regularly evaluate your behavior to see if it aligns with your goals and ideals.

So be quiet.  Instead of trying to "keep up," take a step back.  Turn off the noise and listen to what's inside of you.  Understand yourself so you can better chart your own course.

Your greatest asset

Our daily actions – what we prioritize, whom we connect with, and how we focus our attention and energy – shape our existence and define our purpose.  Because of that, you'll want to take these five steps to use time well.

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.  What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.  A schedule defends from chaos and whim.  It is a net for catching days.

Annie Dillard

Related article:  7 Ways to Slow Time and Savor Your Life