Chapters 6-8 How can you align daily life with your priorities using the steps listed in Chapter 7? Although this exercise can be extremely personal, please share what you are comfortable doing so about your application of these 5 steps in your own life.
Chapters 6-8 How can you align daily life with your priorities using the steps listed in Chapter 7? Although this exercise can be extremely personal, please share what you are comfortable doing so about your application of these 5 steps in your own life.
ReplyDelete1. Work, church
2. Family time, Exercise, Self-care, Spanish input
3. No screen time in bed, set up a calling schedule, schedule exercise self-care before supper, and time for Spanish in evening. Read Scripture in Spanish.
4. Meal plan and prep on Saturdays. Exercise everyday.
5. Errands. Household chores.
**I thought it was eye-opening to see her perspective on minutiae. I hadn't admitted how draining those types of things are. She is right though, they end up chopping up time that could be a larger chunk to work on higher priorities. I will bundle these in the future.
Step One: Non Flexibles: work, work meetings, extra curricular Activities on Monday nights (Bowling & volleyball)
ReplyDeleteStep Two: Top Priorities: Family, Spouse, Wellness
Step Three: Sit down meal every night, date nights with spouse, church every Sunday, nightly ritual of reading to my child before bed
Step 4 Unallocated Priority Time: more self care activities for myself, less screen time, prepping for the week ahead
Step 5: In-betweens: house hold tasks, cleaning, organizing, grocery shopping/meal planning
Step 1: Drive to and from work, work, church
ReplyDeleteStep 2: Raising my kids, connecting with spouse, emotional, physical, spiritual wellness
Step 3: Put down the phone, don't over organize, learn to say NO to say YES more often
Step 4: Exercise routines, meal planning, date nights, keep work at work
Step 5: Cleaning, NOT snacking, reading
I love that there is a 'season' for everything-- while my kids are younger, they need me more; in a new school year, I need to learn about the student's needs and may be more focused there; there are times when my house is messier and times when it is cleaner-- that's OK, and grace/flexibility will help.
The five steps in my life are like this: I have always been told by my boss that family comes first.
ReplyDeletestep 1: family and Church--my faith is very important to me.
step 2: family time-spending time with my college age children and my parents. My Mom has been diagnosed with early stages of dementia.
step 3: work--preparing the classroom for the week-changing out toys to keep things exciting
step4: reading and taking care of myself,
step 5: friends
Step 1: Work from 6:45-6:00 and church
ReplyDeleteStep 2: Time with my children, spouses and my husband
Step 3: No school work at home - from lesson planning, emails, posting on Seesaw, looking for craft items, the list goes on...I'd feel less guilty about spending time with family if I did less schoolwork at home - it seems to always take the priority -why?
Step 4: Exercise and really reading and disecting my devotionals
Step 5: Laundry, cleaning, groceries, self-care, friends
Step 1: Work
ReplyDeleteStep 2: Time with my husband, 3 kids, our parents/siblings and families.
Step 3: Supper together as a family, game day Sundays, church on the weekends, daily walks.
Step 4: Reading, being present with my kids, monthly coffee date with my "Sister Squad".
Step 5: Laundry, cleaning, errands.
Step 1: Commute to school/work, Work, Small Groups, Church
ReplyDeleteStep 2: Marriage/Family/Friends/Health/Self care
Step 3: Leaving work at work and being present when home! Being intentional to have family game nights, going for walks, etc.
Step 4: Wake 30 minutes early to have a personal quiet time. Rearranging my schedule at work so I don't have as much interrupted time, scheduling days off for personal time (reminder, I'm not a teacher, but work in non profit, so my schedule allows for this!) Waiting to do the dishes until after the girls go to bed, Exercising 10-15 minutes after every meal, scheduling to meet a friend on the opposite week of my standard small group. Host my nieces for supper once a week.
Step 5: Meal prep, laundry, cleaning/organizing, grocery shopping, sleeping, etc.
First, I wish I would have had this book 8 years ago. I know I would have been a better teacher had I been able to implement some of these things. Partially that comes with knowledge and experience, and maybe I am just 8 years older now. But I know if I went back to the classroom now, I would be better equipped to handle all of the stress that comes with being a teacher.
ReplyDeleteI admittedly still struggle with prioritizing the tasks in my life.
Step 1: I have to write a sermon each week, plan music and worship, check the mail, and do the bank deposit. If pastoral emergencies come up, those also need to be handled promptly and cannot be skipped.
Step 2: Spending as much time with my family and reading each day are my priorities. I want to be home with my children as much as possible, and part of my necessary self-care is time spent reading for pleasure. I also require at least 7 hours of sleep every night.
Step 3: When I prioritize the things that are most important and necessary to me, I am able to do the other things in my life well.
Step 4: A friend of mine just suggested that I do block scheduling for my days. I am going to work on this and focus on prioritizing tasks. I think this would also allow me to be more organized in general.
Step 5: The extra pastoral visits and reading for work are extra things that I would like to do more of. They are not a priority to me, but I would definitely like to add those tasks in, and I think by using the system laid out in Chapter 7, this is quite doable.
How can you align daily life with your priorities using the steps listed in Chapter 7?
ReplyDeleteStep 1: Work hours Monday-Friday (8:00-4:30) and church on Sunday mornings until about noon
Step 2: Time with friends and time with family members
Step 3: At the beginning of the month, make a couple of plans with friends and family members and at the beginning of each week, see if there is time in the next week or two to make plans-using a list on my phone of people I want to see in the month.
Step 4: Monday and Tuesday evenings, Friday nights, and Saturday afternoons, and Sunday nights are usually times I could get together with friends and family.
Step 5: Cleaning is a good Saturday to-do for me. Meal prep works well on Sunday afternoons. Running errands can be on Wednesdays.
Using my Outlook Calendar is extremely helpful for my workday. My husband and I have added a kitchen calendar this year, and that has been helpful with planning events further in advance.
Step 1: non-flexibles: contractual work calendar; Sunday 9:00 mass;
ReplyDeleteStep 2: top priorities; Sunday family supper; garden; homestead; self care (exercise)
Step 3: Pre-arrange Sunday night meal; prioritize garden and homestead tasks; list what garden and homestead tasks are most fulfilling to me; feel in better heatlh
Step 4: top priorities for unallocated time: sewing hobby
Step 5: in-betweens; sleep; read a book; watch a movie; clean; run errands;
I am going to go back to using my sticky note process that I used when my children were younger. I was implementing many of these steps without even realizing it.
Chapters 6-8 How can you align daily life with your priorities using the steps listed in Chapter 7? Although this exercise can be extremely personal, please share what you are comfortable doing so about your application of these 5 steps in your own life.
ReplyDelete1. Non-flexible- work, commuting to work, meetings, dr. appointments
2. Top Priorities- spouse, baby, family
3. Self Care- Limit time spent working at home, other relaxing tasks
4. Top priorities for unallocated time- exercise, organize, reading
4. In between- sleep, eat, housework such as laundry or cleaning, errands
Step 1: Non flexibles: work, kids’ activities, church, clean home
ReplyDeleteStep 2: Top Priorities: family, family’s health/exercise, clean home
Step 3: Top Priorities Ordered: Making sure everyone is cared for and feels appreciated and loved. Making time for my health and my family’s- exercising, sleeping, eating balanced meals, seeing the dr. when needed. I included keeping a clean home as a priority because it helps me so much with my mental health.
Step 4: My unallocated times are the evenings after my kids go to bed or on the weekends when my husband and I can split duties and give each other time to ourselves. I really try to keep these times free to do the things that I enjoy or can help give me a reset.
Step 5: In betweens: grocery shopping, meal planning, self-care, extra planning for school.
Step 1 (non flexibles): Daycare dropoff and pickup, contract hours
ReplyDeleteStep 2 (top priorities): uninterrupted play time with kids, reading, time with husband
Step 3: I would use the time before starting to make dinner as uninterrupted time with my kids. I would not have my phone out, and I would not be engaged in household tasks. I would complete household tasks while my husband is prioritizing his kid time. I would be then free to read and spend time with husband after the kids go to bed.
Step 4: With my weekdays looking like step 3 - my weekends would have green space to pencil in self care (beauty appointments, fun errands, social outings).
Step 5: This is where I would place extra housework and extra teacher work - into my lunch. I often spend lunch mindlessly scrolling - while that might be necessary some days to reset/relax - most of the time I could benefit from doing small household or school tasks during lunch.
Chapters 6-8 How can you align daily life with your priorities using the steps listed in Chapter 7? Although this exercise can be extremely personal, please share what you are comfortable doing so about your application of these 5 steps in your own life.
ReplyDeleteStep 1: Identify your non-flexibles
Contractual hours, Contractual school calendar, Contractual evenings
Step 2: List your top priorities that you want to uncover more time for
Exercising/taking care of my body, mind, spirit. Time with my dad. Time with my children. Time with friends.
Step 3: Specify what life would look like if you prioritized these things
Daily journal/meditation time, daily working out (outside when it's nice, inside when it's not), once a weekend go visit my dad. Bi-weekly getting together with my children, weekly talks on the phone, quick daily texts. Going out to dinner once a week with a friend-weekends.
Step 4: ADd top priorities to the unallocated time in your schedule:
Top priority-Self care
Step 5: Identify the in-betweens and add them to your schedule
Sleep, grocery shopping (Saturday), housework (nightly pick up, Friday), laundry (Saturday morning), errands (Saturday morning), meal prep for the week (Sunday)
Step 1: contracted work hours, kids' activities, appointments, church
ReplyDeleteStep 2: family, exercise, self-care
Step 3: less screen time, exercise in the mornings before work, extra self-care time on Wednesdays and Sundays, make sure I'm making time for those I love most
Step 4: I try to keep early mornings, after supper time, and weekends somewhat flexible for family and self-care
Step 5: sleep, housework (Fridays), schoolwork (Sunday afternoons)
This process didn't take much time and definitely helped me to clarify some priorities.
Step 1: Commuting to work, contracted work hours
ReplyDeleteStep 2: Exercise, self-care, spending time with friends and family
Step 3: Working out in the mornings, extra self-care time 2 times a week, spend time or call my friends and family once or twice a week.
Step 4: Reading, self-care
Step 5: Sleep, cleaning and organizing, Laundry, meal prep
Step 1: work, church, daycare drop off and pickup times
ReplyDeleteStep 2: family, church, exercise, reading, gardening
Step 3: family: spending time as a family without electronics 3-4 nights/week. church: volunteering with kids church or Wednesday night program. exercise: physical movements for 20-30 minutes 3-4 days/week. reading: dedicating 30-60 minutes per week for devotional reading, pleasure, or professional development reading. gardening: bringing the girls in the garden with me and teaching them out to garden. learning new ways to preserve/harvest things from my garden.
Step 4: Be more mindful of shutting of the TV and putting electronics away to play with my kids. I need to choose 2 days during the work week to exercise after school with getting the girls involved to help keep them occupied.
Step 5: cleaning, household choose, errands, shopping/meal planning
I really like how the author said there are different “seasons” in our lives. I was just explaining this to a coworker the other days. She is newly married and in her first year of teaching. So can spend more hours of work because she doesn’t have any of her own kids at home and her husband works until 5:00 p.m. She usually stays at school until 5:00 p.m., too, because her husband is still working. I remember I was just like that my first year teaching because I had more time to do that. However, the season I am in now is much different than the season I was in 3 years ago. Now, I have two kids and I leave work almost immediately when our contracts hours are done. My kids are young and I understand they need more of my time. I also understand my house isn’t always going to be perfectly clean and I’m okay with that because it’s the season that I’m in.
I think this book really helps you put your life and priorities into perspective. I think as humans, we sometimes get wrapped up into the "have to" obligations, and forget that just because everyone else makes something a priority, doesn't mean there's a place for it to be a priority in. our lives as well. I was very surprised reading these chapters at the things I really wanted to be a priority, and how I was putting some of them on the back burner because I "didn't have the time" when I clearly could put my phone down more often and then time would magically appear.
ReplyDeleteStep 1: Some of the obligations that I cannot change include my work schedule (7:40-3:40 M-Fri.). Luckily, it only takes 5 minutes to get to and from work. The hours vary slightly depending on school meetings.
Step 2: Things I value most in life that need to be prioritized include church, time to focus on my faith, my family, exercising, and my significant other. I am also finding out that for the sake of my mental health, I need to prioritize quiet time.
Step 3: If I prioritized these things, I would spend much less time on my phone, especially before bed. I would have screen time shut off at 7:00 every night. I would get up immediately when my alarm goes off at 5:00 rather than lay in bed for extra time. I would make the trip home (4 hours) to see my family once a month, and have at least one night a week for watching our favorite show with my significant other.
Step 4: If I woke up when my alarm first went off, I would be able to go to the gym and get an hour long workout in, and still have time for either quiet time, or my faith before school. If I turned off my phone earlier, I would add time to be present with my significant other, and do self-care (quiet time or just relaxing). I could also use this time to read, which is something I love to do.
Step 5: Some things that would be the in-between time is cleaning (a couple hours Saturday mornings), and meal prep and grocery shopping (Sunday afternoon). I would also benefit from getting a minimum of 8 hours of sleep per night.
Chapters 6-8 How can you align daily life with your priorities using the steps listed in Chapter 7? Although this exercise can be extremely personal, please share what you are comfortable doing so about your application of these 5 steps in your own life.
ReplyDelete1-Non flexibles- work, family church, practices. These are my non negotiables. They happen at the same time every day, every week.
2-Top priorities that I want more time for- I want to carve out time for reading and maybe a hobby. I love to read but mainly listen to audiobooks...but nothing beats the feel and smell of a hardcover book. I'd love to find or restart a hobby that I can use to decompress, something besides Netflix.
3- Balancing a full-time job, a side hustle, being a wife and mom of 4 makes it hard to carve out time for me. I feel so overstimulated by my job the end of the workday that I feel I take it out on my family sometimes. I hope that slowing down, prioritizing and saying no to things will allow me the time that I need to decompress.
4- I think my family would really support 'priority time'. If I prioritized reading before getting ready for work, and reading while I wait in my car at practices I would succeed at getting more page-time in. This way I'm not trying to read at night when I should be focusing on my family.
5- My in-betweens would be cooking, dishes, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, yard work (all the fun stuff!). I need to make those the time fillers and strive to keep them to a schedule. Example- laundry on Monday, mopping on Tuesday, yard work on Wednesday, grocery shopping on Thursday- and stick to it.
1. work/church
ReplyDelete2. family, self-care
3. meal prep/cook as a family, exercise in the early morning
4. Flextime
5. sleep, housework, errands
1. Non-Flexibles: School contract hours; Cattle Farming/Chores
ReplyDelete2. Top Priorities: Family- focus on aging Mom; 2 meals together/week, visit/call daily; Grands- enjoy the moments, everything else can wait.
3. Self-Care: Be Still and Silence (No distractions), fishing, walking, enjoy simple beauty of outdoors
4. Unalloted Time: More self care, doing tasks to be better prepared for busier days so less stressed
5. In-Betweens: Run errands, shopping, laundry, house keeping
1 Non-Flexibles: School, 20 minute commute, daycare drop off
ReplyDelete2 Top Priorities: Children, Spouse, Parents
3 Supper together 6 out of the 7 nights/1 hour to play outside or inside before bed, monthly date night with husband, monthly visits to visit my parents, 2 visits a month to my mother-in-law
4 Flex time after kids are in bed to watch a movie, self-care, time with husband, etc.
5 Sleep by 9/10pm, grocery shop on the weekend (before daycare pick up during the week), wash bedding every 2-3 weeks, deep clean once a month, dishes daily, laundry 2x a week
1- Faith - attending mass, scripture, time in prayer.
ReplyDelete2 - Wife and kids
3- Extended family
4-Work
5- Movable things, tasks around the house, shopping
I have found over the years that when I don't keep my priorities straight everything else suffers. So if I don't keep my Faith and time with my family secure and first in my life my work also suffers because you have to take care of what is most important first. If you do not you end up becoming bitter about the work and are not productive and when you are an educator there is no place for a grumpy bitter person working with children.
1) Family and Faith- church, bible study, prayer time
ReplyDelete2) Time with my spouse or friends
3) Work- lesson planning or classroom time
4) Self Care
5) House work, movable things.. etc
These chapters really helped me to re examine my routines and priorities. I have always made sure my Faith stays at the top as that is important to me. However, I have let things like house work or school work come before other more important things. It really helped to create the list through these chapters.
Step One: Nonflexible: My nonflexible times are church Sunday mornings and work. Work does not just involve teaching my students Monday through Friday. I also have a part-time job with non-flexible obligations.
ReplyDeleteStep Two: Top Priorities: Family, Friends, Wellness
Step Three: Time for family and friends should be more than just when I have time; it should be meaningful time. It should be time for my physical and mental health, a time when I am not exhausted and can read more.
Step 4: Unallocated Priority Time: I will engage in more self-care activities, limit screen time, including TV, and spend more time doing something I want/need to do.
Step 5: In-betweens: household tasks, cleaning, organizing, grocery shopping/meal planning, taking care of my yards
I want to be more intentional about how I plan my weeks. I want to carve out time on the weekends—specifically Saturday mornings—for thoughtful planning and grounding. My vision is to make Saturday morning a personal reset point.
I'll head to a coffee shop, enjoy a slow morning with a good drink, and spend a few hours reflecting and preparing. That time will include:
• Planning out the upcoming week
• Reading a book (something inspiring or just for fun)
• Having some devotional or spiritual reflection—ideally with a friend when it lines up
• Simply decompressing and catching my breath after the week
I want this to become a habit—a rhythm that helps me stay centered and aligned. It’s not about being rigid, but about creating space to live more intentionally.
1. Nonflexible---Church and School
ReplyDelete2. Top priorities---Family
3. Self care- reading, going for a walk, going shopping
4. unallocated priority time- limit screen time, TV and spend more time reading the Bible.
5. In- betweens-clean, laundry, groceries, bills, cooking and baking.
I just would like to go get groceries and not have to fly through the store because there is no time. I'd love to wake up on Saturday morning and quietly enjoy my coffee. I need to make this happen and not only enjoy these things during the summer months. It is hard when you are needed in several places after the school day ends. There is always so much that needs to be done, that is why I really like to go to school early in the morning. That helps my week go great!!
1. Non Flexible Acitivities would be church activities and School. Monday -Friday would be working at school, and Sundays is church attendance.
ReplyDelete2. Top Priorities - Devotions, Care of home and family time. Spending time with my husband.
3. Some of my other priorities would be exercise, such as bike riding and walking the dog. I'd like more time for baking for my family and for others. In doing these things, I would be spending time with my husband and family which definately falls into the top priority category.
4. Reading a book, or talking on the phone to my loved ones. Just sitting down in the morning and drinking my coffee.
5. In between things would be meal prep, or housework. Running errands is also a time consuming activity that needs planning.
When looking at a detailed schedule, it is hard to write down some of the things that I would put into it, since I do not have a minute by minute schedule, but earlier in the book it mentioned having about 60 hours of unscheduled time in a week. That is almost 5 hours in a day. I definately wouldn't want to to spend that time doing housework, but I if would write down the time that I should spend doing that, I wouldn't be making myself busy doing it all the time. To be more intentional about those necessary but busy chores would free up time to do the priority things that would enrich my life. I especially like this idea for my summer months when my schedule is so much more open. I feel that if I could schedule my summer more efficiently, it would make my school year more profitable.
Step 1: First would be work
ReplyDeleteStep 2: My top priorities would be time with my wife and three kids, parents and other family members plus our three dogs .
Step 3: Having meals together, camping or game time together, walking our dogs and repeat.
Step 4: Visiting my parents and upkeeping my house and vehicles.
Step 5: Lesson planning, napping, feeding my dogs, watching some tv.