Here are 5 practical habits to implement to fool yourself into thinking you miraculously have more time! I’m sure you’ve heard people say “we all have the same 24 hours in day”. Okay motivational speaker who is single and has time for everything they want. Some days, I’m lucky if I eat 3 meals or even brush my hair!
Talk to me when you have kids, church, work, animals, and a spouse all relying on you! Truth be told, too often do the important things get neglected because we “don’t have time”. Including our Bible study time or date nights.
I am the queen of “I just didn’t have time” or “ill get to it when I have time”. But with these habits, I’ve noticed that I’ve been able to be so much more productive at home and put my efforts towards the things that matter.
Even if you only implement one or two of these habits, you will notice all of these gaps of time where you used to scroll aimlessly or spend those hours watching TV.
1. Disconnect from the phone
Lets just call it what it is. It is an idol! it may not take the form of a “god” or be set up on an alter in the home to worship it. But anything that is placed before God is an idol! Do you find yourself at the end of the day wishing you would’ve studied God’s word but just “didn’t have time today”? Where is your idol? Point it out, and pluck it out.
I am SO close to getting a flip phone! I do not care how convenient or easy a smartphone is to use. At some point, we need to put our foot down with ourselves! We need to see the reality of the situation which is that we have no discipline with it! We’ve tried and tried again, but ultimately, we come back to it. No smartphone is worth coming between my relationship with God, or my relationship with those around me! I want to devote my attention to the things that matter.
2. Disconnect from the TV
Okay, this is honestly a difficult one because growing up, TV has always been central in my home. Whether movies, sports, or even music –remember all the music channels?! It became background noise.
In my attempt to create a more productively peaceful home, what I’ve learned is all it does is steal our time! It steals intentional, quality time with the Lord, our children, and our spouses.
But once again I come back to the fact that it is so easy to make this an idol without even noticing. I only emphasize this so much because it is quite literally the first of the 10 commandments! I wonder if that is because we know that God should be first, but God knew how difficult it would be to eliminate these conveniences.
We try our hardest to stay away from the TV and instead fill that time with intentional activities that help grow our relationships with those around us.
3. Get ready in the morning!
I am so guilty of hitting that snooze button! But when you get ready in the morning, it gives you the feeling of having more time because then it isn’t 12 noon and you’re still in your pj’s feeling like you’ve wasted your day away.
This is a good productivity tip as well and it is so true when people say “look good, feel good”. When you feel good, you want to look good and when you look good, you want to feel good!
The best part about feeling great is that joy of the Lord in your spirit! Everyone around you can sense it. That joy beautifies you and is contagious to those around you!
4. One, maybe two loads of laundry a day.
Have you heard of this? One single load! I thought this was just for small families and single people, but trust me when I say it is possible! If I need to catch up from a trip or a couple of days off, I bump it up to two a day until I can average one again. It also makes it less stressful when you have an organized laundry room. The best way to keep it organized is to stay on top of laundry with your one a day laundry routine.
5. Earlier bedtime!
Waking up early starts the night before. And this is biblical!! Proverbs 31:15 says “she riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.”
Set your alarms for whatever time you want to wake up. Do not forget to take into account the fact that a full 8 hours of sleep is recommended and adults have a 90 minute sleep cycle. To calculate your sleep cycle based on age, and bedtime click here.
Waking up early is extremely important but you cannot sacrifice your rest to do it. There is no point in waking up early if you aren’t rested enough to be committed to your priorities and complete your tasks.
What would you do?
Remember that habits take time to form and give yourself grace!
As I’ve spent the last few months implementing these as best as I can, I notice that on the days I am able to do these, I am also able to give more of my time to the Lord, my husband, and my children. I feel accomplished even if my “checklist” wasn’t completed because I know I devoted time to the things that mattered.
I’ve told you what I do on days I have extra time. What would you do? More chores? More dates? Spend more time on your hobbies? Spend more time with the Lord?
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