Balancing Your Schedule With Your Family’s Schedule

time management familyManaging your own schedule: Difficult
Balancing your schedule with your significant other’s: Very difficult
Balancing your schedule with your kids: There is no balance, there is only survival

Balancing a hectic schedule with your family, girlfriend, husband, child, or even roommates can be extremely difficult. Before you rip up the calendar and scream about it, try this:

1. Regular check in

Pick a time during the weekend to discuss the coming week’s schedule. When are your most stressful points? When are your partner’s? When will you need help? When can you offer help? When can you plan some mutual relaxation time? When is that unlikely to happen? Going over the week from a more global perspective can help set up realistic expectations for the week ahead.

2. Priorities

When family time management conversations break down it’s sometimes a result of conflicting priorities rather than conflicting schedules. Your husband does his best work in the evening…but that’s when you want to spend together time relaxing. You are a morning person and feel a burst of productivity in the morning…but that’s when you’re scrambling to get the kids ready for the day. Talking about each other’s priorities can help pre-empt schedule arguments later on.

3. Flexibility

When we over schedule ourselves or have an unexpected emergency, it’s frustrating, but we have nobody to be frustrated with but ourselves. When other people are involved, it’s tempting to blame them. Remember, spouses have bad days too. Babies know when you’re in a hurry and choose THAT MOMENT to blow out their diapers. (That’s what they babble about when they get together. I’ve seen it happen.) Cut the other people in your life the same slack you cut yourself.

There is no magic solution that makes the balancing act easy. It’s hard work, but we do it for the people we love.

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