This weekend was crazy (I feel like I say that a lot), but I’ll have a post on that tomorrow. I was reviewing my goals for the month, and I realized I have a serious problem with over-commitment. When I make plans or try to schedule my day I disappear into a beautiful fairy land where if I want to I can accomplish the tasks of 10 people in an hour, and I schedule my days accordingly. I also seem to live under the illusion that these commitments will in no way interfere with the time I want to spend with my children, which makes perfect sense, right?

I believe in pushing myself to accomplish as much as possible, but my over-committing issues have gotten a bit out of control the last month or two, and it’s resulted in some broken promises and hurt feelings. Right now the reality is that my days revolve around an infant, a toddler, and a kindergartener, and not around what I wish my schedule could be. Although Kinsey’s schedule is pretty predictable the boys are not, and my entire day can be turned upside down by some teething pain or a nap time filled with tantrums instead of sleep. I’ve been scheduling my days with the assumption that I’d have time before work, during naps, and after bedtime to complete everything, but that is often not the case and I find myself rushing and feeling pressured to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning to try to finish everything.

With this in mind, I’m attempting to scale back my goals a little bit. The most important ones won’t change at all, but I’m going to start doing a better job of prioritizing and being realistic about what can be done while I’m watching the kids. I don’t want to trade all my playtime with them for a few extra freelance articles or an extra load of laundry getting folded.

My goals for August were:

• Write 10 freelance articles
• Transcribe at least 10 hours of work
• Rosetta Stone 1 hour daily
• Scriptures daily
• Martial Arts 3 days per week
• Minimum 20 minutes strength training 3 days per week
• Run 50 miles by August 31st
• Keep laundry and dishes caught up
• Get the master bedroom organized

but what was most important to me was:

• Read scriptures daily
• Rosetta Stone 1 hour daily
• Workout at least 5 days per week

I wasn’t perfect with any of it, but until school started I really concentrated on spending a lot of time studying Spanish in Rosetta Stone. I wasn’t able to test out of my current classes, but I’m much better prepared for this semester than I would have been otherwise. I took Spanish 102 last semester with no previous knowledge of Spanish, so I’ve been behind from the start. Now I feel like I have half a clue what I’m doing, so I don’t feel like I wasted any of that time. Once school started my homework had to take priority, but I still plan to spend some time with Rosetta Stone each week.

My goals for September are:

• Workout 5 days per week, and total 50 miles of running for the month
• Scriptures daily
• Stay 1-2 days ahead on homework so I don’t get behind
• Keep the laundry and dishes caught up (especially the laundry!)
• Reorganize the loft as a better play area for the kids
• Get (and keep) the master bedroom clean
• Either write 1 freelance article or pick up 1 transcription job per week
• Log all food daily
• Be mentally present when I play with the kids — not on the phone or watching TV

It may seem similar, but I’ve eliminated a lot of time-consuming tasks or made them optional. The kids are growing up so fast, and it’s important to me to make time with them a daily priority.

Watching the boys grow into friends is amazing, and watching Micah model Kinsey as he tries to figure out how to be a big brother is priceless. Here’s to family and a fresh start! 🙂