Life is busy. People these days are always hustling to become more successful; so much so that it’s easy to let family time fall behind. If this has happened to you, you are probably looking for ways to get that back. Here are four tips to help you prioritize spending time with your family despite your busy work life.
1: Your Calendar
You make appointments on your calendar for work meetings, dentist appointments, etc. Have you ever thought of making an appointment on your calendar for family time? You prioritize what is on your calendar. You uphold those commitments. If you have had trouble upholding commitments with your family time, this is the perfect way to hold yourself accountable. We recommend blocking time at least five days out of the week for a quality family moment. It doesn’t have to be something extravagant; your daily family time can simply be eating dinner at the table together each night. Our family spends a bit of each night where one parent plays with one kid each. We alternate kids until all three have had one on one time with each parent. This is a great way to make sure your kids are getting the attention they deserve, even when you have a busy work schedule.
2: Easy Meals
Time spent cooking dinner is time spent away from your family. There are certain measures you can take on the front end to ease the cooking process, giving you more time on the back end. Consider meal prepping for the week to allow more time with your family. If you do not have time to do a complete meal prep on Sundays, you can do things like chopping vegetables or marinating meats to make the process go faster on the weekdays. Better yet, cut out all the hassle of weeknight cooking by buying meals from our meal prep service! Making meal time easy will give you that one hour or so every night to spend with your family instead of in the kitchen.
3: Plan Ahead
This goes back to number 1. When you live your life without a plan, you waste time. Think of the old idiom “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Planning out the hours of your day every day will make sure you utilize all of that time. This doesn’t mean you have to be busy 24/7, like most people think. In fact, when you schedule in a bit of “me time”, you won’t even feel guilty for taking that time away from your work and family to spend on yourself because your plan allowed you to take care of all responsibilities. Plan your hours efficiently to accomplish all of your goals, including spending time with your family.
4: Say No
Sometimes, you will have to turn down opportunities to prioritize your family. We recently got the opportunity to cater a big event in Tennessee. While this would have been great income and lots of fun, I turned it down because it was on my day off—the day I had scheduled for family fun time. It is okay to say no to keep in line with your values. Just remember to say no gracefully.
Text By Thomas Cox and Martha Kendall Custard
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