How to Find Your Rhythm Episode 297

How to Find Your Rhythm

Hey Friend! Merry Christmas! We are in our final week of sharing some of my favorite books. 

This week, we are diving into Chapter 7, Time: Finding Your Rhythm in a World of Overwhelm, from my book, Breaking Busy: How to Find Peace and Purpose in a World of Crazy.

No one is living their life where they are not busy, right? We all have something to do, whether it is a work project, raising our kids, etc. 

“Breaking Busy” gets into all the stuff in our lives, both the obvious and the hidden, that’s just adding to our chaos and busyness. As we’re gearing up for the new year, it’s a great time to think about the year we want and how we want to feel. A big part of that? Looking at how we’re spending our time. It’s key for setting up a year that really feels good.

Let’s dive into practical tips and advice on setting boundaries on our time and live with more intentionality as we head into 2024.

Setting Boundaries With Your Time to Find Your Rhythm

First – cut out and say no to nonessential things. How did I do that? First, I made a ‘stop doing list.’ Our lives tend to get cluttered up with all the things we think we should do. So much that we actually can’t realize what we are meant to do. You want your life to be about your calling and what you’re meant to do. Don’t just live life thinking, “Oh, I should do this,” or “I should do something else, so I don’t disappoint people.” And the best way to identify what you want or what you need to stop doing is by asking yourself these questions: 

1. What’s sucking the life out of me right now?
2. Does this activity get me any closer to reaching my goals?

When I did this, I found two areas that were sucking the life out of me and keeping me from reaching my goals; it was – phone calls and meetings. 

Second – Learn to Say No to Yourself and to Others

I know this is easier said than done. I had to learn to say no to things I enjoyed, like watching funny YouTube videos and updating my Pinterest boards. But I couldn’t give time to those things during the work week. Instead, I choose to do them on the weekends. Everything about how we spend our time is a trade-off. We can do this, but not that. Choosing to go to this spot for a vacation, but not there. We can spend an hour doing this but not that. 

In my experience, the whole process of writing a book was a trade-off of time and energy. My Saturdays were spent writing, which meant I had the uncomfortable but good and necessary experience of telling people for five months straight, no. It was uncomfortable, but just because something is uncomfortable, it doesn’t mean it isn’t good. And if I can do it, so can you. This will help tremendously in finding your rhythm. 

Third – What to Add in Finding Your Rhythm

We’ve talked about what to take out, but now let’s talk about what to add in because breaking busy isn’t just about setting boundaries and saying no. Have you heard the saying, “You don’t burn out doing the right things; you burn out because of what you don’t do?” We can say no to nonessentials to do many great things in our lives. We can work all day and all night doing the exact things that God has called us to do. But without connecting to Him regularly, we will burn out. 

Remember, we don’t burn out because of the things we do;
we burn out because of the things we don’t do. So here is what we want to add: 

1. Make sure that you add in time to stay connected to God through prayer and reading the scripture. 

2. Add in time to connect with others. 

Research shows, time and time again, what makes people the happiest is the quality of relationships. I’m not saying to have a girls’ night every week; I don’t have time for that this season, but make sure to set some time apart to invest in those most important relationships. Because it’s not only an investment in another person; it’s an investment in your happiness. 

3. Add in time to take care of yourself. 

Just like you will make an appointment to go to the doctor, make an appointment with yourself during the week to either exercise or read a book you’ve been putting off, take a bubble bath, or lie on your bed and stare at the ceiling and lock the door and do nothing. 

Breaking the cycle of busyness and finding your rhythm isn’t about piling on new things because you think you should do them. It’s about adding space, time, and energy to care for yourself well. 

Finding your rhythm and managing your time is about being proactive and leaving room for the most important things in life. 

Listen now:

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Favorite quotes:

“The truth is when you are successful, spiritually healthy, and emotionally healthy it benefits everybody.”

“We want to feel this next year, examining how we spend our time is really the key.”

“The truth is that whether you are the manager of a home, CEO of a company, or a busy entrepreneur, your ability to be successful is equal to your physical and mental health and your ability to manage your time and energy.”

“Instead we should be doing more activities that actually make us happy and help us grow into who we are meant to be. But we’re never going to get to those activities if we don’t first set our goals and our priorities.”

“Make sure you spend time doing things that get you closer to your goals.”

“Finding your rhythm and managing your time is about being proactive and leaving room for things in life that are the most important. We have to intentionally manage our calendars so we can give priority to the most important things.”

Links to great things we discussed: 

• Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee – Maverick City Music
• Breaking Busy: How to Find Peace and Purpose in a World of Crazy

Order your copy of Remaining You While Raising Them here.

Hope you loved this episode! Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! 🙂

xo,

Alli