How to Plan by the hour to get things done

I will be completely honest here. To plan by the hour seemed like the absolute worst idea for me. It seemed overwhelming, restricting, and straight up bonkers. I was barely (or not all) keeping up with daily house chores. I had sooo many dreams of getting all those ‘extra’ goals completed that weren’t included in my daily tasks. There just never seemed to be enough time in the day to get anything done, but definitely not the ‘fun’ stuff that I actually wanted to get done.

I found a system that included a guided planner. I decided to give it a try because everything I was doing was not working. Maybe having someone else tell me what to do would work out better.

When I got more into the planner I realized that much of the secret sauce included planning by the hour…. great (insert eye roll). Since I already spent money on this planner I decided to give it a try anyway. As you may have guessed, it actually worked. It made me WAY more productive. I was honestly surprised how much I was able to accomplish. The best part was I knew exactly what to do when I had a few extra minutes in my day. Normally I would waste any extra time I had by getting overwhelmed with the possibilities.

How to plan by the hour without being overwhelmed

Step One

Set your goals. If you are like me, you have multi-page lists of goals and things you’d like to get done filed away in your mental filing cabinets. However, if you can take a moment to think about maybe just two to three things that would feel really good to get done, that would have a positive impact on your home, and/or things you’ve been procrastinating on getting done. For me, it is finishing my third kid’s baby book… she’s three… it’s time… but also getting our playroom organized and lastly changing out the kids clothes. I loath changing out clothes… but that’s a whole other post.

Your goals could be anything. From cleaning out your garage to preparing home cooked meals every day. Getting into a workout routine or spending quality family time on a consistent basis. There are so many dreams us moms tuck into our hearts. I know I do and it’s time we stop wasting our days trying to figure out what we should be doing. Or worse, feeling overwhelmed and guilty we’re not getting more done. Let’s start actually getting things done. One step at a time.

Step Two

Break those goals down into bite size pieces. This does not have to be complicated. Simply get out a piece of paper and start writing down each step it would take to accomplish your bigger goals. I like to actually visualize what I would need to do first, second, third, etc. and get pretty specific. You may have to reevaluate as you go, but being able to break down your bigger goal into smaller steps is the point. Staring at “Organize Play Room” makes me want to lay down on the couch and watch a movie (probably eating something with sugar in it). If I can look at a list that starts with one thing I could actually do right now makes me want to check it off and move onto the next thing. It feels so good!

I love this step. It gives me hope that I could actually get my goals accomplished. I can finally see on paper the steps to get there! It puts wind in my sails and I know it will do the same for you :).

Step Three

It’s finally time to put it all together. Start planning by the hour. You will need a planner or calendar that breaks down your days by the hour. You could buy one or you can print one for free here.

Mom life can be filled with seasons of crazy busy schedules. Make this as simple as possible. I like to fill in my planner with the things already on my schedule first. Things like appointments, school events, church events, etc. This is where you will start to see little holes in you days. When you schedule by the hour you will start to see those spaces of time that you can apply to your goals and start making progress!

Start to fill in those spaces of time with your bite size steps. Depending on how much time you have you may have to fill in step one (or whatever step you are on) multiple times in your planner. This is okay! These are extra goals on top of our daily tasks so it may take us a little time to get them accomplished. The point is that you are finally making progress towards accomplishing these goals. Goals that you may have had for years and never seemed to find the time to get done (like my three year old’s baby book…). You may not be in a season where you can devote chunks of time to those dream goals you have. But even a little progress each day or week still gets you closer than nothing at all.

Give Yourself Some Grace

I am by nature a dreamer so this has been important for me. It can feel defeating and straight up disappointing when I go through another day and do not get any closer to getting the ‘fun’ things done. Working even 15 minutes towards a dream I’ve had actually fills my cup and brings joy into my home because it brings me joy. The truth is though, there will be days (and probably. a lot of days) that you will not be able to work on the fun stuff. The daily tasks required of moms and family life can completely consume us.

The good news is that there is nothing wrong with this! It’s actually quite beautiful and we can experience so much joy in the mundane daily tasks. God meets us where we are friends. He knows what’s in our hearts and He hasn’t forgotten about us. So let’s give ourselves some grace (and a heaping pile of patience) and choose to enjoy what God has blessed us with.

These steps to help you plan by the hour to get things done are not perfect, but it has helped me. I’m hoping it helps you too! Helps you to carve out little bits of time to still make progress towards those dream goals even in crazy busy seasons.