masking & unveiling

People often ask me how I manage my schedule. The truthful answer is "not very well."

But there are three principles I use to help me make as much sense of the madness as I possibly can:

Day by day. Like many of you, I have work things and kid things and house things and husband things that I must do every week until God, in His mercy, lets me go on to glory. To keep me from getting behind and wanting to crush other people's skulls into confetti by Thursday, each day has its own list of jobs.

If the week has extra projects, as most weeks do, I schedule them for a specific day. This not only spreads things out a bit, it gives me breathing room here and there. I try not to worry about Tuesday's work on Monday, and when the day's list is done, I'm done, too; no working ahead, no guilt. Or at least as little guilt as you can have when you grew up Baptist.

Worst thing first. When I look at my daily list, I do the thing I'm dreading the most right up top, when I have the most motivation and energy. The worst task is out of the way, and my day gets better as I go along.

Do-nothing day. I may do 16 hours a day for six days a week, but I'm less likely to whine, to feel overwhelmed, or to procrastinate — at least in theory — when I know that rest is on its way. Due to the Adkins' bizarro schedule with church and homeschooling, Family Day is Thursday, and it's sacred space.

We may do little projects here and there during that 24 hours, but we only choose things that bring us joy. For Mike, that might be polishing the Harley. For me, it might be humming a little tune in my head and imagining a day in which I do not say the words "chicken nugget" or "get your underwear off your sister's head."

I'd love to hear from you, too; what's one thing that's made your schedule easier on you?