We’ve been back in school for one week now!!  Yay!!  I love having my son home.  In fact, if he wasn’t so social and didn’t have such an amazing school, I would homeschool him.  But that’s a whole other conversation! School is good for him though, and I’m a more productive person when he is there.  I have been so out of whack this summer with my schedule and that dreaded word….balance.  I got to a point where I felt like nothing was being accomplished, so my first goal on the first day of school was to get some sort of order back in my life! I needed some back to school rhythms! I went to the cutest coffee shop with my goal planner and my bullet journal and went to work.

So, what is a rhythm you ask?  In my life, a rhythm is a routine or a process that I do regularly to meet a desired goal. I need these structures in my life to best meet my goals and to keep me the most productive! I don’t know what Webster would say about this definition, but for you readers, that is what I am talking about!  So, let’s get started developing your best school year rhythms!

How To Develop Personal Rhythm’s:

1. PRAY!  Pray over your planning time.  Ask God to guide you as you develop the rhythms for this season.  Ask him to show you where you are doing well and also where you need to refocus some time and attention.  I pray Psalm 143:8 every morning, but it is the perfect verse to pray as you plan.
2. Look at your goals.  Before you develop rhythms you have to have goals.  Goals are like the final destination and rhythms are the roads that will get you there.   I develop goals for the year and then break it down into smaller goals for each month, thus I developed my rhythms based on my August goals.  If you don’t have any goals, please make some now before you go any further!
3. Write down your priorities.  Our family priorities are God, Family (includes me and self-care), Work (or school), and then hobbies, sports, etc. So for me it means that God get’s the top spot in my day and then family, etc.  Make sure your goals and your priorities have some similarities.  If you say your family is your priority, but there is nothing on your goal list about them, you may need to rethink the focus of your goals.
4. Make a list.  How are you already focusing on each priority?  Do you like how it is going?  What needs to change or what is already working in this area?  Write down your thoughts and then move on to the next priority.  Before you finish this please make sure you have some thoughts and ideas for each priority.
5. Open your calendar.  It would be pointless to set rhythms that don’t match your calendar.  My rhythms are set based on the fact that I work from home and have a child in school from 8-3.  Because I only have one child at home and most of our evenings are free at this point, I can include more set rhythms in the afternoon.  Also, really think through the times of day that you are the most productive.  I thrive in the morning and I fall apart about mid-afternoon.  Because of this I try to do the majority of my work and exercise before 3:00, and my rhythms reflect this.  Also, this is the time to determine if there is anything else that keeps you from being productive during your best work times.  Last year, I would often exercise and then sit right down to work without a shower.  I have realized that although I am home, being clean and dressed helps me be more productive.
6. Put the puzzle together.  Now that you have your priorities listed and your calendar open, determine where you can set up your rhythms.  I am going to write a whole post on my personal back to school rhythms, but I have rhythms set for first thing in the morning, what happens while TJ is at school, and then what happens after he comes home.  I could also look at it from the lens of my priorities.  When and how do I make God a priority?  When do I focus on my work goals?  When do I focus on my family, including connection time, cleaning and meals? Write it down!  You might want to use a pencil because this may take some tweaking before you are totally happy with it!

I believe that rhythms are crucial to a productive day and a productive life!  Rhythm’s become routine and help keep our days in order.  The school year can be crazy but it doesn’t have to be! Do you have rhythm’s that work well for your family?  I would love to hear about them!