When I ask women, and in particular busy moms, what their biggest obstacle to staying healthy is, two answers seems to always rise to the top.

No time and no energy.

We feel suffocated with the amount of things on our plate and the dizzying, non-stop pace that life is happening.   We often can not imagine how we would make the time to care for ourselves.

Many moms also feel exhausted and drained...and not only at the end of the day, but often all throughout the day.  This deep tiredness makes it hard to imagine how to squeeze out any more energy toward taking care of ourselves.

Today, I’d like to talk specifically about making more time in our lives to do the things we want to do…and to do the things that will make us feel a whole lot better (and more energized).

The second part of this post-series talks about the energy issue.  But both of these concepts are paradoxical in nature.  Because, in some scenarios, when we expend energy, we actually gain more of it.  And when we spend time, we open more up in our lives.

The key is what we are spending our time on, and how we are expending our energy.

Time and energy are commodities (like money), and when they are invested well, they return an even higher yield…when invested poorly, they quickly drain away.

Today I want to share 3 ways you can spend your time which will actually give you more time in your life.

1. Planning vs Preparing

There is a huge difference between planning and preparation.  If you are like me, you may love lists and organizing things.  In fact, it is easy to get a bit addicted to pulling out paper and compartmentalizing all the things you have to do in neat little rows and boxes.  At my finest, I can even be found color coding.  The problem is, planning can way too often move from a productive activity to diminishing returns. There is only so many times you can rewrite a list before you are simply wasting time.

Conversely think about preparation. When I set up my breakfast the night before so I have a smoother time in the morning, I’m spending time which makes time.  When I cook once and then utilize leftovers wisely so they are part of the next night’s meal, I’m spending time which makes time.  When I set out the family’s water glasses and vitamins on the counter so we are sure to drink and take them, I’m spending time which makes time.

The action of preparing for the things we want to include in our lives is a major investment in how we spend our hours. It helps us meet our goals and keeps us on track for what we want to remember during the day.

2. Learning New Skills

I’ve often reflected on how “simple” living in today’s society can feel quite complex and difficult at times.

If I don’t have the skills in cooking, shifting from convenience foods to home cooked meals takes a lot more time and effort.  If I don’t have the skills in sewing, making things as simple as cloth diapers feels insurmountable next to the option of simply buying them.  If I don’t know how to change a tire– I could be spending a whole afternoon by the side of the road, instead of getting the job done myself.

And if I don’t have the skills in household management (or taking care of my body or eating right or managing my stress or you fill in the blank*) than the experience of dealing with that feels overwhelming and laborious.

Once you identify those things that you struggle with most on a daily basis, seek out ways to grow and learn more about them. Become more of your own expert on the things that make up your life. In the end it saves a whole lot more than time!

3. Being Ahead of Schedule

The third way we can spend extra time in order to get more in the end, is to stay ahead of our schedule.

The biggest zapper of having an abundance of time is the experience of always being behind. When you schedule your day, be ultra realistic with how much time each thing you need to get done will take.

Something that helped me get a handle on this was mini tasking my to-do list.  Giving ourselves adequate time to complete our day’s tasks forces us to be realistic about what we can expect to do in a day and will require that we think deeply about what things we want to keep in our lives and what we need to let go of.

Another aspect is to start your day ahead of schedule. The power of having some time in the first part of your day to yourself in order to enter your day calmly and slowly, from a place of intention, can reap tremendous benefits for the rest of the day.

I know not everyone can make this happen.   For me, the infant year is a hard time to expect myself to have an hour to myself before everyone wakes, but even 15 minutes of prayer and quiet before the hum of the day begins does a spirit good and sets you up for staying on top of your day.

Next we delve into the energy issue from this perspective.  Click here to read about good energy investments.

But I’d love to hear from you!  What ways do you spend time, which in actuality gives you back more time in your life?

p.s.: *If those skills: taking care of your body, eating right, managing your stress, ect…were ones you’d be interested in sharpening, check out my upcoming online healthy living program for busy moms here.

{This is a guest post by Sherri Kruger from Serene Journey and Zen Family Habits}

“Doing what we love and what makes us feel inspired and creative is important for own wellness and growth. And it also models important values to our children.” – Lisa Byrne from Rekindling Parts Of Yourself.

I get asked this question quite often: “How do you get so much done and still have time to raise a family?”

I’ll start off by telling you I’m just an ordinary girl, wife to a great husband and mom to two very young, very active boys. I’m certainly not super woman, I don’t always have my stuff together and there are days where I don’t feel I’m adding much value at all.

That said I do raise my kids, work on my marriage and manage to maintain two blogs and created a new site to further help people be awesome.

You don’t need to be superman or super woman to get a lot of stuff done. There is one thing in particular that you can do to drastically improve your juggling skills. And that is to Synergize.

Once you align what you love with what you do you can achieve amazing things.

All of my online adventures are tied in with what I enjoy in “real life”. Serene Journey is where I focus on helping people lead happier, simpler more deliberate lives. Zen Family Habits is where I share many of the same things but with a stronger focus on family – which I’m passionate about as I now have a family of my own.

My newest endeavor (which launched yesterday!) is called Listbean. It’s a site that will help people be awesome, through the power of organization I want to help people be awesome at being effective, efficient and deliberate in everything they do.

The common themes that run through all of these sites are simplicity, happiness, and living true to yourself.

These are also things I strive for in my real life. Two years ago my husband and I downsized our home and purged a lot of stuff we were holding onto because we thought we may need it someday. We’ve also recently taken a look at where we are and where we ultimately want to go as individuals and as a family. All of which I share and incorporate into my various online projects.

Doing things and getting stuff done does take a lot more than simply aligning what you enjoy with what you do, I mean there is the actual doing part as well. But if you can work towards synergy you’ll have a huge advantage.

A typical day for me:

5:30-6:45am up and exercise/write/coffee/tea/breakfast/make bed/make lunches

7:30am online email/write/read

8/8:30am breakfast for the boys

9 – 1pm dishes, vacuum, laundry, dust, clean bathrooms, outside gardening, walking, lunch, clean up

1-3pm boys nap; me: write, plan, garden, make phone calls, return emails

3-7pm prep dinner, tidy the house, play outside, eat dinner, clean up, play/read, bath, bed

7-11pm write, plan, email, time with hubby

It’s a full day but when the lines dividing your roles blur you can become very efficient and effective at what you do since it all feeds into each other and is really one in the same.

Some of the tools I use:

My productivity system isn’t pretty. It’s not the latest and greatest app it’s actually a combination of a bunch of ideas from a bunch of different systems.

I think the most important thing to remember when choosing an organizing system is to make sure it works for you. If it doesn’t don’t be afraid to toss it aside and try a different one. If your constantly fighting your system you won’t be very productive.

To keep track of my various projects I have a very large scrap book, the kind kids use to create their masterpieces. Each project gets a different color post-it note and as ideas come to my head I add them on individual notes.

At the front of the scrapbook I have a “working on” page where I keep 3 things I’m currently working on. They can be all from the same project or from three different projects it doesn’t matter. The reason this works for me is I can focus on a small number of things at a time and when they are complete I don’t have to think “now what do I do?” I simply flip through my scrapbook and move a few more sticky notes to the front and work on them. Easy peasy I think.

The driving force behind Listbean

I disliked having to write and then re-write lists every time I did something.

Take going to the in-laws for the weekend. I thought it was such a waste of time rewriting the list of what to take. And when I didn’t write a list I would always forget something – last visit it was the playpen. That made for an interesting evening I’ll tell ya.

Being fully customizable is what, in my opinion, makes Listbean an important tool in my arsenal of productivity tools.

Thanks to my hubby I also keep track of goals/desires/wishes on a larger scale. So I start by asking myself: What do I want to accomplish this year or this month?

This allows me to choose which smaller, more specific things to focus on in any given day or week so that I’m always inching closer to being where I ultimately want to be.

But maybe this type of goal setting isn’t for you, maybe you’re a details person if so make sure to revisit Lisa’s Mastering the Mini-task it’s an excellent article on breaking down to-do items into next actionable items.

My biggest piece of advice is not to wait.

Don’t wait for the right time, don’t wait for a slow time, don’t wait until next week, and most certainly don’t wait until things are perfect – because I’m sure you know that’s never going to happen. Start slow but the key is to start. As you begin to juggle you’ll know what works and what doesn’t. Toss the things that don’t and keep adding things that work and add value to your life.

It’s not really a secret it’s just trying the best you can to align what you love to do with what you’re actually doing. The rest just falls into place.

What things in your life use the power of synergy?  What do you feel passionate about?  Have you found ways to bring your passion into your everyday living?

{Note from Lisa: Thank you for this fantastic post, Sherri!  If you aren’t familiar with Serene Journey and Zen Family Habits you’ll want to check these sites out– they are incredible sources for living a simple, happy and fulfilled life. And get on over to Listbean today–it’s free! I am already customizing many of my own lists…an incredible time saver for busy moms!}

When our lifestyles demand more from us than normal- when we have a stretch of overstressed, anxious, or demanding work ahead of us, it is never so important (or challenging) to keep ourselves well nourished.

For me, during these times, I keep my home stocked and ready with single-handed or 3 minute meal ingredients.  I make the preparation priority and if I can not find time to prepare these myself I pay extra for them to come prepared.

When I reflected on what went wrong last time, I came up with some guidelines to help me create a plan that would work.

1.  I needed to have all the macronutrients met:  Healthy Fats, Whole Food Carbohydrates, and enough Protein.

2.  Fiber rich foods were emphasized.

3.  I needed warm and cold meal options.

4.  Iron rich foods every day.

5.  Super hydration was necessary.

6.  I had to be able to eat most of these foods while holding a babe in one arm.

7.  If I had any time to prepare something, it was under 3 minutes.

8.  I needed simple effective ways to keep my stress levels managed.

Here are the food ideas and tips that have been working:

Single Handed Foods

These are foods or meals that I could literally eat with one hand, while bouncing a babe in the other.

• Vegetable crudite plate.

Basically washed, peeled, cut up vegetables on a plate and ready for me to grab throughout the day.

This is a staple in the plan.  I do my best to make a large plate every other day or so and keep it in the fridge or counter during the day so I can keep crunching along.

If you can’t do the prep yourself, I honestly think it would be worth the cost to buy a premade veggie platter at the store.

• Trail mix

I used to make my own trail mixes, but right now I’m happy to buy ready made ones from our local Trader Joes.  Mine have seeds, nuts and dried fruits– but also some kind of sweet treat- either carob raisins or chocolate chips in there too.  I normally pour out a healthy bowl of this in the morning and have it on the counter as well.

• Hard boiled eggs

• Roasted veggies

I like to eat my roasted veggies cold as well as warm.  Favorites are carrots, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and beets.  To roast, put in shallow pan, toss olive oil and sea salt.  Bake at 350* for about an hour or until soft.

• Breakfast cookies

You know the kind that are full of healthy grains, dried fruits, shredded carrots and nuts.

• Rice Cooker

Rice cookers will cook your grains (doesn’t have to be rice) and some will even steam veggies in a top compartment as well.  Then they will keep the grains warm.  I love scooping up big spoons of warm brown rice or quinoa during the day.  Yes, just plain old rice. It’s subtly sweet, warm and chewy.  Very satisfying.

• Crockpot stews and soups

I don’t want to gross anyone out, but I unapologetically dip a spoon into my crock pot throughout the day for a quick bite here and there.

I put the meal together to cook overnight, and in the morning it is done and stays warm throughout the day so I can have a ready made, hot meal available– even with one hand.

• Healthy bars

My favorites are Lara Bars, KIND bars and Odwalla bars.

• Fresh Fruits

My kids go through a lot of fresh fruits and sliced veggies anyway with every meal and for snacks.  I do my best to snack along with them on these too.

3 Minute Prep Meals

There are times now that I can put together a quick meal for myself.  I try to keep the ingredients for these meals on hand.  Not everyday, mind you, but sometimes I can swing the following:

• Ezekiel bread toasted with cream cheese and fruit jam.
• Ezekiel bread toasted with avocado and garlic salt.
• Smoothie.  I really try to do this every day. I keep it simple.  Frozen berries, green juice and a few leaves of kale.  It supercharges me.  I plan to get some coconut kefir to add soon.
• Pita with hummus
• Hot air popcorn
• Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches
• Reheat some pureed vegetable soups (these need to be premade so it depends if I got to that over the weekend)
• Grilled cheese
• Chips with salsa and cultured vegetables

Water Intake

• Set out 8 glasses every evening.  Seeing the water glasses full and on the counter is one of the best ways for me to keep drinking all day

• I drink at least one glass of water after every nursing.

• I drink 1-2 glasses with my vitamin supplements.

Thoughts on Rest

In the first two weeks after the birth, I literally slept when my babe did.  I had help almost every day during that time, so if the baby slept, someone was there to be with my two toddlers.

Now, I can’t always sleep when he sleeps. It could be that my other children are still awake or my mind and body simply can’t turn off like a switch during the day any longer.

I had an all or nothing perspective on this before and it led me to overwork myself if I thought I couldn’t sleep.

Now when I find pockets of down time in the day I choose to REST my body. This means I will lay or sit down. Perhaps take a glass of water and cup of tea.

And lately I’ve been practicing deep breathing. Even 5 minutes of deep breathing rejuvenates me– my body and mind gets oxygentaed, I’ve turned on my calm response and mitigated stress.  Let me tell you I’ll be doing these short bits of deep breathing throughout the day for a long time– I love them.

My Food Mindset

I wanted to add that in no way am I restricting what I eat. If someone brings over a yummy treat or I feel like diving into some chips, (or just have a hankering for homemade chocolate chip cookies) I go for it.

I don’t think of this as a diet. More than anything I just think of this as fueling my body well. I do my best to keep putting in the good stuff.  When I crave something, I eat it.

So that’s been the plan so far and it’s working wonders.  It also makes me realize how incredibly essential it is to make healthy, yummy good for you foods CONVIENENT.  It is the key, really, because all the crap food that makes you feel lethargic and down have one thing going for them–convienence– and they’ll win on that alone in the end.  Especially when we are pressed for time and life is more demanding than usual!

How do you stay healthy and strong when life becomes more demanding than usual?