(When I edit, I usually Instagram. Mostly because editing is crazy and Instagram is a fun distraction that is also not time-consuming. A welcome artful break. Can you hear my justifications?)

I quit my job. I was working basically full-time: 35-40 hours a week.
I swear, I am busier now than when I was working. Laundry, friends, family, gardening, house work, Katie, exercise, cooking, hobbies, organizing (I like to organize). There are a thousand things all around me that I need to do.

But I didn’t quit my job to clean the toilet – even though cleaning the toilet is important. S didn’t take on more responsibility so I can stay caught up on the laundry all the time – even though he doesn’t love picking up his work uniform from the dirty clothes and asking when I am planning on doing laundry again.

I quit my job to write.

In order to be successful at that, I have to make the time. I have to build the rest of my schedule around the most important things. I have to set goals for every day, otherwise I just wander between organizing my bookcases, pulling weeds, editing my book, and practicing yoga.

If we ever want to truly do something, we have to make it a priority.

I set up a schedule. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get up early and leave with S at 7:30am. I drop him off at school and work at a coffee shop for 4 hours. This works well because I don’t have near as many distractions. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have to set goals for specific accomplishments. For some reason, I cannot make time goals work for me at home. I can’t work for 4 hours at my kitchen table. I get up and down and up and down. But if I say, “I will edit 50 pages today,” then come hell or high water, I will edit 50 pages today.
This is what works for me. This is how I make progress.

Someone once told me that we always seem to find time for the things that are important to us.
It’s all about priorities.
What are you making time for?