How to Manage Your Time During Spring Craziness

Spring is almost here. The time for winter to melt away and grass to come back. When birds start chirping and suddenly, you don’t need to spend twenty minutes getting ready to go outside. The time when summer is planned, maybe some spring break trips, and for many of my fellow learning-to-control-pieces-of-metal teenagers, drivers ed. 

*dramatic music* 

I’m excited to learn to drive, but I am not excited for the 6 am classes. The early morning is a little bit of a bother, but I am blessed with being a morning person. No, the thing I’m most worried about (apart from crashing a car) is my writing time. 

For the past few months, I’ve been waking up around 6:30 to write before breakfast. By then, a good chunk of my writing is done and I don’t have to scramble to finish it all after my schoolwork. The only issue is that drivers ed is going to butt into my prime writing time. I’ve been rehashing my writing schedule, organizing, and have come up with a few ways to make it work. So today, I’m going to share some ways I’ve written when life gets busy, and some of the things I’m planning for my writing in the face of this upcoming driving adventure. 

Prioritize 

I started with sitting down and making a list of my priorities. Sleep is super high on this list – I really don’t function without getting a good night’s rest. So waking up even earlier to write is not an option. But I also know that sewing isn’t a super big priority, so I can take some of the time I spend sewing and use it to write. 

Be Okay With Changes 

You’ve probably heard popular writing advice to write almost every day. While that is great advice, sometimes writing every day just isn’t possible. After looking at my schedule, there were some days that, if school took me longer than usual to finish or if something crazy came up, I wouldn’t be able to write. And that isn’t a big deal. There will be days when you can’t write, which makes the time when you can write all the more precious. 

Organize and Systemize 

I don’t journal a lot. I’m too lazy to go and grab my journal (wherever it is in my room), find a working pen, and write what I need to do for the day or week or something. Then I am even less prone to go back and look at what I need to do as the day progresses. I still journal, but it’s not my primary way of staying organized.  

 Whiteboard calendars are. A dear friend of mine gave me a whiteboard calendar for Christmas, and I’ve been using it pretty much every day. It’s a lot easier to see and walk over to than scramble around for a tiny notebook. It’s in a very visible spot in my room, too, so I’m always reminded by what I need to do for the day (not to mention writing and drawing on a whiteboard is making my 9 year old self so happy).

I keep a list on this whiteboard of what I need to do. This has helped me battle procrastination, forgetting things, and it’s really fun to cross things off. It makes me feel less like a flopping fish and more like an organized set of pens. 

Find what works for you to stay organized. Explore different options. Maybe it works for you to write things in a journal. Or maybe you work the best when you write your to-do lists in comic book form. Experiment. 

Get Rid of Distractions 

Get rid of internet distractions by closing tabs, having a sibling hide your phone or tablet, or any number of other tactics. Get some accountability. Maybe look into website blockers or turning your wii off. 

The worst distraction for me is my family (mostly little siblings) barging into my room for something. When we moved, I discovered the doors at our new house have locks. *squeals with delight* I really only use the locks in extreme situations (the hide and seek disease spreading to my room, for example) but they’ve been so helpful when I just need to get things done. 

Find Patches of Free Time and USE THEM 

Now that my morning writing time has been taken, I’m back to finding spots when things stop and quiet down. Maybe just after lunch or dinner, or the time I usually use to sew or scrapbook. It is important to relax and wind down, but there are still bits of free time that I’m able to use. 

I hope these tips helped you. I’ll probably come back after drivers ed is over to update you on what I did and changed, but for now I’m hoping this system will work to write even when life gets busy. What do you do when things get busy? What is your favorite time to write? What’s your favorite way of battling distractions? I hope you have a great rest of your day! Until next time! 

-Hannah

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