MAKING TIME FOR FUN IN YOUR SCHEDULE

WHY DO WE NEED TO SCHEDULE TIME FOR FUN?

Have you ever had a day off and where you imagined it was going to be such a great day because you had no plans? Instead of doing something purposeful, maybe you wandered around doing a little of this and that throughout the day. Then at the end of the day, you feel kind of disappointed about how your day off went? This happens sometimes if we just let the time go by without planning what we want to do with our time. Planning out time does not only have to be for something productive. You can plan to watch movies all day if you want to. It is just about being intentional with how your time will be spent.  Because when we are not intentional with what we will do with our time, we often end up doing a bunch of little random things and just letting the time drift away. Just as we put productive things on our schedule that we want to get done, we should make sure to plan time specifically for fun in our schedule.

SCHEDULING FUN THINGS TO DO IS FUN

Do you ever think about how much fun you can have planning something fun to do? There is fun in the planning and having something to look forward to creates more happiness in your life. Maybe you are having a bad day at work, but you have something you are really looking forward to in the evening. Thinking about what you have planned can take away some of the stress you are feeling during the day. It’s always nice to have something to look forward to and get excited about. This does not need to be a big vacation, it can be something as simple as picking up a fancy coffee and sitting with a great book. Looking forward to that time is often just as nice as when you are actually doing what you planned.

“WE SHOULD” USUALLY DOESN’T LEAD TO ANYTHING HAPPENING

With good intentions, we often say “we should”. We should get together one day.  Or, we should have a family game night this week.  We should check out that new restaurant.  We should go ax throwing (that’s one of my recent “we shoulds”!). How often do we say “we should” and it never happens? While we really mean that we should do these things, and we really want to do these things, they often don’t happen because we don’t put them on our schedule. We all lead busy lives and there is always something else that can take up our time. When we say we should do something that would be fun in our lives, we really should make our best effort to put it on the calendar and actually plan to do it.

IF YOU PUT IN A LITTLE EFFORT, YOU CAN USUALLY FIND SOME TIME

We often think that we don’t have time to fit in things just for fun.  It can especially feel this way during very busy times of life. So, you might not have time to do a day trip each weekend.  But, maybe you can plan a day trip once a month or once every other month? Maybe you don’t have time to play a game of monopoly with the family?  But, maybe you can play a quick round of Uno. When we make it a priority to find time for something, we can often find the time in our schedule.  Even if it’s less time than we would like to have, there is usually some extra time.

SCHEDULE FUN THINGS ON YOUR CALENDAR

If you had a doctor’s appointment, you would make sure that you put it on your calendar to make sure you did not miss it. Why not do the same thing for fun activities? Of course, if we had a major vacation planned out, we would put it on our calendar. But we often don’t think of blocking out Tuesday night to play a board game with the family. We might think of it, but without putting it on our schedule as an actual commitment, the time can often get away from us. Maybe we forget that we had wanted to do a game night on Tuesday night. Putting something on the calendar makes it more of a priority. It also takes up that slot of time so that something else doesn’t come along to fill it in.

PLANNING FOR FUN IS NOT FUN – NOT TRUE!

Every time I mention to my kids that I want to plan a night to do something fun, they think it’s a terrible idea. Kind of like trying to force someone to smile when they are not happy.  Like it’s fake to plan to have fun and not just let it happen naturally. The problem is that in reality, we are all really busy.  There are always competing priorities.  When we don’t make things that are fun a priority, they often don’t happen. So, I completely disagree that planning for fun is not fun. And you do not need to be rigid about the fun that is planned on your schedule. If you planned for a game night, and the family wants to head over to a local park because it’s a beautiful night out, that’s fine. Or if you all had a really bad or tiring day and just don’t feel up to doing whatever activity you had planned, that’s fine too!

Planning for fun is not about forcing fun, which is how I think my daughter interprets it. Planning for fun is just about making it a priority so that you don’t let time slip away without doing these little things you enjoy. If you can’t do it today, then maybe plan on doing it tomorrow!  But make sure to put it on the calendar tomorrow so that you don’t end up running an errand or making another appointment.

BE SPECIFIC WITH YOUR PLANS

Instead of planning for a day at the park. Being specific with your fun activity can help make it more likely to happen. Pick the park and pick the time. Again you don’t need to be rigid and make sure you arrive at the park at exactly 10 am. But, if you plan to go to the park around 10 am, it will prompt you to get yourself and anyone who may be coming with you to start getting ready to go. When you say we are going to a specific park this weekend, it feels more concrete than we should go to a park this weekend. Naming the actual activity, date, and approximate time makes it more of a commitment

TAKE LITTLE STEPS

If you really feel like you are struggling to find time in your schedule to do things that you enjoy try to start small. Do you get a break at work where you can go for a walk and listen to some good music? Or maybe you can read a book for a few minutes during our lunch each day? If you like crafting is there something you could work on for maybe 10-15 minutes a day? Try to find small things you can do that you can squeeze into your day until you are able to find other time to do something that needs a longer amount of time to do I think when you start squeezing in some fun here and there it will motivate you to really look at your calendar and see where you might be able to fit something in.

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic to check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!

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