How I keep my life balanced & organized (My Top 5 Tips)

For those of you who aren't familiar with an "everyday" schedule of mine, I'll first preface this with the fact that my life is prettyyy busy. Between work, rodeo, training horses, family, boyfriend, puppy time, DTBAC, lessons, "HB co." type things, keeping up with social media, and everything else that comes with these things, my life remains and stays going and going and going. and going. Honestly though, staying busy keeps me motivated and happy. It's how I operate the best. It's the stage I'll remain in so long as I continue pursuing my best self. On the contrary though, you will never see a more stressed me than when I am unorganized, physically and mentally. 

That's where the tips in this blog come in. I have some key steps and principles that I maintain that all help me remain organized with my life and schedule. These are what help me stay focused on reaching my dreams while still coming home and being a present (and joyful lol) girlfriend, sister, daughter, friend, etc. So, if you too have a busy schedule and would like to read some pointers on how I stay (mostly) sane throughout it all, then keep on reading...

Tip #1: Know your core values

Before you can even think about how to manage your time, you need to come to terms with what exactly you want to spend your time on. I often have to come back to this step if I ever feel like I am going off the track I need to stay on. I do this by writing a list of the things that I spend my daily time on versus the things that I need to be spending my daily time on. So for me, the list of "needs" would include: working, growing HB Co., practicing/training horses, spending time with the family and boyfriend, and animals, and growing Dare To Be A Cowboy.

Evaluating the present versus the needs is a great way for me to adjust my habits and what I need to critique in order to get that much closer to my own goals and more importantly, my own happiness. Ensuring that I am being specific and clear with what I label as what I need my life to consist of is the only way I can ensure that it happens (if that makes sense). Like I said, just write your two lists and I guarantee you'll find areas that need adjusted.  

Tip #2: Google Calendars

I had a hard time deciding if this should have been the first tip or not. The only reason that it isn't is because knowing your core values truly needs to come before anything else... BUT, this step is really just as vital to my success (and sanity). If you have a gmail account, you have the opportunity to use soooo many free resources that I'm sure you don't even know about! One of the most common is Google Calendars, which is basically your online planner. 

My personal google calendars account has 13 different types of calendars ranging from "Instagram content" to "animal health records". Being able to lay out the different "sections" of my life into calendars, and to schedule everything in that organized of a fashion is the handiest aspect of my life. Anddd I even have the ability to "check" and "uncheck" the calendars that I do and don't want to see in that moment to really dive into each one. 

The hardest part about having a planner isn't planning, it's remembering to check what you planned. So this is something that I have had to work on, but staying consistent with it has had it's amazing benefits. 

Tip #3: Daily To-Do Lists

Another must. EVEN ON DAYS OFF. No but seriously, on weekends my boyfriend and I will have a little talk about what we want our day to consist of. If that includes a bbq on the beach, I'll write it on the list on my phone. If that includes grocery shopping, that goes on the list too. Whatever it is that we need to do that day, we put on a little to-do list to ensure that nothing gets forgotten before the end of the day. Of course I do this on work days too, just a brief little overview of what the main things I want to do that day are.

***IMPORTANT: don't schedule things. I don't know if it's just me, but anytime I get too specific about times, and then it doesn't end up working out that way, I start to freak out a little. I've found that it is just so much better for me to keep it in an outline type of format rather than trying to schedule out the day. It keeps me much happier to just be going with the flow. 

Tips #4: Don't Waste Time & Stay Present

HUUUUUGE. huge. I know that so many people have probably asked you this question but, do you know how much time you spend on your phone? If you have the new reader that notify's you about your weekly activity, then I know you do. Honestly though, if we were really intentional about the time we spent being present in our life, the phone usage wouldn't even be a problem. If we were so focused on creating our best life, we wouldn't even think about social media. I'm not saying social media usage needs to disappear entirely, but it is so important focus on being overly present. By the way, "wasting time" isn't just time on the phone. There are many other daily habits within our lives that can be cleaned up and refined to help promote the productivity and time that we have. Something else worth evaluating..

Also, like I said in the Google Calendars tip, I don't like to schedule things. I really let the present moments define what we do and what I want to do. That's really what I mean by staying present, be aware of the vibes, be aware of the energy, and let that depict what you do. For example, if I need to edit a video really really bad, but I just got home and so did boyfriend and the puppies are excited to see us, you best believe I will be intentionally taking 30 minutes to spend some quality time with them before I do anything else. This is the step that helps me feel the most balanced. 

Tip #5: Ask for Help

This is something that I have reallyyyy had to utilize within the last year or so. So much so, that I'm literally on the verge of hiring an intern. But truly, this is the only reason that I am still going at the rate that I am today. For example, splitting chores with my boyfriend, paying someone $10 a day to clean my horse's stalls, working with an intern, asking my dad to pick up grain while he's already at the store and I'll just pay him back, and so on. I look for little (or big) areas of my life that don't have to be accomplished by me. Something that could be done by someone else. And I am intentional about this because it's worth the shot, it's worth the ask, and it could be worth some of my money, too. 

My time is something that I really really value now-a-days so anything I can do to save some is worth pursuing.

That was kind of a lot, lol! But I hope that you found some helpful tips in this blog! These are my main daily principles, the 5 things I keep myself in check with every. single. day. Because, if not, my life would be going by quicker than I could even keep up with. By utilizing and remembering these 5 tips, I truly feel like I have a grasp on my own destiny and happiness. Thank you for reading and for all of your support, and I will see you in the next one!! 

xoxo HB