Tag: stress

3 Books to Reboot Your Daily Habits

At the beginning of 2022, I decided to work on revamping my habits and daily routine. My schedule was inefficient. I had tons of mental clutter that swirled in my head and kept me feeling overwhelmed, and yet I was accomplishing nothing. So I gave myself a daily habit reboot!

While I walked our new puppy, I listened to these 3 books and slowly learned new tactics for how to tackle all those things on my To-Do List while also enjoying more time for myself and the things I wanted to do. I have not yet succeeded in implementing all the numerous strategies in these books, but I have made tremendous progress. I am healthier, happier, and less stressed.

Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear

I highly recommend this book. It is packed with very specific suggestions of how to develop better daily habits. I listened to the audiobook but then also purchased the hardback so I could go back and revisit certain concepts more easily. This book helped me think of ways to add in those tasks I wanted to be doing more faithfully but just couldn’t seem to accomplish regularly–drinking more water, exercising, Bible study…

The book describes 4 main methods of developing any habit: make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying. Then it gives examples of how to do this with different types of habits. One of my favorite aspects of this book was that you could immediately start implementing the strategies from the very first chapter. I would read a little and start making changes in my life. Then read a little more and make more changes. It was simple, specific, and practical. It was packed with so many ideas I feel like I could read it 3-4 times before truly getting everything out of it. Atomic Habits is a great book to kick off your journey to better daily routines.

Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present & Wildly Productive by Jordan Raynor

After developing a few new habits, including a more specific morning and evening routine, I decided to dive deeper into my quest for a more simplified and efficient lifestyle. This book was the 2nd book I read. A Christian-based book, it starts and ends by reminding the reader that ultimately our peace will be found in Christ, not a perfect schedule or routine.

Like the previous one, this book is full of so many specific ideas that I found it helpful to both listen to it and read through a hardback copy. Though it is geared toward people who work outside the home or have a more regular job at home, all of the suggestions can easily be adapted to other situations, such as a homeschool mom. While I read this book, I started taking control of the part of my life that was not always routine–the shifting demands of kids, church, service organizations, etc.

The main focus of this book is managing your To-Do list and all that mental clutter that makes your brain hurt. It provides a number of practices that will help you prioritize what’s important and spend less time on meaningless, less-fulfilling tasks.

how i put it into practice

  • Chose a tracking system for all those ideas and tasks in my head–Google Keep. I started making a variety of lists for each area in my life as well as some mental notes about ideas for the future, things I wanted to research or learn, and anything else that was in my brain. This keeps me from constantly feeling like I’m forgetting something.
  • Started parenting my phone. I used the Focus feature of my iPhone to quiet all those notifications that would wake me at night. I set a bedtime and wake time on my phone and turned off certain notifications that were a constant distraction. Now I’m sleeping so much better.
  • Developed a time for focused work. I looked at my schedule and figured out when my brain is most ready for deep thinking and when I’m least interrupted by others. For me, it was after my coffee and devotional time but before my kids were out of bed, from about 7:30-8:30am. Now, I either sit at my kitchen table working on my laptop (writing, planning lessons, or researching) or I organize a pile of paper clutter or drawer. I make a point to do things during this time that are mentally taxing and require concentration because this is often the only opportunity during my day when I am not frequently distracted and interrupted. Setting aside this time has made me much more efficient in these tasks.

Eat That Frog: 21 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy

This final book was a great way to review the main concepts from the other books and provide a little extra motivation to make those desired changes immediately. It is very short and direct; a quick read to round out your daily habit reboot. Though this book is very much written for the workplace environment, all its concepts also apply to your personal life as well.

In addition, I feel it important to point out that it is not a Christian book. Occasionally it suggests prioritizing work over relationships and other similar ideas. However, you can easily just “agree to disagree” with these suggestions and apply the main concepts in more Christ-like ways. Its lack of Christian values does not discount its overall usefulness.

This book gave me some specific tools to start tackling those difficult or loathsome tasks instead of continually pushing them to the bottom of my To-Do List.

I’m sure there are other great books or resources out there for time management and habit training, but I can vouch for these 3–they all provided very specific, easily applicable suggestions for how to make simple changes that provide big rewards. Here are a few of the changes I’ve made personally because of these books:

  • Health – I’m walking more, increasing my step count, drinking more water, and cooking healthier meals more often.
  • Spiritual – I’m spending more time in Bible study and prayer and am more faithful in beginning my day with a devotional time.
  • Personal – I’m taking better care of myself, having more quiet time (which this introvert needs), and enjoying more time for doing what I want, like reading books. I’m even dressing better (getting out of my pajamas even when I’m home all day) and getting more sleep.
  • Work – I’ve found a rhythm for how to get focused work done during the time of day when I’m at my best (morning), so I’m accomplishing much more in less time.

Time is one of our most valuable possessions. Use it wisely. Remind ourselves often that things that matter most should not be left to the mercy of things that matter the least.

O. Leslie Stone

I pray you develop habits and manage your time in such a way that you are able to focus on those things that matter most.

Unburdened and Unstressed

It has been one month since I wrote my last post. Life has just been busy, nothing tragic, no huge life changes…simply a variety of unexpected events that have managed to turn my world topsy turvy for the last few weeks. Each week, as I looked at my To-Do list, I stared at the item that said, “write a blog post,” and my heart started beating fast. I was filled with guilt because I was not meeting an expectation I had created. I was overcome with anxiety because I didn’t know what to write. I was overwhelmed because I had no idea when or how I was going to get it done. There was simply too much to do and not enough time to do it. Here I was looking at what I considered a God-inspired mission, and I was feeling stressed about it.

Have you ever experienced a time like this, when you were burdened and anxious regarding something you knew should be quite the opposite?

Then I stopped! This is NOT what God has in mind for me (and it’s not what God has in mind for you either)! Our Lord is not a strict taskmaster. He does not desire for us to be anxious, overwhelmed, worried, or filled with shame. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. So one of two things is likely true in my situation if I feel those negative emotions–either what I am doing is NOT God’s will or how I am doing it isn’t.

I had to make myself pause in reflection and prayer and seek God’s direction…and I had to keep doing this multiple times throughout this month. What He kept whispering to me was, “Jennifer, give yourself a break.” For me, I believe it was the how that was the problem. I still felt God wanted me to continue doing this blog, but He kept reminding me that it is okay to take a break from it. It is okay to focus on other things at times. God wanted me to relax and enjoy and write when I was able. Over the last month, often after spending time with God, I would feel much better. I would lay this burden down at His feet and generally conclude that it was okay to postpone writing a post. In fact, He kept putting it on my heart that what He really wanted me to write about was just this–that we ALL need to give ourselves a break. Unfortunately, sometimes only days later, I would pick that burden right back up and start stressing again. 

Years ago, in the book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, I read an illustration that compared this to putting rocks in our wagon. [Please forgive me if I am not exact here. I don’t have the book to quote or reread, so I am going by memory.] Often we put rocks in our wagon that God has never asked us to carry. We weigh ourselves down in ways He never intended.

It is so much easier to see this when I am looking at someone else’s life. I am much better at helping others take the figurative “rocks” out of their wagons than I am at discarding the unnecessary ones out of my own wagon. Here’s an example from this last month…

A friend (and a fellow unit leader with me in American Heritage Girls) texted and said that she might not be able to make it to our next meeting. She was not feeling well yet was worried that she would be leaving me in a bind if she was not there. Here is the exact text I sent her on February 28:

“So sorry to hear you’re not feeling well. No stressing about any of the AHG stuff. God has been really speaking to me, reminding me that He doesn’t want us overwhelmed or anxious in our service. Yes, He wants us to work and serve. But He also wants us to rest. So I’m making sure I am not letting Satan steal the joy of my service by making me stressed about it. So you just focus on feeling better!”

Friends, how is it that it was so easy to write that text to her, and yet I still struggled to apply it to my situation with writing this blog post? I WAS letting Satan steal my joy in doing this blog. I was turning something God meant for good into an undesirable chore.

I am certain you have similar things in your own life. We all have service, missions, and callings that occasionally become just glaring items on a To-Do list. We all sometimes become burdened by things that God only intended to bless us. We all, at some point, lose focus and allow ourselves to stress or worry over something that isn’t worth it.

Here is the main message that God has been giving me, and I want to pass it on to you…

God wants you rested, joyful, unburdened, and worry-free. (Maybe that won’t be true in every moment of life, but it should be true in general.) His desires and plans for you are good and pleasing. So if you find yourself feeling anything else, take a moment to seek Him. Ask Him to show you a better way. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Give yourself a break. And definitely look in your wagon and throw out some “rocks” that are weighing you down that you know God didn’t plan for you to carry.

Jesus said, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)

My prayer for you today is that you experience the unburdened joy that comes when you truly rest in Jesus!