How to Stop Overscheduling Your Creative Life and Reclaim Your Time
At a Glance
Today, we’re talking about Time Management
More specifically, we’re talking about the perils of overscheduling and how to fix them.
You’ll learn how to spot overscheduling and what to do to find more time for yourself.
The world demands a lot from us, but we have the power to say how we spend our time.
Let’s discuss.
Ever feel like you’re fighting against a never-ending battle against the schedule YOU made?
Imagine this: your calendar is so full it resembles a complex game of Tetris more than the life you dreamed of for yourself.
Blocks falling faster than you can manage, a colorful jumble of meetings, projects, family commitments, self-imposed tasks, and fun outings. Quite the mess. One that continues to fight against you.
For a long time, I kept my evenings open. But recently, my schedule overwhelmed me. The walls of time closed in on me. Fun activities mixed with daily routine mixed with curve balls life threw my way. I felt like I couldn’t escape. As though my time wasn’t mine.
The world demands a lot from us. When life gets busy, it’s hard to imagine how we’ll regain a peaceful mindset.
But is it self-imposed?
Are we our own worst enemy when it comes to how we spend our time?
How do we stop overscheduling ourselves yet enjoy the things we love to do?
The first step is understanding why we overschedule.
The Root of the Issue
Overscheduling often stems from a good place — a desire to excel, to be there for everyone, and to seize every opportunity.
Yet, like a vine that grows unchecked, it can suffocate the life out of the tree it climbs. Understanding why we overcommit is the first step toward making a change.
Ask yourself:
Are you trying to meet unrealistic expectations (be they your own or others')?
Are you afraid of letting people down?
Are you afraid of missing out?
The Signs of Overscheduling
If you’re ever unsure that you’re overscheduling yourself, look for these telltale signs:
Constant fatigue, where even after a full night's sleep, you wake up tired.
Irritability, especially over small inconveniences.
Feeling overwhelmed by the thought of your day even before it begins.
Neglecting self-care, skipping meals, or abandoning your exercise routine because you just can't find the time.
Too Much of a Good Thing
We mean well when we schedule our lives.
Sometimes, we schedule time to try new activities and get out into the world. Other times, we give other people our time. We make plans. And we do our best to keep them.
The problem comes when we neglect to set time aside for just ourselves.
We rebel against the plans we made. Like a grouchy kid taking our medicine, we push ourselves to do the things we said we would. But that doesn’t mean we like it. Quite the opposite, actually.
For me, my grouchy kid moment came after two consecutive weeks of full-bore calendar crunch.
I was trying to put myself out there more. Trying to do things that spoke to me as a creative nerd.
I went to an event called “Nerd Nite” (Think “TED Talks” but waaaaay nerdier).
I went to professional networking events at the local architecture school on behalf of my office.
I met up with some of my social bowling league team for some offseason games.
I started playing board games at a local game shop downtown. Even learned how to play Dungeons & Dragons.
I did all the things.
It turns out (shocker) that after a full day of creative work, then the gym, then making dinner, then a new nerdy activity, there’s not much time left over for yourself before you go to bed to start the cycle all over again.
I had become a rebel without a cause.
I started neglecting my normal routine.
I started staying up later.
And it was all my doing.
It can feel good to do something new, but that “new” thing still takes up time. We need to manage our expectations of what we’re doing to help ourselves grow while not going too far and burning ourselves out.
I wasn’t burned out from the experience. But I could tell that I needed to make a little bit of a change. Otherwise, I’d continue to stay up too late and disrupt my life even further.
Then I remembered something my old teacher and soccer coach, Mr. Harrigan, always told us.
“Everything in moderation.”
It wasn’t a suggestion to stop living life. It was just a way of thinking about life in doses we could handle. Moderation of action is good, just as is moderation of what we consume and what we spend our time on.
It did the trick.
I started backing out from my overscheduled week and retooled my schedule to work better for me, not against me.
4 Strategies to Help You Rethink Your Time
So we don’t get stuck in the trap of overscheduling ourselves, here are a few ways to rethink how we spend our “extra” time. For the purposes of this exercise, consider “extra” to mean anything beyond the following:
Sleep
Work
Eating
Hygiene
Caretaking (if applicable)
Plan Downtime
Just as you’d plan an activity, plan blocks in your schedule of nothing—no event to attend, no session to show up for. Think of them as blocks of peace and quiet—time for yourself or time for you to do something passive.
Pace New Stuff
Saying “Yes” can feel great in the moment. But saying “yes” comes at a cost. It’s a cost that your future self will have to pay.
Consider for a moment if you have to say “yes” to everything. Also, consider what is already within the time frame of what you’re saying “yes” to. For example, I try never to schedule meetings back-to-back because there will likely not be enough time for me to pivot from one to the next. The same can happen in your personal life. Perhaps only schedule one new activity every other day or a couple of days. Give them some room.
Think Long-Term
What are you trying to do in this chapter of your life? Does that affect the choices you’ll make for how you spend your time now? For example, if you’re trying to pass the Architect license exam, your life might be very different than if you’re trying to focus on your marriage or your family. You’ll have time to do everything, but you can’t do everything all at once.
Change Your Mind
Sometimes we say Yes to too much. If you find yourself drowning in things to do, you may have to assess what is on your plate and remove something (albeit something you committed to or want to do). Remember that your time is yours. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, it’s okay to say no to something that you committed to if it will ultimately help you stay centered.
Final Thoughts
Unraveling the ties of overscheduling isn’t about a one-time decluttering of your calendar; it's about ongoing maintenance, like tending to a garden. It's a practice of mindfulness and intentionality, where you continuously assess and realign your commitments with your values and energy levels.
You may think you have to do everything. But you really don’t.
Everything in moderation.
TL; DR
We decide how we spend our time (for good or bad)
There are telltale signs that we’ve overscheduled our time
Everything in moderation.
4 strategies to help you rethink your time.
Plan Downtime
Pace New Stuff
Think Long-Term
Change your mind
Quote of the Week
Motivation for the days ahead of you.
“It is said that any virtue when taken to an extreme can become a vice. Overscheduling our days would certainly qualify for this. There comes a point where milestones can become milestones and ambitions, albatrosses around our neck.”
— Dieter F. Uchtdorf
That's all for now.
Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!
