After observing and visiting with others, along with a good dose of personal experience, it’s taken me quite some time to realize that having a schedule and having a routine can’t be a FIXED thing. When you have a family, pets, own a business, have employees, grandkids, clients, coworkers, bosses’ managers, school calendars (that change every year), sports and activities, relatives, and even the weather, yes, the weather, it’s really quite impossible to have a FIXED schedule.

Now, what far too many of us do because of ALL THOSE CRAZY OUTSIDE INFLUENCES, is throw our arms up and say, “Whatever, I’ll just do whatever I need to do for everyone and everything else so I can get through my day, my week, this month, this year, phew!

That’s swinging the pendulum a little too far. It results in frustration and victimizing ourselves.

We must find a balanced perspective. The balanced perspective is somewhat counterintuitive, but it works. It’s setting a schedule for yourself, a schedule that adapts. It’s like being on the other side of a tennis serve, when your opponent is throwing the ball up in the air getting ready to hit a serve …you still have a plan, but you are on the balls of your feet bouncing back and forth ready to spring into action either way.

I recently heard a fellow soccer parent say, “Man I cannot wait for the kids to get back to school, I need to get my life back in a routine!” I found myself feeling the same sentiment and realizing how I’ve struggled to maintain a consistent am/pm routine…because hey, summertime is party time…late nights, ice cream and all! BUT, the kids rest peacefully on Monday morning while the parental units must put on their Avengers game face just to get out of bed!

Bottom line: set a schedule, prioritize, do your best with the best intentions, and then when one or twelve outside influences come your way at the same time, be ready and simply swing away, tackling them with the knowing that you’ve got your protected time coming up and you’ll get back on track soon.

“Victorious winners win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” – Sun Tzu