With 40-hour workweeks, planning and making meals, and performing other household chores, it can often feel as though there isn’t enough time in the day to do the things that you want to do. Professional and household responsibilities can get in the way of hanging out with friends, exercising, or dedicating time to your hobbies. This is particularly true for parents of young children.
The loss of freedom and increase in responsibilities can be overwhelming for new parents. In many cases, fathers who work busy schedules and spend lots of time outside the home have to alter their routine to ensure that they carve out family time.
Below are some tips and strategies for dads to effectively manage their time so that they can support their families while still making time for themselves.
1. Establish Clear Priorities
Whether you’re a first-time dad or already have multiple children, you will have to give up—or spend less time on—some of your favorite leisure activities, at least temporarily. With more responsibilities, it’s necessary to think about what matters most and establish clear priorities about how you want to spend your time. Once you identify your values, you can create daily plans with time set aside for your highest priorities.
Work and family should be your top priorities, but if you love reading, for example, you should aim to set aside time each day for that hobby. According to a study published in 2018 in the Harvard Business Review, those who prioritize their time and concentrate on their goals, values, and objectives have greater levels of well-being and job satisfaction than those who don’t.
2. Stick to a Routine
Once you’ve determined your most important priorities, stick to a routine. This is particularly beneficial, as it can help you to feel a sense of control in what can be a wild and unpredictable experience. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. If you work from home or have flexible work hours, try to maintain a strict schedule so that your family knows when they can count on you for help around the house. This will also help you to make time for your priorities, such as exercising, reading, or spending time with your partner and/or friends.
While you should aim to stick to a daily or weekly routine, you also need to be flexible, understanding that not everything is going to go the way that you planned. If you expect the unexpected, you won’t be as stressed or agitated when unforeseen circumstances arise.
3. Classify Tasks by Importance
John Maxwell, the author of several books on leadership, has also discussed the challenges of fatherhood. Some of his principles, including the Eisenhower Matrix, can be applied to time management for fathers. Also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix, this framework classifies tasks by importance and urgency in the following categories: high importance and high urgency, high importance and low urgency, low importance and high urgency, and low importance and low urgency.
Obviously, tasks of high importance and high urgency should be handled first. Maxwell says that for tasks of high importance and low urgency, you should set deadlines and find time to incorporate them into your daily routine. Tasks of low importance and high urgency should be done quickly and efficiently or, if possible, handed off to someone else, i.e. having a grandparent or family friend bring your child to school or one of their activities. Tasks of low importance and urgency should be eliminated or handled during a weekly one-hour block.
Following the Eisenhower Matrix requires effective planning and organization. Consider writing down urgent and important tasks in a calendar, either a physical one or on your phone, and set reminders or alerts, if necessary.
4. Don’t Procrastinate
Procrastination might have been OK when you were a high school student putting off studying for a test, but the stakes are higher when raising children and working a full-time job. Your time is much more limited, thus any time spent on unproductive activities is wasted time. And, when you put off family or household responsibilities, they can pile up and contribute to higher levels of stress.
5. Perfect the Art of Multitasking
Planning and scheduling is key to making the most of your time, but even with the most effective plans, you will almost certainly have to perfect the art of multitasking or find shortcuts that can free up your time for other tasks. Take that work phone call while walking your baby in a stroller or going for a run. Similarly, you can complete simple household chores like sweeping your floors or taking out the garbage while carrying your baby in a baby wrap.
Shortcuts can include planning meals that don’t require much preparation, ordering delivery, using disposable plates and utensils, and dropping your dirty clothes off at a full-service laundromat.
6. Prioritize Your Physical and Mental Health Just because you’re responsible for the care and well-being of another human being doesn’t mean you should focus less on your own health. Children need their parents to be physically and emotionally present, so self-care is paramount. It’s also important for time management. If you’re physically or mentally exhausted, you may not be as productive or able to handle other responsibilities.
