In July of 2022, my oldest son started taking guitar lessons.
These lessons took place mid-morning during a week day.
At first, I had no idea what to do with all my other kids. To avoid being disruptive, we would sit in the car. I had them bring books or toys to play with.
Then fall came and we started school. They would bring schoolwork in the car but this was still dead time for me.
Sometimes I would order groceries for pick-up or meal plan, but I really didn’t have anything to do to pass the time.
After a while, our music teacher got a day job and lessons moved to the evenings, and then my second son started drum lessons.
Now I had two separate blocks of time when I needed something to do.
I was listening to a podcast one day about task grouping or task stacking or something like that. I can’t even remember who it was that said it. But essentially they said that while you wait for your coffee to brew, you can empty the dishwasher. Or if you want to watch a show, use that time to fold laundry.
I thought this was genius – especially since I already had blocks of time that I needed to use.
Around that time, Sarah asked me to run a 10K with her, so I decided to use the music lesson time to be productive and squeeze in some training. Since the lessons were in the evenings at this point, it worked out perfectly because I could leave my other kids home with my husband.
Plus, the music lessons were held at a location near a beautiful scenic walking/biking trail.
This was probably the best decision I ever made.
I now had a designated run time twice a week.
I ended up doing most of my 10K training during those time blocks. I didn’t have an excuse not to move now, and I couldn’t even waste any time procrastinating or I wouldn’t have enough time for the runs.
Once summer came and it was too hot to run, I would spend that time walking instead.
Eventually our music teacher was able to put both my kids lessons together and now I have a whole hour to myself.
This is still a designated movement time; if I have to bring my other kids, we just walk or hike instead of running.
I love that I have been using this as purposeful time. If it’s raining, I opt to lesson plan for homeschool instead or read (or catch up on blog posts!). But most days, you can find me on a trail walking, running, or hiking, and I’m loving every second of it!