Hello friends!
Lately I’ve been asked a lot by other busy women, how I prioritize my quiet time. So I thought I’d put together a blog post with a few practical tips on things I’ve personally found helpful in executing this goal.
1. First, you need to set your mind to it.
It’s true what they say – if you believe it, you can be it. Our minds are an extremely powerful thing, and it’s hard to come to terms that we DO have the power to make things happen.
I recently was recommend that anytime I am tempted to say the words, “I can’t” instead to replace them with the words, “I won’t” or “I’m not prioritizing X at the moment.” It’s a small shift that makes a HUGE impact. For me, I realized how I was making these small, seemingly innocent excuses for why I “couldn’t” do anything (like wake up an hour earlier to do my quiet time), when in reality, most of the time I just “didn’t feel like” doing that thing (aka, hitting snooze sounded more appealing).
So if you really want to prioritize your quiet time, and it’s a goal you really want to keep… Then you first need to set it in your mind as a “I WILL” statement. So say this aloud with me, “I WILL wake up an hour (or even 30 minutes early – it’s ok to start small) to do my quiet time every morning.
It starts in the mind. You can do this. You will 😉
2. Join an accountability group.
While the mind is a very powerful tool, and I do believe that you can do anything you set your mind to… We are also human, and unfortunately I’ve found that we’re easy to let ourselves down.
However, you add in someone else into the mix, suddenly you’re not as tempted to flake out because now you’ll be letting them down!
This year I joined a text thread with two other girlfriends. Anytime we wake up early to do our quiet time, we send (a sleepy selfie) text to that group, as a way to say, “I’m up, I’m here!” Often times with our coffee or mid-yawns, but nevertheless it’s accountability that we woke up.
I’m not gonna lie, on more than several occasions, I didn’t ignore my alarm because I wanted to send that selfie to my girlfriends. I didn’t want to disappoint them by saying I slept in. So sometimes, if I’m honest, I let that be my motivation to get up. And that’s okay. While we’re working on establishing a new routine, you do whatcha gotta do.
3. Have something else to look forward to.
For me, personally, this is the fact that I get to enjoy a big, hot cup of coffee before anyone else in the house wakes up.
If you’re a mama, you know that this is a rare thing once the babes are awake (or even the husband sometimes, tbh). So for me, I genuinely look forward to sipping on my coffee, slowly and while it’s still hot, and enjoying my quiet time with the Lord before the rest of the house is awake.
Perhaps for you it’s a cup of hot tea, a warm, homemade breakfast, or just the fact that the house is still quiet. Maybe you go for a walk before the world is up and have a little walking prayer time. Maybe getting up earlier gives you time for your QT and to get ready for the day.
Whatever it is, I encourage you to have something extra that just encourages you to get up early, especially when that snooze button is sounding more and more enticing.
4. Go to bed early!
I’ve been doing my quiet time long enough that I’ve actually turned myself from night owl to morning person, but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier for me to go to bed at a decent hour!
For me personally, I get my best sleep if I’m in bed by 10. When I’m actually asleep by then, I can wake up as early as 5-5:30 and feel totally refreshed! However, if I push my bedtime to 10:30-11, then even getting up at 6:30 is somewhat difficult.
So know where your sweet spot is, and try to honor it.
5. Have SMART goals for your quiet time.
If you haven’t heard the acronym, SMART, it means Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Relevant, and Time Based.
What does this have to do with prioritizing your quiet time? Everything!
I’m currently reading through the Bible (specific and relevant) in one year (time based) and every day (assignable) I have a certain amount of chapters I need to read (measurable). Because of this, if I skip too many QT times, then I’ll fall significantly behind on my reading… and that can compound to be a super overwhelming amount of reading.
And let me tell you, catching up in the Old Testament isn’t always the easiest thing to do. It’s a beautiful collection of books, but the content can definitely be dry and it’s easy for me to zone out sometimes, especially if I’m 50 chapters behind…
So that’s a big motivator for me! I don’t want to fall too behind on my readings, because reading a few chapters a day is the best way that I process the information without glazing through (or getting overwhelmed by trying to consume too much, or falling impossibly behind).
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So those are my five tips!
I hope they could be encouraging to you, and help you in establishing your quiet time routine.
Trust me, I know it can be hard to get into the rhythm of going to bed early, waking up early, and establishing your quiet time every day… But I can promise you that it will be totally worth it, and it does get easier.
Now, I’m upset whenever I miss a day, and I can totally feel the dynamics of my day being different on the days I read my Bible and the days that I don’t.
And if you do miss days, or fall behind – don’t beat yourself up! Just start over again. Life happens, and that’s okay. We fall out of rhythm, but just as easily as we step out, we can prioritize coming right back. Just re-read these steps if you need help getting your groove back!
I’d love to know, do you have any other tips that you would add to this list? Share them in a comment below, if so!
