Between career, kids and adulting, life can feel out of control. If that’s you, it’s time to systemize your life to win back more time in your week. Here’s how.

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I remember being so exhausted from the weekend that I was actually looking forward to Monday.

When you’ve got kids, Monday through Friday is for career and kids and surviving the week.

But then Friday through Sunday is for catching up on all the adulting tasks that you didn’t get done during the week.

And also … it’s still about your kids, too.

My kids are young, so we get the birthday party invites and extracurricular grade school activities to add to our list of regular responsibilities.

Not to mention any projects or homework that need parental guidance or assistance.

Some weekends, it can feel like I’m busier entertaining my kids and accompanying them on adventures than I am during the week trying to manage my own business.

Growing up is exhausting sometimes, yeah?

As the years have gone by, I’ve gotten much better at managing my time and energy. And it’s because I’ve developed systems.

I’ve systemized my life to help stick to efficient habits and routines that allow me to get shit done, still be healthy and still have time to do things that I enjoy (like playing video games).

If you’re finding yourself drowning in a sea of endless tasks, building better systems will be your lifeline.

Today I’m going to share how to systemize your life a bit better to find more time and clarity.

Let’s get into it.

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Life can feel out of our control

Most of us tackle things in a reactionary way.

We do the laundry when it’s needed.

Grocery shopping happens when the fridge has been completely wiped out.

The time to straighten up the house is after it’s been fully decimated all week long.

If you are finding yourself building up all of your adulting tasks and saving them for the weekend, you’re making the Sunday Scaries anxiety even worse.

Instead, what if you got a bit more strategic with how you tackled these things?

It’s time to systemize your life

I’ve built systems into my life for just about everything.

I have a system for healthy eating.

And in doing so, grocery shopping becomes so much easier because I have a consistent meal plan that I created for myself.

Shopping for the same staple things means hardly ever wasting food, too.

My finances are systemized.

Everything but my rent gets paid on my AMEX card and on the 15th of every single month, I go through and pay off the bills.

Savings like Roth IRA and 401K are automatically deducted from our checks. It takes about 15 minutes to review my money and get on with my day.

The system for cleaning up our home is to outsource that to a regular housecleaning service. It’s one of the few luxuries that I’ll splurge on to save me some time during the week.

My clothes are systemized, too.

I wear similar shirts and pants throughout the week as a “work uniform” (even though I work from home every day).

All of these systems reduce decision fatigue. Which in turn reduces anxiety. And saves tons of time so I get shit done and then get to chill.

How to systemize your life

No one told me that being an adult meant having this endless list of responsibilities that had to be completed every week.

Only to turn around and have to repeat those same things every week.

For the rest of my life.

In order to build a system, you need to get real clear on the operations that must be performed to make that system run.

Look, you’ve still gotta eat and pay bills.

But I’m guessing there are some things that could be removed from your weekly routines to help you save time and be more efficient.

Reduce the To Do List

Make a list of all the things you absolutely must do weekly and monthly:

• Pay bills / Manage finances
• Grocery shopping
• Laundry
• Cleaning
• Cooking and maybe even meal prepping
• Exercise (people will leave this out and then wonder why they don’t have time to workout … make it a priority and you’ll find the time)

Ask yourself these questions to prioritize and pare down your list:

• Does it actually need to be done … by me?
• How long does it typically take to get it done?
• Can it be done while doing something else? If so, what else can you do simultaneously?
• Is there any other way to get this done that I could practice?

I can guarantee you’ll find a few items on this list that you can either:

1) Eliminate altogether because it’s an old routine that doesn’t serve you

OR 2) You can find someone or something else to handle it for you now

I’d rather spend a few dollars to earn back a few hours.

Outsource or Delegate

Just like I outsourced the housecleaning to a regular service, there’s got to be some things that you can get off of your plate.

Look to the family members for help, too.

Maybe the kids can learn to help with laundry or clearing dishes.

Your partner might be able to give you a night off from cooking or you could look to a meal delivery service for one night per week.

Schedule it

If your new system and routine doesn’t get scheduled, you’ll find every excuse under the sun to skip it.

Who out your calendar every week and schedule when you plan to tackle certain tasks.

Don’t be afraid to schedule things during the week.

For example: Maybe your tightie whities can be washed in a load on Tuesdays while you workout in the morning. You don’t have to let every little thing pile up during the week.

Get strategic.

Create better systems

I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. This is my system. It reduces decision fatigue and makes shopping easier because I’m grabbing the same items every week.

But I’m not a huge fan of meal prep.

I just don’t like the taste of reheated proteins throughout my week.

However, I still have a meal prep system.

Every Sunday, my wife and I will prepare some set-it-and-forget-it starches like sweet potatoes, rice, sometimes a little pasta that we can toss in salads or use for sides during dinner. 

That’s our system.

At 9:30 p.m. every single night, I’m shutting everything down and starting my bedtime ritual.

But at 10:00 p.m. every single night … it’s lights out.

This system keeps me fresh and well-rested so I can wake up at 5:30 a.m. and hit my slow morning routine of walking, mobility and a little mindfulness and coffee.

Track it

Use your journal and check in with your systems on a weekly basis.

How did you do?

Did you change your mind on anything or learn anything new?

What is your focus for the following week and how will you improve?

I do this as part of my weekly review and it’s a great way to keep me accountable to doing the things that I said I would.

What are some ways you can systemize your own life like this?

They can be in the macro like my meal plan system.

Or even just a little habit stacking rituals like doing 25 squats every time you brush your teeth to stay more active.

Make a game out of this stuff.

Life is not meant to be so damn serious.

Our capitalist overlords just hit us with that corporate urgency virus and now we think everything is some KPI we need to hit or risk a poor quarterly review (from whom? Our kids?).

Instead, have some fun.

Know that it won’t all be perfect from the jump.

But you can simply tweak along the way.

It’s through building this kind of structure that you will free up more time for yourself to do the things that you actually enjoy, the things that make you feel young again.

Structure promotes freedom.

Helping you find better balance, managing your time and energy levels, getting in shape with systems and routines, these are the things that I’m building into my Midlife Mastery community.

My goal is to help more people in their 40s (and up) free up more time in their hectic schedule so they can be happier, healthier, more fulfilled and actually start to enjoy this second act phase of life.

If you’d be interested in a community like that, I’d love to know.

Please hit reply and give me one or two areas where you’d like to see some better balance.

I’ll be slowly working on this project over the next few months and want to use as much of your feedback as possible to make it worth your while.

This won’t solve all the world’s problems overnight.

But it should go a long way towards helping you find a little better balance.

I hope you found this useful. If so, I’d appreciate it if you sent this newsletter to one person you think would benefit from my writing today.

And if you’re new here and enjoyed this newsletter, I’d be honored if you subscribed for more at this link.

And as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “systemize your life” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete