Streak 9: How to Manage Time When Work and Family Are Busy

Hi everyone, welcome back to Daily English Commit. Today, I want to talk about a topic that is very close to my real life: time management. But I don’t want to talk about time management in a perfect way, like waking up at 5 a.m. every day, having an extremely disciplined schedule, or doing as many things as possible in one day. No. Real life is not always like that. I’m a 34-year-old developer. Right now, I have a one-year-old baby. And if you also have a small child, maybe you understand that after work, your day does not really end. After finishing my work at the company, I still have many small family tasks to do. I need to help with bath time, change diapers, prepare milk, give medicine when my baby is sick, play with my baby for a while, help my baby fall asleep, and sometimes simply be there to support my family. These things may sound small, but when they add up, they take a lot of time and energy. At the same time, I still need to do my main job well. As a developer, I still need to handle tasks, fix bugs, join meetings, think about the product, maintain work quality, and take responsibility for what I do. And outside work and family, I still want to take care of my health. So I try to spend time going to the gym. Not because I want to become a perfect person, but because I understand that if my health goes down, everything else will be affected too. And one more thing: I am still building my own tech product, such as QuickAsk. This is something I do not only for work, but also because I want to keep learning, keep creating something valuable, and keep feeling that I am still growing. So for me, the big question is not: “How can I have a lot of free time?” The real question is: “How can I keep moving forward when life is already so busy?” In the past, I used to think time management meant creating a beautiful schedule. For example, work in the morning, go to the gym in the afternoon, learn English in the evening, and build my product at night. Everything is clear, organized, and not interrupted. But after having a small child, I realized that life does not work like a perfect schedule on a table. Some nights, I plan to work on my personal project, but my baby gets sick. Some days, I plan to go to the gym, but after a full day of work and taking care of my baby, my body feels too tired. Some nights, I open my laptop to continue building my product, but my mind is no longer clear enough to think deeply. And at that moment, I realized something very important. Time management is not only about managing hours. Time management is also about managing energy, managing priorities, and learning to accept that I cannot do everything every single day. There are days when I can do a lot. But there are also days when the only things I can do well are finishing my main work and taking care of my family. And that is okay too. I think many working people are in the same situation. We have work. We have family. We have health to take care of. We have personal goals. We have our own dreams. But time is always limited. So instead of trying to do everything every day, I started learning how to choose what matters most in each stage. Some days, the biggest priority is work. Some days, the biggest priority is family. Some days, the priority is health. And some days, if I can spend just 30 minutes learning English or building my product, I still see it as a small win. I am no longer obsessed with having a perfect day. Instead, I try to create small but consistent blocks of time. For example, if I don’t have two hours to work on my product, I use 30 minutes. If I don’t have a full evening to learn English, I listen to a podcast for 10 minutes. If I cannot go to the gym as planned, I try to come back the next day. The important thing is not how many things I can do in one day. The important thing is whether I give up or not. For me, time management at the age of 34 is no longer about maximum productivity. It is not about putting as many tasks as possible into one day. It is about living with more responsibility. Responsibility for my work. Responsibility for my family. Responsibility for my health. And responsibility for my own dream. Sometimes, I feel tired too. Sometimes, I feel like I am moving too slowly. When I look at other people and it seems like they can do many more things than I can, I also ask myself if I am falling behind. But then I remind myself that everyone has a different situation. I do not need to run like other people. I just need to keep walking on my own path. If today I take good care of my baby, finish my work, and learn only one new English sentence, it is still a valuable day. If today I have only 20 minutes to build QuickAsk, but I still open my laptop and improve one small part of it, that is still progress. If today I am too tired and need to rest, then rest is also part of the journey. I think the hardest part of time management is not finding a perfect formula. The hardest part is not giving up when the schedule breaks. Because real life will always have unexpected things. Your child may get sick. Work may have urgent issues. Your family may need you. Your body may feel tired. And your plan may change. But as long as I come back, continue, and keep trying little by little, I am still moving forward. So if you are also a busy person, if you are working, taking care of your family, trying to learn something new, or building your own dream, I want to say this to you: You do not need a perfect schedule. You only need a clear enough reason to continue. Start with small blocks of time. Ten minutes to learn English. Twenty minutes to read documentation. Thirty minutes to exercise. One hour at night to work on your personal project. Small things, but do not underestimate them. Because many big changes in life do not start from a perfect plan. They start from very small actions, repeated for a long enough time. For me, Daily English Commit is also part of that journey. A little bit every day. Not perfect. Not too much pressure. But still continuing. And maybe that is also how I am learning to manage my time in this stage of my life. Not to become a busier person. But to live more clearly, choose my priorities better, and still keep the things that matter to me. The sentence I want to leave with you today is: I do not need a perfect schedule. I just need to keep moving forward, little by little, every day. Thank you for listening. If you are also trying to balance work, family, health, and your personal dream, I hope today’s episode gives you a little more motivation. See you in the next episode of Daily English Commit.