Latest / The Rooted Family / Ep 37 | How to Make Family Rhythms Stick (The Power of Timestamps)

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Ep 37 | How to Make Family Rhythms Stick (The Power of Timestamps) · The Rooted Family

• Christian Cornish: Hey friends, welcome back to the Rooted Family Podcast. It's Kayla here, and today we're bringing you a conversation from the archives that I think is just as valuable now as it was when Christian and I first recorded it. And if you've been listening to our last two episodes, then you definitely know we've been talking a lot about rhythms in our home, how to recognize like when our rhythms aren't working anymore, how to evaluate what's happening in our current season. and how to make adjustments that better serve our family. And as we've been having these conversations, I kept thinking about this episode, episode number 10, where we talked about one of the most practical pieces of actually building rhythms that stick. And that is timestamps. something we've learned over and over again in our own home. It's one thing to know what matters to you, but it's a whole other thing to create space for it in your everyday life. And you can want slower mornings, you can want to sit down for family dinners, you can want to be more intentional about meal planning, family devotions, or simply just spending meaningful time together. But if those things never actually have a place in your week, it's so easy for them to stay in the land. Of just good intentions. And so that's what this conversation today is all about. Now, I know the word timestamps might sound a little rigid or overly structured or maybe too professional for the home front, but I really want you to stick with us here because this isn't about scheduling every single minute of your day or creating a home where everything has to be happening on this like perfect timeline. In fact, we talk quite a bit about. how to make the right timestamps and how they can bring more freedom, more peace, and truly just give you the life that you love. And you'll find too that timestamps aren't this like specific thing, like 505, you're doing this, or at 9 a.m. we're doing this. Timestamps can even just be like a day of the week or like a month of the year. And I think it's especially important that if you're in a season where your old rhythms aren't working anymore, kind of like how we have found ourselves in recently. Like for example, maybe your kids are in a new stage or your family has a new schedule this season, or things just used to work more beautifully, and just they're not fitting into your life right now like they used to. so this conversation today can help you move from simply wishing things were different to making practical decisions about. what you actually want your family life to look like. And so whether you've listened to this episode before or you're hearing it for the first time, I just hope that you'll listen today with fresh ears and consider how these ideas might serve your family in this current season. And if you missed episodes 35 and 36 where we walk through evaluating and reworking our current Cornish family rhythms, those are wonderful companions to today's conversation. And I would highly encourage you to go back and take a listen to those. All right, friends, let's jump back into episode 10 of the Rooted Family Podcast, where we're talking all about timestamps and how to give the rhythms where we're talking all about timestamps and how to give the rhythms that matter a real place in your life. So take a listen to the replay. Today we're sharing the one strategy that changed everything for us. Something so simple, but it's the difference between chaotic intentions and a deeply rooted life. And if you have a moment, go ahead and give us a follow, a five star review, drop some comments, all that helps people discover us. And we're so grateful for that so we can continue to share this content with you. Yeah, that'd be wonderful. Thank you guys. so today, we're going to be sharing about timestamps because this is a Critical, critical strategy in rhythms. I think it's actually one that a lot of people who teach on rhythms and routines, other strategists and coaches, I don't hear talking about this strategy and it may seem really simple, but it really is an important strategy. this is the one strategy that helps me. live out rhythms. And so how we define rhythms is that they are repeatable patterns that shape your home and life. So emphasis on repeatable, ⁓ they are repeatable patterns. ⁓ And I really want to make sure that you as our listener have clarity that rhythms are not rigid schedules. I think a lot of people hear of the word routine and they think that routines feel strict. or rigid, and if you look at rhythms that way, then I would say they're probably not rhythms. Nope, they're just boring. Yeah. They are not rigid schedules. We're not looking for perfection, except I'm expecting you to be perfect. Wow, that explains a lot. It's like such a typical marriage thing. Like, okay, I'm gonna ask that you offer me grace, but I'm gonna expect that you. show up at 530. Well, thank you for your public apology right now. Okay, so this is a unique way to look at rhythms is that there's not just one kind of rhythm. in the different parts of our life. I would say we have daily rhythms, things that we get up and do consistently every day. By that I mean you have breakfast, you have maybe a lunch break, you might have a morning rhythm where you get up and have quiet time or you shower, Some people choose not to shower every day. And ⁓ I would say that maybe you should reconsider. But something's happened weekly in our home. ⁓ And those could be certain. chores like yard work but they don't happen every single day. You may have a monthly rhythm. We have a monthly rhythm of running to Sam's Club to do our bulk shopping. You may have something you do seasonally, maybe in the change between Summer and fall or fall and winter, you know, you have to get out all your winter gear your winter coats, whatever That would be an example of seasonal and then you have Yearly that could be like holidays Anniversaries traditions traditions, maybe a vacation. Unfortunately, we all don't get to go on vacation monthly I wish if you listen to this And you get to do that. We might be looking for donors We may have raging jealousy towards you. But your life is not built on big moments. think that's the thing we want to say here is like your life is really built on what you repeat. Yes. Here's the problem. Most people like kind of stop here. Like we recognize like, yeah, we should or want to do these certain things And maybe we've been doing for a couple days or they just kind of hang out there still, right? And don't actually begin to happen in our lives. Yep. I think this is where rhythms fail. Most people is they just stay there with the wishing or the wanting. They wish they had these rhythms in their life or they are desiring more for their life. And yet they don't know how to take it from wanting or wishing to actually doing it. Or maybe they do it and try it, but they just don't stick with it. Yeah, you can hear when you spend time with somebody what their mentality is. Are they the kind of person who feels like life happens to them? Or are they the kind of person who makes it happen? That's such a good way to put it. Makes it happen. And of course, you know, when we look at this biblically speaking, You know, you and I fully trust the Lord. We are always desiring to be walking in the Lord's will. We aren't going to be the type of people to make things happen outside of God's will. So that's not what we're talking about. But we're more so talking about taking responsibility for your life and and really taking the right steps in your life to move forward and to grow and to create. a life that's fruitful, a life that is thriving. And I think that when you see people who feel like you were just saying, people who feel like life is just happening to them, that they have zero control, zero power to change their circumstances, they constantly live in what I think of as like wishing land. They just wish for more. I just wish I could have a slower morning or I wish I could just have more time with my family or I just wish I could, have a meal plan that works for my family, but I just can't because life is just so hard. Life is too busy. I just have way too much going on. And so that's like this mentality almost disables you. It keeps you and holds you back from living this abundant life that Jesus promises to each of us. if you're living in wishing land, or you are just stuck with this kind of mentality that life is just what it is, there's nothing you can do to change it, we really want to encourage you today that you actually do have the opportunity to take control over your rhythms that you desire. and you can make them happen. Yeah. And we also see often people saying like we should do something. So we have the wishing piece, but then there's the should. Well, I should work out or I should eat healthier. I should practice the Sabbath or I should have a meal plan. It almost carries this level of guilt. You know, like I think should it's like people who are. shoulding all over themselves. Can we say that on here? As our friend Grace says. Our sweet friend Grace, we got to stop shoulding all over ourselves. And I think let go of the guilt because I think we've said this in previous episodes. Like no one is forcing you to ⁓ make certain rhythms or routines in our life. I'll give a good example of this. I was at the gym. And this woman was talking to the coach about like should, I should be here like one or two more times a week. But my son has baseball on this night. And then, we traveled to three different cities in the last three weeks. it's like talking as if you didn't sign up for that. Like you knew exactly what you were signing up for. when you made the agreement to join this baseball league that goes from city to city like you 100 % knew what you were signing up for. So don't sit here and say you should or wish or whatever. Like you made a choice and like I'm not even saying that's a bad choice. ownership for the choices that we make. You can't be a victim to that. You made the decision. You might not end up having liked the decision and you may not want to continue in it. But we got to get out of wishing. We've got to get out of shoulding. And if something doesn't have a time and a place in your life, ⁓ it won't have a presence in your life. Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like ⁓ getting to the core of this is knowing what your priorities are. And then making way for those priorities. And that is really why we are talking about the strategy of timestamps today. This is really the missing piece for most people. It's gonna be the key. Having a timestamp for your rhythms is gonna be the key that takes you from wishing and shutting to actually doing the rhythm. Exactly, a timestamp is where rhythm lives in your life. You are choosing where and when to live out the rhythm. And that's the difference truly between the, I wish this happened and actually making it happen. talk to us a little bit about timestamps and just how we think of them and differentiate the different kinds of timestamps there are. Yeah, because I think probably most people think about a clock timestamp. this timestamp is gonna begin at seven o'clock, it's gonna be done by eight o'clock. You have the general time of day. You have the day of the week. You could have a monthly or like a time of the month. And then you could have like a yearly or a seasonal timestamp. So you can have a very specific time. For example, our breakfast rhythm. We sit down at the breakfast table pretty much every morning at 7.15 and we put a specific timestamp on that. But not every rhythm needs something that hardcore. Actually, I would really encourage you to not have a a clock stamp on every rhythm. What is the value, would say, of that specific clock timestamp and why we've chosen to put a very specific time to it? Because I think there's something really good for everyone in that. by having a clock timestamp on our breakfast rhythm, it actually leads to more peace for us because we know that we want to sit down as a family for 30 minutes. We want to pray together and have devotional and do these special moments. And if we don't have a specific clock time stamp on that rhythm, then what happens is, is kids are just kind of meandering into the kitchen. People aren't sitting down on time and like, look, that's 740 and we haven't even finished breakfast and now we have to run out the door, it just leads to more chaos. So for us, having a very specific clock timestamp on that particular rhythm actually leads to more peace. But there are gonna be times in your rhythm building journey that you would not benefit from a very specific clock stamp because it actually leads to more pressure and more stress. So for example, you may not have a specific time, but you might have a general time of day for a rhythm. like early morning rhythm or like a late morning rhythm or a bedtime rhythm. It's like a general timeframe, but it's not like you have to show up at that exact specific time. Yeah, you were sharing with me a very good specific example. I'd love for you to share it of a timestamp. that if you were to put a very specific time to it would feel really stressful to you. So could you share with us one that you were thinking about Yeah, I really would like to have a read aloud rhythm with the kids this summer. I'm gonna have all seven kids home this summer for most of the week. And... I definitely want to be intentional and strategic about the activities we're going to do so I don't lose my ever loving mind. And I mean, that's just the reality. have very brave, very small children and the house can get very loud during the day. And so I want to do a read aloud rhythm where we sit down, you know, every single day and read through a book together. And we do this already, kind of, but not so rhythmically. I want to be more intentional. And our baby, our medical needs baby Darla, she wakes up in the morning between like nine and 10, So if I said, we're gonna do our read aloud more every morning at 10 a.m., every day, that putting that clock timestamp on the rhythm would stress me out. would probably lead me to feeling defeated most mornings because if she wakes up at 10, Now she's waking up right in the middle of starting the rhythm. Or if she wakes up at 9.45, now we're late to starting the rhythm. And I'll just feel like I'm messing up every day. And so it almost would just lead to a feeling of failure. Without really intentionally leading there, I just know myself that if we have a specific time on a rhythm, I want to meet that. I want to show up on time. So I think what I'm going to do is have our read aloud rhythm be a late morning activity or an early morning activity. haven't decided yet, but just so it's like, know generally what I want to get the rhythm in, but if we make it at 11 o'clock one day or we make it at 1130 it's like we still got it in because it's the priority. It's a rhythm, but it's not like I have to show up at a time. Yeah, that's really good. I love that. Yeah. So just to review, so we're talking about the different types of timestamps that you can have. So you can have a specific clock time stamp. You could have a time of the day timestamp, but you could also have a day of the week. what would be an example of a of the week timestamp? Yeah, I would say a day of the week time stamp we have is just Sabbath. It's in our calendar. And the beauty of that is it's in there as a repeated activity event. so it's, you know, if you're just looking at the calendar, you're not going to book over it because it's covered up. And, you know, we've talked about what our Sabbath state looked like already in a prior episode. But that is a general set aside time and it's on the calendar It's blocked off and It it lives there it exists there and we won't book over it because it's Consistently in place and specifically it's Saturday like Saturday is the timestamp So we've picked a day of the week that, like you said, Sabbath lives on Saturday for our family. And as we're talking about timestamps, I want you to think about how literal we make this. Like whatever timestamp you give it should be so specific that you could easily put it on your Google calendar or put it in your planner. Yeah. And that's what we're practically and tangibly getting at is defining these moments to the point they can go on your calendar. I'm thinking of the tool, right? You check the box that says all day event when you. book the Sabbath on your Saturday and you put it in your calendar. And some of our rhythms have a very specific, they're in, they're literally in the calendar, like breakfast could say 7.15, marked off. But the other ones are kind of like a general like blob, like I'm gonna block off an hour to an hour and a half. And it might not even take that long. That's not the point for some of those. It's just this timeframe. Relatively it's gonna happen. And I'm talking about in terms of the calendar, because I think a lot of people use their calendar, whether it's work or home, so you can kind of feel what we're talking about there in seeing it on your calendar and how you would respond and think about it. That's good. Yeah, so like kind of like the blobs of time that you were just talking about, like the time general timeframes. So you could have like a day of the week time stamp. You could have a monthly timestamps, so maybe this isn't like the specific day, like the eighth of the month, although it could be. It could be like the first Monday of every month, we're gonna have a budget meeting. Or the last Sunday of every month, we're gonna have a date night. So it could just be like a regular repeated monthly rhythm. Or you could also have a seasonal rhythm. So this could be based on the season. So like when fall comes, we like to switch out all of the clothes from summer clothes to the fall winter clothes. We also like to switch over our garage because we live in Colorado. We have a lot of winter gear. So switching over the garage to having all the winter gear available. So it might just be a seasonal timestamp where you get a reminder in your phone on September 1st. But it doesn't mean you have to do it on September 1st. It just means like, okay, within the next couple months, this is a task that you do rhythmically in this season. And then along those lines, you might even have a yearly rhythm. You might have yearly rhythms for your home, like home maintenance rhythms. You could have traditions, things that you do every single Christmas or every single Black Friday. Like we go chop down our Christmas tree almost every single Black Friday or that weekend. And so it just becomes a yearly rhythm with a timestamp of like the holiday. I what you're hearing us say is that this is where rhythms meet grace. Time stamps turn rhythms into true real life reality, if it's not scheduled, it doesn't become real. So it's really important that you realize if you want to have rhythms in your life, you want to get super serious about having more rhythms, like this is not just some like loosey goosey thought. that we have. This is a real life strategy that we use to keep our family peaceful, to keep our home life peaceful, and to truly take us deeper as a family. And so I think, Christian, we should probably start to talk about like, what does it look like to have grace? Because I know there are people listening right now that are thinking, hold up. So are you guys so hardcore that you show up for your rhythms on time perfectly every single day, every single week. And I would say, yes. You're amazing. Well, thank you. You are so disciplined. Gosh, I wish I could be as cool as you. You'd be surprised how often I get that. He's also super humble, y'all. So. we want to help you have peace with timestamps. We don't want you to feel overwhelmed with this at all, but we do want you to take this seriously because like we said early in the episode, a rhythm without a timestamp is just wishful thinking. It's actually not a true rhythm. And so there's a lot of wisdom in having timestamps, but that there's also freedom. it's really important as you are approaching this strategy of timestamps that you offer yourself grace because there are going to be some of you that listen today that are thinking now about all the specific clock timestamps that you're gonna add to all your rhythms. Like you are ready to rock and roll, put 8 a.m., 9.01, 5.55. You're ready to just log all of those rhythms into your calendar and like let's go But that is not what we're trying to teach today We do want you to have time stamps on everything, but we don't want you to have a strict time stamp on everything Could you share? Christian like why we are encouraging that mindset? Yes, we don't want you to feel like you're failing because life happens and When we get caught up in holding to something so strict, and especially if you have too many things in your life that are held so strict, a lot of people feel like they're failing and they get frustrated. And when you're frustrated, you take that out on other people around you. Like, I'll give you a good example of a timestamp that I have I have a reminder alarm, because my memory is garbage, to work on the hot tub and make sure to balance the chemicals every week and it goes off at 1.15 p.m. every week. If I held so strict, like I have to go immediately. I mean, we could be, some Sundays that means we're in the middle of lunch or cleaning up. I might be trying to lay a kid down for a nap. I may be supporting you with a project or something and it would be so rude for me to say, oh, whoever I'm in front of, like, you're not important. The hot tub is more important right now. I don't need to live that strict. It is good to have the reminder. I need it so I don't forget. Yeah. But who says it has to be done at 115? No one. Like I'm putting that on myself. I can do that at any time. It's just that is simply a reminder. And it gives me the peace that I'm going to remember to get the task done. But I'm also going to continue to be present with who I'm with right now because it's not a true, true deadline. Yeah. I actually really loved how how you shared this with me earlier is that you really felt strongly that time clock timestamps only belong on rhythms that really lead to more peace. But if the clock timestamp leads to pressure or stress, then it really needs more of a general time of day or like a day of the week. It doesn't need a very specific clock timestamp. Like for example, for me, meal planning, we have decided that we wanna pick up our groceries every Monday because that works the best for us in the season. And I know I have to get the meals planned and the groceries ordered on Sunday for us to make that happen. But I don't need to have the groceries ordered by like six in the morning on Sunday. I really have all day Sunday to get that task done. And so for me, I know that generally on Sunday, I just want to plan the meals, order the groceries. So that way on Monday, which is the timestamp for picking them up, they are ready for you. And I really appreciate that. I think that having a general timeframe to get a rhythm done offers so much grace when life happens. structure should serve your peace. It should not steal it. And This is for all of you super structured routine kind of people already. You need to hear this. Structure should serve your peace. It should not steal it. And I hope that brings encouragement to those of you who are resisting rhythms or resisting routines right now or resisting the idea of timestamps. We're not doing this to be hardcore and to put ourselves in jail in our own life. It is truly to bring your family more peace. ⁓ And so how do you know what the right time stamp is for rhythm? what could our listeners do to determine, okay, well I have this meal planning rhythm, how do I figure out a time stamp for it? And we came up with a three question framework that we want to share with you today that ⁓ will hopefully help you and your spouse determine the majority of your timestamps so that you can get to work right away on piecing together your rhythms in your home. Yeah, so these questions will help you determine the type of timestamp and when do you want that timestamp to go into your life. Yeah, and just to review, these are the different types of timestamps. So you have the clock, specific clock timestamp. You have the general time of day. You have the day of the week. You could have a monthly or like a time of the month. And then you could have like a yearly or a seasonal timestamp. And so Christian, why don't you share the three questions that they could think through as they determine their timestamps. Yeah. The first question is why does this rhythm matter? So we gave the example of breakfast. Why does it matter that we have a specific time. And that one is vitally important because you don't want to have stress and you need to be on time for the next thing. Well, and even deeper, that rhythm matters to us because we so want to have a slow, peaceful morning with our family. And so think you have to get so clear on the why of the rhythm itself, not just having the timestamp because we believe every rhythm should have a timestamp, but more so like why does this rhythm matter? Because once you get clear on why this rhythm matters, now you're going to desire a timestamp because you want to make it happen regularly, consistently. people stay in the wishful land because they're not clear on why this rhythm matters to them. why this rhythm deserves a consistent space in their schedule or in their life. Yeah, that's so good. I think you're right. When we're stuck in wishing, it's usually because we're not ready. We talked about this in our last episode. You need to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. And that's the moment that you will bring something forward and actually implement it. When you're ready to do that, you do need to think about when does it naturally fit? When does this rhythm fit in your life? And the other thing that you need to ask yourself is what timing makes this easier to keep? So if you like to get up in the morning, that's awesome. If getting up at four o'clock in the morning to start your morning routine is not going to make it easy to keep, it's probably the wrong time. You need to be able to get up in the morning because people talk to me, ask me a question all the time. How do you get up in the morning? But I also don't stay up till midnight or 1 a.m. and expect to get up really early in the morning. that timing wouldn't work. So you do need to select times that make your rhythms in your life doable and trying to keep them even 80, 90%. Again, we're not talking about perfection. We're talking about consistency. It's a time you can be consistent with. And that's a really, really important question because when you're struggling to find a consistent time, That is when we probably make decisions that become really frustrating and we get really disappointed and we go back to wishing land. these three questions are super important in helping you to pick the timestamp, but you're breaking up a great point in the sense that there will come a time where that timestamp may not work anymore. And that is okay. Actually, we encourage you to assess your timestamps. We assess our rhythms almost every single season. of the year. So when fall comes, when spring comes, winter, summer, we sit down as a couple and we actually look at our current rhythms and we assess what timestamps are working and what timestamps are not working. And that is part of the tweaking that we mention a lot. We talk about tweaking our rhythms and in future episodes, we're gonna teach you how to tweak your rhythm, how to enhance or to even change your rhythm or to ditch the rhythm altogether. All those things are super normal. if your timestamp is feeling frustrating, like this is not fitting easily into your life and it doesn't feel doable anymore. Either one, the rhythm might just not be working, period. Or two, the timestamp just might not be the right timestamp. Maybe you need a new timestamp for that rhythm. For example, we've changed our meal planning rhythm. Like we talk about this We've talked about so many times on the podcast, you're probably sick of hearing us talk about it, but meal planning, we used to pick up our groceries on Sunday and for a while that worked and it worked until it didn't work and we had to change it to Monday. I just want to emphasize that timestamps don't have to be forever and always. Like you're not marrying your timestamp. Always and forever. Only millennials are gonna get that. Drop it in the comments. It's so funny. So let's repeat, these are the three questions that you wanna ask yourself when determining a timestamp. One, why does this rhythm matter? Two, when does it naturally fit in your life? And three, what timing makes this easier to keep? And there's gonna come a time when... your time stamp comes up for a rhythm and you're just not going to want to do it. And we talked about, you know, doing our rhythms 80 to 90 % well. Well, that's when life happens, but we're not talking about discipline. actually feel like discipline is becoming a lost art these days, unfortunately, because we live in such a convenient world and a world where Everyone wants instant gratification. If we don't get instant results or if it doesn't please or pleasure us immediately, we're just not going to want to do it. But there's so much beauty and discipline when it comes to rhythms, determining ahead of time, like, OK, I want to have a peaceful, quiet morning before the kids get up. And when that alarm gets goes off at 5 a.m., no, most mornings I don't want to get up, to be honest. Like, I'm kind of snippy with you because you're my alarm clock. You're like, honey, time to wake up. And I kind of just want to punch you sometimes. Yeah, it's the least enjoyable part of my day. I don't actually punch him. Let's be clear. But I I think there are going to be times when your rhythm and even kind of the, you know, annoying rhythms like cleaning your house, the time stamp comes up. and you don't wanna do it, you don't feel like doing it, and you have to decide in that moment that discipline is going to be what overrides your feelings. Because if you don't allow discipline to kick in, you will continue to stay in wishful land. I want you to match your desire with your decision to be disciplined because over time your desire plus your discipline is going to lead you to consistency. And that is the power of rhythms. When you are consistent, day in, day out, week in, week out, year in and year out, you're gonna look back over your life and see how rhythms took your family so deep because you chose to match your desire for something bigger than that moment and you matched it with your discipline, your willingness to keep going when you didn't want to and that led to a consistent rhythm. it's going to come to a time when you are going to, the timestamp is going to come up and you're going to be faced with a decision. Do I do this rhythm or do I not based on how you feel? And as we know, feelings don't always tell the truth. And so you have to go back to your desire. What was the reason you wanted to do this rhythm in the first place? What makes this rhythm important to you? Even if it's something as mundane as a house cleaning rhythm, the importance there for us would be to create order in a cleanly environment and a peaceful home for our kids. Like you go back to the true desire and in that moment, you match it with discipline. And that over time is going to lead to consistency in that rhythm. And that's a beautiful thing because consistent activities done over time, that is what's going to take your family deeper. You are going to become much more rooted when you are consistent and you show up for your rhythms, your timestamps. Yeah, there's a such a power there. I love what you said. I love this phrase by Eugene Peterson. It's a title of one of his books. It's called Long Obedience in the Same Direction. Yeah. And I think that's what you're really getting at is freedom is built over time doing the same things consistently. And the power of the timestamp is that moment of choice. It's giving you that, know, it's not this wishy thing out there. You know, when things live in wish land and should land, there's not a moment of choice. that happens. And the beauty of the timestamp is it's going to give you the moment and then you get to say yes to it. And it happens consistently and it gets easier the more you say yes to it. Yeah, that's so, so good. It gets easier the more you see yes to it. It's almost like you just desire it more the more you say yes to it. And so I think it'd be important just as we kind of wrap up this conversation to provide you with the clarity on why timestamps are important. Like what do timestamps give? Why do they change everything? Timestamps bring clarity to your life. They really help you determine what is important to you and what is not important because if you're not willing to put it on your calendar, it probably isn't important to you. And that's okay. Not everything can be important to you in the season. You're going to have rhythms that come and go. You're going to have rhythms that you do for a little bit and they are not going to be there forever. And so you really, gain clarity on what's the priority in your life because none of us have unlimited amount of time. We all have a set amount of time. And I think the other benefit to timestamps is that they create accountability without a specific time on when you want to do this rhythm, whether it's a very specific time of day or a specific time of the week. you don't even know when to show up for yourself. Like how can you be accountable to something that doesn't actually exist in your calendar? Or how can you have that conversation with your spouse or your children? everybody in our family knows when their particular time has come to wash the dishes. there is just a consistent accountability Yeah, I think you're right. It brings almost clarity to the family on when we're doing certain things. Like Sabbath, our whole family can guarantee that we're gonna be Sabbath-ing every single Saturday unless some, like, you know. out of the blue thing has come up and we have to switch our Sabbath or like our family guarantees or knows that we are all sitting down at the table. Stop getting ready. You need to show up at 715. We are sitting down together as a family and enjoying each other's company. And so I love that because it not only creates accountability for yourself, it really does create accountability for the whole family to show up when we want to show up for each other. Yeah, when we don't have those in place, things feel way more chaotic. And so that accountability, the clarity, the structure, our family knows when certain things happen and it gives us structure to our week. kids and families really need that. level of predictability in their life and they look forward to it. It's those boundaries that keep life moving. I think you hit it on the head. Timestamps are boundaries. we serve a God, a God of boundaries. He was the originator of boundaries and boundaries always bring peace. They bring order, they bring structure. so resisting timestamps is almost like resisting peace because you're resisting a healthy boundary around the thing you actually wanted. Like you have been saying in this episode, we get to determine the rhythms in our life. And so therefore we get to determine the timestamp. We get to determine the boundary and everyone benefits when the timestamp is set and followed. It's true because boundaries are really about protecting. And so what gets a timestamp gets protected. Yeah, that's good. We need to protect our rhythms or they will, we all know it. We've all had habits fall away that we wish we didn't lose. We've all had things that we used to do and we quote unquote should do them now. And so these time stamps will protect them so that they don't go back to wish land or go back to should land. You don't. drift into meaningful rhythms, you decide them. So timestamps, like we have said from the beginning, are the one missing key that help you make the decision, the critical decision that we believe if you're not having rhythms in your life consistently today, this is what is missing and will take you from wishing and shoulding to doing. Yeah, time stamps really are how you take ownership of your life. And so it's so critical that if you want to be a person that has rhythms that are gonna take your family deeper, that you are intentional with learning the strategy of putting a time stamp on them. I love that. Taking ownership. That is really, really excellent. So... we have a great resource out there, a great thing people ask us questions about all the time. And I would love for you to share how they can take our incredible meal planning resource that you have made and let's take some action. Let's give them some action they can do with it. So if you're thinking like, where do I even start with all of this? We want to encourage you to think about the meal planning rhythm. I have found that once families get this particular rhythm into place, it just leads to more wins with future rhythms in the home. Because meal planning really is the easiest rhythm to have a timestamp for. It creates immediate peace in the home when you have nailed your meal planning rhythm. It really does remove that daily chaos because it eliminates that decision fatigue. And so this is exactly why we created the six week meal planning reset. This is a resource that's going to deliver a done for you meal plan for six weeks to your inbox to help eliminate that decision fatigue and really help you plan a menu every single week for your family. And this is gonna give you a practical starting point with this timestamp. you are going to be able to determine when are you going to meal plan each week, and then you're going to determine when are you picking up your groceries and filling your fridge and your cupboards. It really is a very practical starting point to timestamps. Yeah, and you're doing this in your life. So yeah, you're already eating and feeding your family. Yeah, you don't need more time. Like I think that's something we think about often when we're starting something new. or trying to put a timestamp to it is like, well, I'll do that when I can make some time for it. No, the truth is you have the time. You just need a rhythm that already will have a place in your life to do it. So here's our practical step. Sign up for the six week meal plan reset and put a time down that you're gonna follow it. Yeah. Sit down, you're gonna open it and you're gonna do it for the next six weeks. Yeah, and you're gonna stick with it. We wanna encourage you to stick with this timestamp. Give it a go for the six weeks that you do the meal plan reset. And then if that timestamp that you give it is just not working great for you, then tweak it. Give it a new timestamp and give that a go for a couple weeks. But you really gotta give it a fair shot. You know, when you put a timestamp on a rhythm, Don't just try it for like one time and be like, that didn't work. Give it a try for a few times, then adjust the timestamp. Yeah. I love what you said earlier. Desire plus discipline equals consistency. That was so good. Yeah. Because you're just, you're the truth is you're not a victim to your life. You get to decide what matters. and when it lives. You get to determine the rhythms. You get to determine where that rhythm lives in your calendar. And that is how a home becomes deeply rooted. Thank you for joining us today on the Rooted Family Podcast. We pray that this episode blesses you, gives you some new ideas, and we look forward to seeing you again soon. We'll see you so soon. Talk to you next time on the Rooted Family Podcast.