Four Simple Tools I Use to Live with Time—Not Against It
Share Four Somethings
Time stays on my mind a lot, but especially so at the changing of a year. I track it a little closer. And watch it pass a little quicker.
Although not by design, I’m unsurprised that my collection of Share 4 Somethings this month ended up centering on time—specifically on tools that help me live my hours and days with more intention.
Each month I share 4 somethings that I have:
- Loved
- Learned
- Went well
- Let go of
And then I link up with Jenn. Visit her post to see new prompts for 2026!
I’m also sharing my previous month’s One Second Everyday video . . .
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Something I loved
- SEEING THE YEAR ALL AT ONCE
Are you a calendar person? I’d be lost without mine—both digital and paper. [Do You Write In Your Calendar With Ink or Pencil?]
I’ve added one more calendar to the mix the past three years: a continuous calendar.
I use this one for one purpose only—to log when we’re going to be out of town. No weekly boxes. No clutter. Just the full year stretched out in one spot.
There’s something grounding to see our planned comings and goings in this way—a visual reminder of the subtle shifts in location we want to make over the year.
Here’s the link to the free continual calendar site I download from, though there are plenty of other options online.
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Something I learned
- LETTING AI HELP SCHEDULE MY ONE WORD
The past couple of years I’ve asked AI to help organize my One Word of the Year into a practical, monthly schedule. I start with a simple prompt to give it my own ideas, like:
> “My new One Word of the Year for 2026 is ___. Create a calendar with a monthly theme, three journal prompts, and three activities centered on one aspect of my word, such as ___.”
Then I ask for more ideas. I narrow them down to the ones I like the best. Then I ask for a one-page printable. And finally, a visual (although I’ve yet to love theirs, so I create my own).
What I’ve learned is I don’t have to outsource my thinking to AI to get the most from it. Instead, I can just use it as a conversation partner to spot patterns and better organize themes. For my 2026 word, it was once again helpful to keep my plans simple and doable.
(If you want to play with AI to discover or refine your own One Word of the Year, try these 6 prompts.)
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Something that went well
- 15 YEARS, 1 LINE AT A TIME
Wow—it’s hard to believe I’ll finish writing my third five-year “one line a day” journal on December 31. That means I’ve been doing this for fifteen years?!!
I’ve already bought my newest 5-year book, ready to begin on January 1, 2026. (I’d love to find a spiral-bound one, but no luck yet.)
While I don’t always love doing it, I always love having done it (that makes sense, right?). It’s a quick, low-pressure way to capture one small—or big—thing from each day.
The real fun comes from looking back at the same date across different years. It’s a nice little snapshot of who and where I was then, and a reminder of details I’d otherwise have forgotten (like, what was the name of that restaurant we really liked in Panama City?).
Here’s what I wrote on this day:
One year ago:
December 29, 2024, Su.
Jeff and H ride bikes. I throw away more stuff.
Five years ago:
December 29, 2019, Su.
Such a fun trip seeing the girls! I’m exhausted.
Ten years ago:
December 29, 2015, Tu.
HARD day with stomach pain. Visit doc but no help. Jeff taking good care of me.
(Less than a month later, I’d have my gallbladder removed—problem solved.)
It makes me wonder what I’ll write at the end of this day, and how it will sound to future me, who will already know what came next.
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Something I let go of
- A DAY TO RELEASE AND REIMAGINE
A few weeks ago, I spent a day letting go of 2025 and looking ahead to 2026. I followed the same schedule from this amazing book I used last year, including one activity where I stacked a coin for every year I’ve lived—and then estimated another stack for how many years I might have left.
It’s a sobering practice. (Who knows if the remaining stack should be much shorter—or even taller?)
During the journaling, I wrote down what I believed to be my biggest problem and my greatest joy. I’m curious to see, a year from now, whether they’ve shifted or stayed the same.
Also from the book is a blessing I’ve been carrying with me ever since—I offer it first to myself then extend it outward to others:
As I grow older, may I be kind to myself;
As I grow older, may I accept joy and sorrow;
As I grow older, may I be happy and at peace.
I can’t predict what will happen in this coming year. But one thing I do know, if we’re still here:
Time will keep moving.
Calendars will keep turning.
And we’ll keep showing up in the days we’re given—living them, remembering them, and letting them go . . . when it’s time.
A Question for You:
What’s a tool or practice that helps you live with time? Do you use a digital or physical calendar? A journal?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
Read more about time:
- Are You Uncomfortable Filling Your Calendar with Empty Spaces?
Can you intentionally keep some empty spaces on your calendar? Practice the skill of releasing busyness. - How to Win Your Fight with Time . . . in your four thousand weeks
The typical lifespan is about 4,000 weeks. How do you handle the struggle with limited time? - Do You Write In Your Calendar With Ink or Pencil?
Even a cancelled haircut can disrupt your day. How do you stay open? Does it help to use pencil, not ink?
I’m linking at these blog parties
I really appreciated your post, Lisa! I have been thinking a lot about how to use time well and make the most of it, so it’s always great to get other people’s thoughts.
That’s amazing that you’ve almost completed your third line a day journal. I started one for the first time just over six months ago, and I’m sure it will be really interesting to look back on as I get through it.
It’s also interesting to read about how you’re using AI. I have been experimenting a bit as well and I think it can be really helpful when used in the right way.
Hope you had a lovely Christmas!
Oh, I’m excited to hear you’ve started a one line journal too, Lesley! I hope you enjoy the process but even more so the looking back. It’s been such an interesting exercise for me.
I tend to write on my calendar with erasable pens! I definitely use a physical calendar (actually 2 of them; one for my blog scheduling and one for he family/household). But the only journal I keep is my blog and I LOVE my Sentence a Day posts and refer back to them quite often.
Why haven’t I thought of erasable pens! It’s the best world of pens and pencils. 🙂 Thanks, Joanne! I forget that I also keep a paper calendar for blogging too. Your Sentence a Day posts are always so fascinating – such a great way to document your life.
15 years of one line a day… Congratulations, Lisa! That’s quite a commitment. 🙂 I was just checking some of those journals out. It’s cool how easily you can see what you wrote on the same date of each year. As always, I love you one second a day video. Love and blessings for a Blessed New Year!
Thanks, Trudy. When I first started the one line journals, I would never have imagined how long I would keep doing it. Same with the one second videos. But there’s something easy about keeping it all to a minimum; it increases my chances of doing it longer. ha. Hope you have a wonderful new year too!
Wow that’s quite a commitment Lisa, one sentence per day for 15 years! Well done!
I keep a physical calender on the fridge for hubby & I to see family birthdays etc, as well as a small diary for appointments, lunch dates etc & a personal Journal for journalling.
blessings for 2026!
Jennifer
If I thought I’d still be writing one line journals 15 years later, I probably wouldn’t have started at all. ha. Sometimes it’s better not to know up front because it’s too intimidating. 🙂
It’s hard to beat a physical calendar for lots of things – I still use one too. Have a Happy New Year, Jennifer!
A comment by Roch Voisine, a Canadian singer-songwriter – I do time so time doesn’t do me – resonates with me. And from blog writer Bob Lowry – each day, do something that needs doing & something that wants doing. I find that retirement calls for more time management; my day isn’t dictated by a work schedule. I do have a daytimer that I record appts, social dates, birthdays & highlight the days’ acitivities including self-care practices. It’s done mostly in pen. When someone asks what I’ve been up to, it’s easy to give a synopsis of what’s been taking up my time.
I love those quotes, Mona. And I agree with both of them, too. I like that you can look back at your daytimer to give a synopsis. I often have trouble answering the question about what I’ve been up to. Lots of little things! 🙂 But they add up to a good life.
Your grandson is getting so big. I had to smile at his reaction to Operation. 🙂
You’re inspiring me to try the line-a-day journal again. I didn’t realize when I bought it that it was laid out so that you saw all the same date on one page, and I didn’t like that at first. But it might be fun.
I can see you keeping a one-line-a-day journal too, Barbara. The hardest part is confining it to just one line, so I often write 2 or 3 lines. 🙂 Thankfully the space constraints in the book keep me from expanding it more than that.
Here’s a tip that helps me tremendously with it: Because I access my digital calendar so often during the day, it’s where I initially record my “line” each day, then I transfer them by hand to my actual book several times a week. It’s been great to also have those lines on my computer because I often need to do a search for something and having it digitized is such a help. (Hope that makes sense!)
I’m not a calendar person at all and never have been. Of course it helps that I don’t have that many appointments, so I can do with notes in my wallet.
I have a calendar from 2023 on my wall which I got for the beautiful nature photography. It’s stuck on January because that’s my favorite picture.
My husband isn’t much of a calendar person either. He does use the calendar on his phone a bit more than he used to, but he’s never kept a paper calendar and I don’t suspect he ever will. ha. But it works for him! I got 3 free wall calendars in the mail for 2026 so I had fun deciding which one to use, based on which one had the prettiest pictures. I went with one that had roses.
Thank you for the perspective starting the New Year.
It’s always fun to have a fresh year to begin again!
I was fascinated by your stacking of the coins. I may try that. When I turned 75 last year at first my mindset wasn’t very good about that milestone until I realized God had given me three quarters and now was handing me a fourth quarter to spend. So I now have on my desk a 3 x 4card with four quarters taped to it reminding me of this gift. This isn’t the last quarter, just the fourth quarter. LOL. Amazing how a simple visual takes you deeper isn’t it?
Ooh, I love your quarters, Jean! That’s beautiful that you keep a card with quarters taped on it. That is SO much like something I would do too. 🙂 Yes, visuals are powerful.
I love those 5-year diaries!! I am currently using a 10-year-old one, but it’s very bulky. I would love it if you could share this at my new re-booted link party, Serenity Saturday at http://www.serenityyou.com
Amazing that you’re doing a 10-year-old book! I can imagine that would be quite bulky, but also so handy to look back at all those years on each page. Love it!
That continual colander looks interesting!
Lisa, this was such a treasure to read. I love your insights here.
Thanks bunches for sharing with Sweet Tea & Friends this month sweet friend. I’m so happy you’re here.