My First Hour Belongs to My Home
Wooded Landscape with Cottage Beside Pond with Standing Cows. James Robertson, n.d. Courtesy the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
The architecture of a fulfilling life is built not on grand gestures, but on the quiet, daily decisions of where we place our time.
For those of us who navigate the twin demands of a career and a family, the question of time is a constant, pressing negotiation. How do we carve out the necessary moments for the quiet, essential work of the home when our professional lives demand so much of our focus and energy? For years, my homemaking efforts were relegated to the margins—the tired evenings or the overflowing weekends. It was what happened after the “real” work was done. But this approach left me feeling perpetually behind, as if I were trying to fill a cup that was already empty.
I realized that if I truly wanted to elevate the role of my home to that of a sanctuary, a cornerstone of a refined life, I couldn't treat it like an afterthought. It needed a place of prominence in my schedule. And so, I began an experiment, a simple but profound shift in the structure of my day: I decided to dedicate the first hour of my workday entirely to my home.
The Hypothesis of an Ordered Day
The experiment was straightforward. Since I work from home and manage my own schedule, I have a degree of flexibility. After my son gets on the school bus, the quiet hours before I would typically dive into emails and projects now held a new purpose. Instead of turning my attention immediately to my business, I turned my attention to our home. That first hour of my professional day was reallocated to my homemaking list—making the beds, tidying the living spaces, or tackling whatever chores were slated for that morning.
My hypothesis was that by giving the first fruits of my focused energy to my home, I would not only make practical progress but also send a powerful message to myself about my priorities. I suspected that starting the day with this tangible act of care would create a ripple effect, grounding me in a sense of accomplishment and order that would carry through into my professional tasks.
The Results of a Reclaimed Hour
The impact of this experiment was immediate and deeply felt. On the days I commit to this practice, I begin my professional work with a profound sense of calm and achievement. No matter how the rest of the day unfolds—whether it’s productive and smooth or filled with unforeseen challenges—I can point to the fact that I have already successfully tended to my sanctuary. The beds are made, the kitchen is reset, a sense of order prevails. This provides a baseline of accomplishment that quiets the frantic energy that can so often accompany a long to-do list.
Of course, this experiment is not a perfect science. One hour a day is often not enough to accomplish everything on my list. I am still learning and refining the process, figuring out the delicate balance between what can be done in that hour and what must be pushed to another time. It has raised new questions: Is it about the time spent or the tasks completed? How much is truly enough to maintain the sense of peace I’m striving for?
It remains a work in progress, an evolving practice in time mastery. Yet, what I know for certain is that this simple act of reclaiming my first hour has fundamentally shifted my approach. It is a conscious choice to place the well-being of my home and family on equal footing with my professional ambitions. It is an intentional act of living that says, before all else, this is what matters.
How do you create balance between your personal and professional responsibilities? I invite you to share your own experiments and strategies with me on Instagram and Substack.
