Feeling helpless every time you look at your list? You might be missing one of 3 crucial skills to manage your time so you can focus more on your family.
You’ve heard it countless times.
“This planner has everything you’ll need. It will save you time. Cut down on your stress.”
So you buy a pretty one that looks good. Fill in the blanks.
And…
Nothing changes.
Life is disturbingly out-of-your-hands busy. Your mornings feel helpless when the lists pile up and turn into those scrolls in cartoons, drooping down from your hands and rolling out the door.
Meanwhile, you’re yearning for more meaningful time with your family, but keep getting swept away by all the crushing to-dos.
Want to know why that cute little planner didn’t make a difference? In other words, why you’re still overwhelmed at the end of a busy, exhausting day?
It’s actually a pretty simple reason:
Therefore, in this post, you’ll discover 3 essential abilities you need so you can skip the overwhelm, know what to focus on, and follow through until it’s crossed off.
choosing intentional movement vs. damage control
I was going to throw up.
It was the night of my first unofficial fundraiser: a cultural dinner to raise money to fix the roof of a church in India.
I suddenly realized I hadn’t set up an RSVP so I knew how many people were coming.
And we were running out of food. Fast.
I laugh about it now. But I never want to feel that stress and self-condemning “I should have known” ever again.
Solely focusing on promoting the event went a little too well. I hadn’t known how to plan an event with the big picture in mind and, if it hadn’t been for the generous butt-saving action of some excellent friends, it could have been a disaster…that would’ve affected these wonderful, hopeful parishioners who wanted to protect their church.
By the end of the stressful, crisis-avoiding evening, I was so happy it was over…I missed all the joy and fun of the moment.
And that is the real sorrow of staying disorganized.
You’re missing out. When you don’t manage your time well, your days are filled with stress instead of contentment.
…and maybe you’ve convinced yourself it’s for the best…it’s just not your personality or gifts…it’s better to wing it anyway…
However, here’s the thing that will change your mindset:
1. planning: how to make a roadmap to reach your goal
So how do you plan something? Even, dare I say it, something as mundane as actually keeping your house clean?
Let me explain.
First and foremost, you start off with an endgoal. Then fill in your daily list based with that goal in mind.
If it’s a one-time project, like getting the nursery ready for baby, then a goal like “finish 2 weeks before due date” is great.
Likewise for routine tasks, you need a mission statement. This will be your WHY to your day.
It doesn’t have to be fancy, but make it heart-felt. A one-liner. A Scripture verse. A line from your wedding song.
Find a message that speaks to you and will drive you to action based on the pursuit of that dream.
You can get off the hamster wheel of lists and follow a roadmap to get to your goal.
As a result, you’ll suddenly find a purpose to those ordinary tasks because planning to thaw the meat before suppertime means you’re pursuing a goal of raising healthy, happy kids…and avoiding the mom-guilt of serving them PB&J sandwiches…again 😉
Once you start with your WHY, then you’re able to work backwards and fill in all the steps in your calendar to make a roadmap to follow.
Back to the nursery example.
They’ll need the furniture assembled. But first, they’ll have to buy them. Oh wait, before that, they’ll need to paint the walls, which means picking out and buying the paint…
Get it?
In other words, once you have this roadmap, you’re able to see what needs to be done each day before you meet your goal.
Next we’ll cover how to develop the skill to sort your important and regular tasks.
2. MANAGE YOUR TIME WITH prioritizing: conquering the list-overwhelm
Having a purpose and roadmap is an essential start to organizing your day.
But what if you have too much on your plate? Especially the less-desirable jobs?
This is were prioritizing comes in.
Prioritizing is planning for when life blows up and you can’t go with your original plan.
For example, let’s say a month before the baby’s due, the mom is suddenly put on bed rest and dad still has to work. They’ll have to sort what needs to get done versus what they’d like to have done.
If the furniture is more important than paint colours, they’ll stick with what’s already on the walls and buy that rocking chair.
On the other hand, if having a fresh look is important, they could delegate the task and ask friends to help paint over the weekend.
the value of time blocking
Prioritizing means giving the tasks with most value – aligned to your goal – the most important time blocks.
You probably instinctively know to book your highest priority in your most productive time of the day.
However, it’s also important to schedule in those deceptively insignificant tasks that are still aligned to your goal.
If keeping your family healthy is important to you, write in when to take the meat out. Or just buy an Instant Pot and live long and prosper (finding tools to use as shortcuts also counts as a time management skill).
Time blocking is an amazing tool you can use to manage your time: you reserve a chunk of time for a specific theme or task, such as projects, cleaning, meal prep – whatever is important to you and needs to get done.
Consequently, this means maybe putting the phone down more (after you get to the end of this blog post, of course 😉) and using those time blocks a bit more effectively.
After scheduling your priorities, book in a little free time and social media time, but use your productive time for what’s higher on your priorities.
3. productivity: how to jumpstart undesirable tasks and get them done
Alright. Here’s the crux of managing time and getting things done.
Firstly: you know how to make a plan with a purpose.
Secondly, you’re working on how to prioritize your list.
But how do you actually find the motivation to follow through?
There are distractions and interruptions all the time (read: hungry vultures known as your kids).
And if you’re really going to be honest…there are some jobs that don’t give you joy even if you need to do them and they’re aligned with your goals.
Looking at you, cat litter.
Want some easy ideas to help you buckle down and keep your focus until the job’s done?
productivity tips to manage your time well
Try these tips to get from jumptarting a task to crossing it off:
- Make a work-only playlist to boost your spirits. Could be instrumental if it could turn into a distraction.
- Clear the workspace and make it hard to lose focus. For instance, when I have a single task, like bills or writing a blog post, I put away all other papers, hide my phone, and open up a new browser with a single tab.
- Give yourself a deadline. Put on some pressure! I use Trello to create my digital lists and can set an alert to go off when the tasks are due that day.
- Set a timer. This also works for interrupting kids. Prep an individual activity (I have a Pinterest board dedicated to ideas here) and let them know they can knock on your door after they hear the beeping of the timer.
- Bribe yourself. I get my espresso machine warmed up. Tenderly set the cup down. And then don’t make it until I’m done. I tell ya, it hurts. But it lights a fire to get ‘er done because I want that coffee, darn it!
- Make the space lovely. Put up simple, inspiring artwork. Clear the clutter (which is yet another task on your list, I know, I know). But if the space isn’t so bad to be in, you won’t mind as much, right? right?
one easy way to start building these skills
To sum up, you’ve got to know how to plan and prioritize your goal at the forefront. This helps you jumpstart those tasks that aren’t as fun.
Trust me:
Anticipated annoyances (like doing the cat litter) are better than the helpless stress that can consume you when you’re disorganized.
Because above all, you’ll be able to plan ahead to get the mundane tasks done faster instead of being drained from the constant damage-control.
You’ll need these 3 planning, prioritizing, and productivity skills to manage your time well and thrive as a loving mom. So why not start with one to work on right now? Sign up below for my 5-day Strategic Schedule challenge: we’ll sort through your lists and you’ll learn how to prioritize and get the important things done first so you can free up more time for family.
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