TOP 5 TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS FOR WORKING MUMS

22/10/2017

Time to get organised for the week ahead, so lets get planning. Some of the biggest challenges faced by working mums can be juggling family life with work life, and the key to getting the right balance is great time management. As a working mum, I find one of the best ways to

mitigate the stress that goes hand in hand with a busy family/work life is making sure that I have time each day allocated to myself, and the good news is that even the busiest mum can create pockets of breathing room even from craziest day.

It is a fine art managing your time with work and family, and some of the greatest challenges can be finding the right balance that suits you, your work circumstances, as well as your family life.
Whether its getting the kids off to school, or your constantly up for those late night feeds, each stage of having children and working can present with different challenges as they get older, and the constant juggle that goes hand in hand.
In fact it can often take twice as long to complete a task as we originally thought it would take going by time management research on the facts and figures of task completion.
However there is a way to do more with less time so let’s take it to the next level with our 5 tips below that will have you feeling less stressed and back in control of your time.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act but a habit - Aristotle

TOP 5 TIPS

Create time for yourself
I know it sounds a bit of a double-edged sword, ‘how do I make time for myself when I already struggle to complete my daily tasks some days?’
By taking time for yourself each day, even just a 15 minute break will help you to recharge your stores and replenish your mind, body, and soul. This will reduce the risk of burn out, and increase your energy and productivity. I personally love a walk whilst listening to a great podcast with my bub in the pram, it’s a win: win for all. So put it in your diary, or set a reminder in your phone today where you can take some time in your day to implement a bit of me time. Even a cup of herbal tea or a good book can do wonders for the soul.
Set your daily intentions One of the biggest time wasters is not having a plan, by setting an intention when you wake up in the morning is a fantastic way to set your focus for the day. The intention must be specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic enough that you know you can complete it in the time frame you have. Even try breaking down a big project into small actionable tasks, and brainstorm all the possible actions you need to do in relation to that goal is such a great way to gain clarity on what must be done, and get you on your way to less stress and more time.
Be present to be productive
By undertaking training such as meditation and mindfulness practices such as our soon to come Exerpsych program (stay tuned x), can help you to tune in to the task at hand and keep focused, this practice will see you more often than not tying off those lose ends which means you will increase your productivity and have more time in your day to spend on other things highly important to you.
Establish work/life boundaries
Now it’s time to get a bit of order in your life which as a working mum can have it’s challenges, with those emails coming in whilst your feeding children or the endless phone calls when your on the run, the list goes on.
Whether you’re an employee or self employed, by setting time periods of when you choose to view and reply to those emails and take those calls will assist you in creating boundaries and reduce your stress of trying to do it all, all of the time. You can either delegate or divert your phone line to admin, and simply stick to the work hour’s you’ve scheduled. I generally wont take work calls after a certain time at night when it’s time with my family, and therefore I rarely get work calls at such hours as people know this is when I am off duty. As your clients / customers / or staff team get used to knowing when they can contact you and when your out of office will help you in also being able to switch off properly and enjoy your task at hand.
Get organised
I know what your thinking ‘Argh so this means I need to get through that pile of paper work that’s been sitting on my desk for the past month right?’ yep, that’s right, by putting things in their place and having a system of success will not only reduce stress, but it will dramatically save you time in your busy schedule.
This could be as simple as putting sports uniforms in the same drawer, storing kids school bags and coats in one cupboard ready to grab on the way out the door, and preparing their lunch the night before whilst your cooking dinner.
This will mean that you wont be rustling around the mayhem to find that missing school bag, or that dirty lunch box from the day before lol x.