Time Management: Work/Life Balance
Everyone always says “I have to get better at time management”. O.k. great but what does that mean? What is time management? Why do you feel you need to get better at it?
Once you can answer those questions, you will understand it all a little bit more. You have to understand, truly understand what do you want more time to do? What does the day to day seem like? Are you always rushing? Are you always late? Maybe you are saying YES to too much stuff that you don’t really need to say yes too.
I want to share with you some ways to truly understand time management and how to get better. I also want to share with you tools that I use. You may need to get real honest with yourself and figure out if you TRULY can do everything you are setting out to do each day.
Let’s take it one step at a time.
- Write down everything you do currently. What is on your schedule right now? Write down the hours you have to be at work. Do you workout in the morning, afternoon, evening. Write down your DESIRED time you want to get a workout in. Write down the kids sports/activities and/or your sports/activities.
TIP:
I don’t go to PTA meetings or volunteer because I have to be at dance 3 nights/wk with my girls and then Girl Scouts on the 4th. So yes, I would TOTALLY love to be a part of that, but realistically that would stress me out. Write down appointments coming up. Write down vacations. Do your kids have tournaments/competitions coming up? Get those written down. School activities/dances? Do your kids to go any religious schools on the weekend? Do you have their game/dance schedules done for the season? Write it all down. When do you get home from work? What time do you make dinner? What time do you get home in the evening? Do you set enough time aside for you to do some personal growth reading? I would stay away from TV. Yes it is entertaining and a show or 2/wk is fine, but really 3/4 shows per night that you must watch or DVR? let’s be honest. You don’t have time for that!!!
- Now that everything is written down. Where do you put it? Do you use a paper calendar? A White board? An app?
TIP:
I use the app called COZI where everyone in the family has a colored dot for their activity and then it syncs to all phones/devices for everyone to review so nobody has to ask “when do I have to go to …..?” This is the part where people think “I need to be better at time management” NOPE, you just need to pick a system that works, that you connect with, and USE IT! Be consistent with it. You will have more time if everything is outlined.
- At this point, you may realize that you are doing too much. Either you need to get up 30 min earlier or go to bed 30 min later, but I wouldn’t stretch it much past that because you should be getting at least 7 hours sleep. You may realize there are activities that you simply cannot volunteer your time for anymore. You may realize you watch too much t.v.
TIP:
Ask for help. If you are a mom, chances are you are trying to do it all and you simply don’t need to. You are a FAMILY, ask for help. We tend to stress and get overworked and tired and cranky and the family doesn’t know what they have done wrong. They haven’t done anything wrong, you have because you are trying to be superwoman and you need to ask for help.
I am here to tell you that you CAN manage your time better. Mindless tv, mindless social media scrolling are all time wasters. Use your time more wisely. Be more efficient. Figure out what needs to go because you simply CAN NOT do it all yourself.
OH and guess what?
WORK AT HOME MOMS. If you are working form home, one of the ways you can ask your family for help is to tell them your business hours and ask them to leave you alone during that time unless it is an emergency. They think because you are home, they can ask you questions and call your name all day but you need to explain to them about the importance of your work. When my girls were little, I would do 30 min work time, 30 min play time and alternate that so they got me during the day and then they also learned how to entertain themselves when I was working. Don’t be afraid of that. If you had to work a 9-5, they wouldn’t see you at all. Also, at night ask your spouse for some work time. Tell him/her that you need to get some work done from 8-10 at night so could they do the bed time routine and help so you can work on building your passion. Moral of the story: It’s o.k .to ask for help and let the family know how important your work time is because after all, its for their future!
Can’t wait to hear what system you implement and how you begin asking your family for help. Please leave me comments and tell me how it goes.
