Do you find it challenging to get everything done during the week? I know that I have had many weeks that I struggled to get things done until I developed a system to plan for the week that changed everything for me.
I want to share with you some tips and tricks that I have found for finding pockets of time and creating a schedule that I can actually follow.
In this episode, I break down a step-by-step of how I plan for the week to create time for myself and knock out my to-do list.
Ready to start being more productive during the week? Check out the full episode.
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Links Mentioned
- App used for Pomodoro Technique: Tide
- Time Transformational Toolkit
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Transcript of this episode
Real Happy Mom 0:07
The weekly podcast for busy working moms to get inspiration, encouragement and practical tips for this journey are listening to Episode 168. Hey there, and welcome back to another episode of The Real happy mom Podcast. Today I wanted to share with you some tips and tricks that I have for this question here. There is a mom that has asked, How do I find the time and create a schedule that I can actually follow? This is a really good question, because I think this is one thing that we tend to have a little bit of trouble with. If we’re being honest, like well be really good with it for a little bit, and then we’ll fall off sometimes, but there are some things that I have really found helpful for myself when it comes to sticking to a schedule and finding the time to actually get things done. So first things first. And that is starting off with planning out your week. This is something that I emphasize a lot in my Sunday routine, and my Sunday prep routine, you can definitely go back and listen to that episode, which I will link in the show notes. But taking time to plan out your schedule when helps you to see how much time that you actually do have. Because a lot of times we’ll think like, oh, I just don’t have time for that I don’t have time. And we actually do have time to get a lot of things done. It’s just we fill the empty time with a lot of time wasters or with things for other people, or even things that just really don’t even matter but feel like it’s actually moving the needle for us. So take the time to do a brain dump, which is just simply just writing down everything that you need to get done for the week, then take some time to look at that brain dump and prioritize Okay, what do I actually need to get done? And what can I actually delegate out to someone else to help me with, and then from there, looking to see, okay, from the things that I actually need to get done? What is really most important and what is something that can either wait till next week that I can either automate, or I can get done, and batch together with other things. And when I’m talking about batching, I’m talking about doing like things together. So for instance, if you have to make several phone calls, do all of those phone calls at one time versus making a phone call. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, once in the evening, that takes up a lot of time. By putting all of those phone calls together in one period of time, you’re able to knock things out a lot quicker, because you’re in the zone. You’re not multitasking, which is something we’ll get to here later. But you are able to just be a whole lot more productive when you’re doing like things together. So for me, I like to batch things as far as like phone calls. Emails is another big one. So if I have to either respond, reply or create emails, I’m doing all of those things at the same time. There’s things that I need to do as far as updating my website or adding things to my website, and batching all of those things at the same time. If there’s things that I need to do for the Navy, because as a reservist, we need our cat card, which is our common access card to access a lot of these military sites. And sometimes I’ll have my cat card on me, or I don’t have my cat card reader, which is a pain in the butt. So I’ll make sure that whenever I get ready to do my task for the Navy, and I have to access Navy sites, I’m doing all of those things together at one time. So you kind of see where I’m going with this where we’re doing like things together so that we can be a little bit more efficient and more productive during the time that we do have. Okay, so first things first, like I said, it’s just starting out by planning out your week. From there, you can start to
Real Happy Mom 4:17
like I said, batch things and then block out times that you will do certain things in these are times that you are going to pretty much like make an appointment for yourself. Like you know, I’m making the phone calls, I’m doing my navy work I’m sending in responding to emails, whatever it is that you need to do during those times. And then while you are working on those things, you really want to make sure that you’re staying focused in doing one thing at a time. Because as moms we pride ourselves in as being, you know, really great multitaskers which is something that is often praised and sought after, especially in London. Girl, especially if you’re talking about oh, yeah, I can multitask. But multitasking is not your thing. Newsflash, multitasking is a really not great for you at all, because you’re using your brain to flip flop between things. And then it takes your brain a lot longer to get back on track and to actually get things done. And then if you’re doing multiple things at the same time, so let’s just say you’re trying to cook dinner, help your kid with homework, and respond to emails all at the same time, like you’re splitting your brain in three different places. And you’re really aren’t focused, and a couple of things happen. One, you make mistakes. And then that means you’re taking more time to get things done, because you have to go back and redo whatever it is that you’re doing. To like I said, you’re not focused because your attention is divided. And it takes you longer to process things and actually get things going. So I really find that taking time to just focus on one thing at a time really helps to get things done a lot faster than you think you will be amazed, you’ll give yourself an hour to get things done. And it will get done in 15 minutes, if you’re focused. All right. Another big thing that I think we forget sometimes is Yes, it’s good to stay focused and get in those grooves, and get things done. But you also need to give your brain a rest. And everything that you need to give a rest is your eyes too, which is something I learned from my eye doctor. Because as someone who’s constantly staring at the computer, and I use magnification at work to do treatment on my patients, my eyes easily get strained. So when I go to the doctor, they remind me to make sure that I’m taking breaks that I am not looking through my magnification, I’m not looking at a computer, I’m looking far away at a distance for at least a few minutes to give my eyes a rest. And then you also want to give your brain a rest by taking a break, whether it’s just walking around, taking a look outside your window and staring at the trees. But you really want to give your brain some time in between. One thing that I found really helpful is doing the Pomodoro Technique, which is where you spend 20 to 25 minutes on fully focusing on a task. And then once that timer goes off for that 2025 minutes, you take a five minute break. All right. So you can really focus because I know like some Yeah, I know I’ve gotten over this, but I was there with the Facebook and especially email that’s like my thing, conflict checking my email is weird. But anyways, if you know that you’re going to get a break in, you know, a couple of minutes, then you can really just focus on whatever it is that you need to do. So once you’re done with that 20 minutes of focus work, during that five minutes, you can go on Instagram, you can go on your,
Real Happy Mom 8:04
your phone, to check your email, whatever it is that you want to do to just kind of let your brain have a little relaxation. And one helpful app that I have for this. I’m going to make sure I link for this in the show notes. But there is an app that I use that really, really helps with the Pomodoro Technique. And I’m sure there’s a million of them out there. But this one in particular, I know really helps. But you can set it for 20 minutes, or you’re focused, and then five minutes or a break. Okay? So paranoia is another great technique to help you with getting more productive, so that you can stay on task with your schedule. Next thing is you want to be very realistic with your scheduling. I know a lot of times we will think that we can get a lot of things knocked out. And life happens. Or we underestimate how much time it takes to actually get things done. So definitely make sure that you are being realistic when you are creating your schedule and trying to follow it. You’re right. Those are my tips for you today to help you with setting up your schedule for actually getting things done. Because there is time for you to to create a schedule, there is time in your schedule to get things done. And I want you to be able to see that. Now if you need some more help with this. And when I really deep dive on this, you want to definitely get a time transformational toolkit. This is my self paced course that is going to help you with uncovering some of the mind blocks that are hindering you from actually getting more done is going to give you the techniques and strategies that we mentioned here today and so much more to help you with really getting past the things that are holding you up and get things done. And also have time for yourself to do the things that you actually want to do. And then lastly, you’re going to get those permission slips. Because let me just tell you, you need permission to let some things go. And I’m going to give you those permission slips too, as well. In that time transferential toolkit, you’re ready to really do this for real for real, you don’t want to play around anymore. You really want to get the strategies as well as the mindset shifts that are going to help you really take things to the next level. Go on over to happy mom.com/time to get the time transformational toolkit, alright. Also, make sure that you join me inside of the real happy mom, Facebook community there is where you’ll find me as well as others, moms that will help you with this journey. And really just like give us more of the inspiration, encouragement that you need throughout the week, as well as some monthly Trello trainings, which is going to help you with getting more productive says monetizing your life in your home so that you can show up in be awesome. All right now that’s all I have for this week. Make sure you take episodes
