Time Management Tips for Moms Business Owners
“What do you mean tomorrow is Monday!?! It was just Friday a few hours ago!”
You, Me and every other Mompreneur
Do you ever feel like you don’t have enough hours in the day? Or have trouble finding time to focus on your business because you have so many other things going on?
As a mom who also has a full-time job running your own business, you likely have more things to do than the time to do them. I am there with you sister, I get you!
I use time blocking daily to be able to accomplish my daily business and personal goals. Because this can be a challenge, you can use these strategies to maximize your productivity while also keeping plenty of time available to your family.
Time Management Tips:
Get a Visible Weekly Planner: So, the first rule for my weekly planner was that it had to be visible. Not online. Not buried in a folder on my desk. When it comes to the day-to-day challenge of remembering what I am supposed to be doing I find that digital plans let me down. I need my plans right in front of me to know that I am on top of things. So go and get an actual book planner, it can be an agenda or a wall planner. Whatever works best for you!
Best Planners out there that have worked for me (this is not an ad and Im not getting paid)
Erin Condren, Day Designer, Law of Attraction Planner
Determine the Hours You Have Available to Work in the Upcoming Week: The first step with your planner is Time Blocking. Determine the hours that you have available to work each week. If your business is a side hustle, then you’ll need to work around your regular job. With children, you need to work on your business around their schedules. Time blocking allows you to create a business schedule that fits into your life. And it also allows you to really get organized: business, kids, husband, errands, date nite…you get it! Without this I will be a total wreck!
List, List, List: Instead of running circles around yourself, make a priority list of what must get done for the day. Following this list will help you be more efficient throughout your day. The list helps you to stay focused by beginning with the most profitable and essential tasks for your business and getting them done when there are no distractions around you. The rest of the items on your list can be like the icing on the cake. Even if you do not get to them, you will know that the most essential tasks are complete.
Bonus: If you have little kids you want to grab my After School Activities List. It’s a PDF list! It works wonders for me because the twins follow the list of what they need to get done before bed time and they check each slot every time they do a task. Plus while they work on their top tasks I work on finishing my smaller tasks.
Example? 1. Change into clothes 2. Give Mom/Dad all important documents 3. Eat a healthy snack 4. Do homework 5. Iready time 6. Ballet day, etc, etc
Track Your Time Spent: If you want to be even more efficient, then track your actual time spent. There are several apps that you can use for this like Toggl and Asana. By tracking your time spent, you will become much better at estimating how long a task or project takes. It will also help you hold yourself accountable. If you planned to spend two hours prospecting for clients, you can check your time reports to see if you actually did.
Having a Routine: Routine is a top tool for productivity. Having a set routine will help you remember what you should be doing, and also eliminates a lot of decision making.
Time blocking is a powerful technique that will help you organize your day and allow you to get a massive amount of work done. Remember that you are building a habit of discipline. And building habits takes time. What’s the rule? A habit forms in 30 days? Be patient with yourself when starting this new routine in your daily life.
It will be all worth it when you finally have control over your day and you can fit all the really important things in, including time for yourself and your family.
Grab a complimentary copy of my Weekly and Daily planner. I have included the After School Activity Sheet as a bonus!
Let’s start practicing Time Blocking. It will help you succeed in accomplishing your daily goals!
Make sure to share this post with anyone that has challenges with Time Management and leave me a comment below if you have any suggestions or additional tips.
XO,
Michelle @ Miami Mompreneur
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