Time Management Starts with Tracking
Work-at-home moms...you know the drill. I KNOW you do.
It goes a little something like this: we can schedule all we want, but sh*t falls apart quick with kids and family life. Time management? Yeah, that can feel like nailing Jell-O to a tree. But there is a way through this madness and I’m here to tell you it starts with time tracking. Time management for work-at-home moms begins with a stone cold examination into how we’re spending our time in the first place. And yes, I mean ACTUALLY! There might be some surprises. Fear not!! This information is super important... without it, we can’t build a map for better time management.
Keep a Time Journal
We have two currencies...time and money. One is replaceable, one is not. ;)
It can be way too easy to over commit ourselves because we don’t factor in how long our tasks and commitments will take. This is where tracking can help! Buckle up, get bold and get honest, because we are about to face it head-on. We need to get that baseline data to build our starting point. Here’s how to do it:
STEP ONE! Commit. For the next 3 days (starting tomorrow) I want you to write down every single thing you do. (If you are reading this later than Sunday just start whenever you can). This is going to help show you where your time sucks, plus where your areas of weakness and areas of strength are.
STEP TWO! Track it. I've included a doc you can print and just fill in, carry it with you all day...you go potty (sorry, I live with a toddler), write it down! How long did it take? You actually just go to the bathroom to hide out for 10 mins while the toddler throws a fit...write it down! No judgment!! We just want data at this point. Seeing the actual time it takes to do things is going to shed some MAJOR light on your days.
Heads up: Even things that seem totally insignificant do matter for this exercise. And stay massively honest... otherwise, it won’t work.
Why it Pays to Track Your Time
It’s simple: awareness brings change!
My goal here is that you aren’t ashamed of the time spent, but rather you’re able to see, so you can adjust. Time management is not a natural process, it’s something we learn over time. The reason I like to start here? It's the best way to really see where our time is going. We can get to the end of the day and feel like we've accomplished nothing, but in reality, LOTS of things did happen. We just maybe didn’t put priority on the right areas.
By writing it all out in a time journal, we are going to see the areas that might need better prioritization and scheduling. Maybe we didn't accomplish anything because we had a sick kid or maybe we just don't have solid routines built in to keep everyone occupied while we attempt to accomplish stuff.
We can easily get distracted by all that needs to be done in our home for our family so that's why we need a plan and systems! Taking a cold hard look at where the time gets spent gives BIG opportunities to honestly learn more about our own habits and find those lightbulb moments that lead to an even better plan. A little good ol’ homework and awareness now will be wildly useful, so go ahead and fully rock it out.
Commit to tracking your time and watch what happens. You’ve gotta start somewhere, and that goes for any WAHMs out there no matter what you’ve got going on.
Are you struggling to figure out how to work while EVERYONE is home?!
Even though life is so uncertain right now, we can thrive. We can be intentional with our time, manage our house, kids AND still get our work done. I want to share some resources I've used over the last 12+ years of working at home WITH kids! These are the methods I've used and they work!
