We all get the same 24 hours a day to try to get it all done, right? Well, those hours don’t seem to stretch as far when you are trying to juggle being a business owner, being a momma and still keep your marriage alive.
Years ago when I was only on baby number three and still worked outside of the home, I thought I would lose my mind because my routine was crazy.
Here’s what my day looked like:
Get up early, get the kids ready, rush to work, rush back home, take care of evening activities, do dinner, baths and try to spend time with hubby.
Can you relate? It was a lot.
At some point, I made the decision to become a stay at home mom. I had three more babies, began homeschooling and started my own business. OMG things really got crazy for me then.
All of a sudden, I had no down time at all and it seemed like I was working 24 hours a day.
Can I get an amen? Are you with me?
It seemed like there were always things that needed my attention, appointments, lesson planning, runny noses, business planning, more dishes, clients…I could keep going but you get the point right?
And to make matters worse my family complained that I wasn’t spending enough time with them and my business activities never seemed like they got done.
I never felt like there were enough hours in the day and I couldn’t figure out where my time was going. I was going down, quick.
In order for me to get it all done, I had to come up with a system and some hard fast rules that allowed me to keep my sanity so I could rock my business and still be mom and wife of the year.
If you are juggling a business and still have kids and/or a spouse, chances are you get overwhelmed, frustrated, tired and probably have thought of throwing in the towel, too.
No worries, over the years I have come up with eleven absolutes for getting it all done and still get mom of the year, run a killer business and keep your marriage strong.
1. Create a schedule. This is so key, you have to know exactly what you plan to do on what day and at what time. Things get too crazy when you let the day plan itself.
2. Schedule work activities. If you know you have marketing, sales, customer service and creation activites they should be done on specific days/times. For instance, Monday is all about marketing activities for me.
3. Work in blocks of time. I use the Pomodoro method and work in blocks of twenty minutes with five-minute breaks in between.
4. Outsource the stuff that takes up way too much time to do.
5. Have a talk with your family and train them to honor your work hours. If you worked outside the home you wouldn’t be available during work hours so the same should work when you are in your office at home.
6. Honor your commitment to stop working when work hours are up. No cheating with the laptop in your bed or during tv time with family.
7. Plan to spend time with your children doing something they like with undivided time. This is so huge, you can be in the same room with them but if you aren’t giving them undivided attention it’s pointless.
8. Be intentional about time with your spouse. My husband and I do date night or date day every single week. This is our time away from the children. Your spouse needs to feel like he has some special time with just you.
9. Create a meal plan so when you grocery shop you know what to buy and you can prep food in advance. This will give you more time to work during the week.
10. Keep a thinking notebook so you can write down new ideas. This will help you avoid shiny object syndrom and distractions.
11. Set time aside early in the morning or at night when everyone is down and quiet to reflect and plan.
12. Take care of you. This is probably the hardest to do of all the tasks. When planning every other step remember to find some quiet time for you to regroup. It can be prayer, meditation, grocery shopping alone, a weekly trip to the nail salon or spa. This time is absolutely the glue that holds is all together.
Lastly, remember that every part of our life is just a season and it will pass. When your children are smaller or not feeling well you may have less time to spend on things because they need your more but this won’t be your season forever.
Now it’s your turn. What are your thoughts about getting it all done?
