If you’ve ever taken a look at the state of my laundry, you’ll know immediately that time-management was never my strong suit. Days later, those clothes will still be hanging out waiting to be folded and put away, and I’ll still be ignoring them until I’m scraping the bottom of my drawers. It’s not that laundry isn’t an important task – because it certainly is – it’s just that my priorities and my ability to delegate time don’t line up, and I’m working so hard lately to fix that.

Working mamas, I know for a fact you totally understand. The whole day slips by before you can even open your eyes all the way! Let’s talk about some major game changers for becoming a time-management master and finally taking strides towards your goals.

Learn and Practice Intentionality

The biggest issue across the board is the lack of intention behind everything we do. It’s so easy to get into a routine, do the bare minimum to get through the day, and sit back on our butts while precious time wastes away. I won’t sit here and pretend like I don’t do it – I absolutely am guilty of the same. I’ll sit down to answer emails and find myself miles down my TikTok feed 30 minutes later.

What really got me thinking about this was when I spent time with my kids. Adults and children don’t operate on the same level, and often, it’s hard to get super excited and interested about that same story they’re telling you for the 25th time. Suddenly, you find yourself getting lost in the TV or your phone and wasting that precious time with your kids!

Once I realized how much family and bonding time I was letting slip away just to waste hours on my phone, I woke up. It’s time to be intentional every minute of the day. Intentionally be present with your kids. Intentionally put your phone away and give work your 100%. Intentionally discuss important topics with your S.O. and set goals for your life. You won’t regret it.

Become an Expert at Identifying Time-Wasters

Becoming a zombie on your phone isn’t the only way to waste time. There are so many tasks and habits we get into that end up being major time wasters, and many of us don’t even realize it. To completely take control of your day and improve your time-management skills, you’ll want to quickly identify time wasters and eliminate them.

For me, Netflix and Instagram suck a majority of my time. Two hours spent watching shows and Reels could have been two hours I used to work towards my career goals or check things off my to-do list. Further, many tasks that are work or chore-related and often thought of as important could actually be minimized or completely cut out if you’re smart, saving you precious minutes that could be applied elsewhere.

For example, Larry and I identified that grocery shopping and preparing meals every day was actually wasting SO many hours out of every month. If we could cut that time out, we could dedicate those hours to working more instead. After adding and subtracting a few numbers, we found that we could cut down those hours spent and make more money just by investing in a meal prep subscription.

The same idea can be applied across the board. How many minutes do you waste logging in and out of that one software every day when you could just get it all done in one day and never have to log back in for that month? It might be an extreme example, but these kinds of changes do matter. Try creating time blocks for your schedule and batching similar work in your calendar and see the difference!

Set Strict Boundaries and Deadlines

As a mom of two and a wife, I completely understand how hard it can be to minimize distractions and meet deadlines. Constant interruptions and fires to put out on the daily can leave you drained and unproductive. The only way to get past this is to set boundaries with your family. Get a dedicated workspace that only you’re allowed to enter, or that you cannot be distracted in while the door is closed. Tell your kids that there’s a special time of day to discuss and handle any issues that came up at school or with each other and that otherwise, you need to be left alone.

When it comes to deadlines, I also want to point out that big goals are great for vision boards, but not for time-management and productivity. Once you know where you want to end up, put that vision board away and start breaking things down into really specific, small goals with short deadlines. Want to publish 100 blogs this year? Do the math and see how many blogs you’ll need to get done this week to be on track for success.

Remember in school – if we had a month to work on a project, we’d all procrastinate until 2 nights before it was due? Same concept with our goals. If we give ourselves smaller container space to get it done, it will get done quicker.

Seek a Mentor Who Understands Your Vision for Time-Management

I cannot stress this enough: There’s nothing more helpful than to have a confidant and mentor who not only understands where you’ve come from and where you’re at, but where you’re going. If you need help with time-management to reach your career goals, seek out someone who has personally dealt with similar struggles and has clawed their way to the top.

Don’t know where to start? I’d love to talk if you’re open to a discussion about your goals and tackling what’s holding you back. Please reach out to me for a little one-on-one!

Talk soon!

XX – Lyss