Effective Time Management Tips And Strategies For Full-TIime Working Moms

Sometimes I wonder why my time flies, and I have the impression that half of the things I wanted to do, I didn’t. In other words, I wasn’t sure why I wasted my time on something that is unproductive. Then I decided to effectively manage my time, my life, and my activities to be satisfied at the end of the day. Also, I will use some strategies in order to manage my time schedule as a full-time working mom.

There is always a combination of many small and big jobs that I need to do. And somehow, I have the impression that the amount of tasks is continuously increasing. Therefore If you regularly find yourself bouncing from obligation to obligation, you will feel stuck, and just like I felt before, then it is time to change something.

If you keep reading you will find a lot of tips on how to manage your time, as well as a few strategies on how to achieve your goals as a full-time working mom.

Make a decision

However, my love for life is enormous, and I enjoy every moment of it. However, that is why I decided to manage my time to balance work, home obligations, and my free time. Secondly, life is unpredictable, especially when you have kids. However, it is hard to handle chaos, but I realized that I could optimize my time at home and work with good strategies.

Furthermore, I live separated from my family, and I don’t have help from my mom, sister, or cousin. And, because I’ve moved a few times in the last two years, I don’t even have many friends to help. That’s another reason why I had to organize my time smartly. And that is why I worked on time management for working moms.

In the text below, you can find the result of my research. And these are three essential tips and strategies for achieving the goal and successfully organizing your time.

1. IDEA AND ANALYSIS

In conclusion before any planning and making strategies, you need an idea. What do you expect from your life? What are your priority choices? 

In short, you need to start working on your time management and make a solid plan. Therefore, before you begin with your strategies and planning, you should do two things:

Reflection

Therefore, reflect and process all strategies you did before. Understand how you are spending your time. Above all, ask yourself the following questions:

• What worked well and what didn’t? 
• What mistakes did you make?
• Do I know my priorities?
• Do I try to multitask, and I am not good at it?
• Am I taking too much? Do I know to say no to some delegated tasks? 
• Can I manage distractions?
• Do I procrastinate with some commitments that are not priorities or are less important?
• Do I manage to have a proper break?
• Set Time Management Goals and add your calendar.

Setting goals

Setting goals gives you a long-term vision and motivation. Setting detailed objectives, focuses your attention on priorities and helps you to fulfill your tasks. Everyone has their system and way of life. For example, our goals and desires are different for us, but some universally essential areas are the same. Here are some recommendations on what you could pay more attention to:

• • Family
  • Relationship goals (for instance, things that can help to maintain your good relationship with your partner, as well as with your kids), family time
  • Daily must-dos (e.g., washing clothes, cooking, cleaning)
  • Career
    • What position you would like to have at work
    • Relationships at work
    • Financial goals
  • Mindset
    • Reading
    • Meditation 
  • Education
    • Language classes
    • Career improvement courses 
    • New skill/hobby
  • Health goals
    • Relaxation time/rest
    • Exercise
    • Food preparation and healthy choices

Further, there are so many ideas and possibilities. It is up to you what your preferences are. Do not dissipate, but stick to the most important things. First, make an essential list of goals. Second, if there is space left for some more action, always have another list with the wishes and objectives you want to implement.

In conclusion, it is crucial to know that life is unpredictable, and many things can happen. Furthermore, that way everything you planned could be disturbed, so you have to be flexible and have plan B.

It looks like a lot to do, but it will be easier to understand and adapt to the new system once you plan and start your routine.  The situation that makes you more productive and happier.

2. EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR FULL-TIME WORKING MOMS

As I already mentioned, everybody is different, and this guide should give you some direction on how to do it. 

However, before you plan your day, a week, a month, and a quarter of a year, you should find your most helpful strength and identify what makes you productive. 

For example, your valuable strength is delegation. You delegate all tasks you can so you will have more time for things that you should do.

An example of productivity could be good music, morning meditation, or anything that motivates you to focus and do your staff things fast. Moreover, you will need a planner or vision board that you can buy or draw by yourself. Also, you can use google calendar, which has proven to be very effective. On Google calendar, you can set a handy reminder if you get carried away in one of the jobs.

Along with those advances, there are a few more essential skills you need. Check them below:

1. Start your day with a focus
2. Review the plan you made for the day in the morning. In the morning, we are awake with clear heads.
3. Reduce disruption
4. Make a productive-dynamic task list
5. Mark differently with colors of urgent and most important, less important tasks, events, daily routine, and other tasks.
6. Limit multi-tasking

TIME MANAGEMENT PLAN

For instance, set goals for every three months (quarterly), and then review your performance at the end of that cycle. Use a piece of paper or notebook to draw a table (see, e.g., below the text) or write. It will benefit you to simplify everything, and that way, you will see the bigger picture and understand whether you are using your time adequately or not.

Don’t write a lot. In other words, It takes both time and space. After that, your notes should be clear visually so that when you look at the plan, everything is visible. Less is more!

In addition, a simple time management strategy is to set a maximum of five things you want to achieve each day. Those are your priorities.

How to Handle a Time Audit:

1. Make a table for the month (see the image below or you can download it for FREE)
2. Draw 4 columns and 4 rows
3. Divide the month by weeks and write dates too
4. In the second column, write your priorities with heights value.
5. In the third column, write your less critical tasks.
6. Certainly the last column reserved for tasks with the lowest value. These are tasks that you don’t have to do if you don’t have enough time.

The Table above gives you a complete picture of what is essential. To add additional material to this strategy, spend 20-30 minutes on a Sunday or Monday morning setting up your key priorities for the week ahead.

It makes your time management more effective. In addition to this Table you need another one with more details, please see it below. You can download it for FREE.

• Meanwhile, make a table for the week (see image below and download it for FREE. You will make a weekly plan at the same time as a monthly plan. You are aware that your plans could change, so be flexible about your weekly program. 

Tips on how to plan your weekly program

1. First, make a table for the first 4 weeks (see image below)
2. For one table draw 5 columns and 8 rows
3. Columns order:
   1. The first column is for basic information such as day and date (see image below)
   2. The second column is for the morning routine, pattern, or cycle. It is totally up to you.
   3. The third column is for time-out or coffee break/lunchtime. This space you can reserve for your free lunchtime, whether you are at work or home. Furthermore, you can write your meeting point where you will have lunch with your friend or colleague.
   4. The fourth column is for afternoon activities, primarily including weekly routines.
   5. The fifth column is for evening occupation, mainly including weekly routine
   6. You can always add an extra column in case you would like to write goals and extra notes for that week
4. Rows order:
   1. The first row is for titles
   2. Other raws are for days and dates

Small note: crucial things are your priority. That means you should include it mainly in the morning routine. For example:

• Essential calls do it in the morning.
• If you need to write a critical proposal for the client, a presentation for employee training, or a blog article for your website, do it in the morning
• If you need to do your financial condition, make it your morning routine.

3. Drive and Focus

• Control your time effectively – Always remember that you are the one who controls your time.

• Day off – Part of this time management system focuses on taking Free Days, too, when there are no work-related activities.

• Take care of yourself while taking care of relationships, kids, household, and workplace responsibilities. Time management is essential in maintaining mental and physical health in the classical sense of the word. Thus, it reduces the possibility of lower productivity and lower ability to organize.

• Time blocking and focus – You can use the system that Elon Musk is using. He is an entrepreneur and businessman and a very busy man. He is using the time blocking method. Time blocking is committing a certain number of hours to just one task and blocking off time for other jobs. In this system, he focuses without distractions.

This system of time management is beneficial to balance and control life at work and at home. It will contribute by developing a sense of security, ability, and thus self-satisfaction. With the right mindset and practical strategies, you can enjoy your life more.