You know the phrase ‘we all have the same amount of hours in a day’? Does that make you feel like a total failure because you’re not making the most of the 24 hours we’re all given every day? Yeah me too.
Well i’m calling BS on the notion that we all have the same amount of time. I get that there are 24 hours in the day but so much of the day is not our own once we take into consideration the kids, the meal preparation, the kids’ activities that need to be attended.
There are so many ways that time is taken away from us mums.
Let’s face it. We are time poor.
Learn How to Prioritise
If we learn how to prioritise, we can manage the time we do have allocated for work. If you’re like me, you have around 5 hours a day to get it all done.
One thing that will help claw back a bit of time is prioritising.
5 Easy Steps
Here are my 5 easy steps to prioritising what’s important and working on the tasks that really matter.
1. Digital or Paper to do list
Firstly decide if you are a digital or paper list writer. Work out where your to do list is going to be kept and do it all in the one place. I use Asana as I love to be able to jiggle things around and drag and drop to prioritise different things.
2. Sunday night planning
Start your week with a Sunday night planning session by noting down what you want to achieve in the coming week (3-5 things is good). This is a fantastic way to set yourself up for the week ahead and can take as little as 20 minutes.
3. Break those tasks down
Break those tasks into as many smaller tasks as necessary to get them done.
4. Prioritise
Next, prioritise your list using the principles; do now, do later, delegate or delete.
Then order the DO NOW tasks so you are working on the most imortant things first.
Please enjoy these other useful blog posts for mums in business.
5. Repeat
Each evening/morning go back to the list and rework which tasks are high priority to be done NOW. Using this method you know exactly what to start on when you sit at your desk. No faffing and wasting time 🙂
This method keeps me on track and makes the most of my precious work time.
I also find if I get distracted with a meeting or a phone call, these 5 easy steps allow me to get back on track with the right tasks without wasting time wondering what it is I should be doing.
I hope this helps you to prioritise your tasks and make the most of the time that you have available for work. Which if you’re a mummy, is probably limited, so let’s make the most of it!
