Managing Time as a Mom Fuels Our Growth in Motherhood

As a mom, it can be easy to replace our identity with the title of “mom” or “wife”. Have you been wondering how your identity was lost? The answer? You have slowly been giving your all to everyone around you while forgetting to take care of yourself. By managing your time, you can claim back your identity. You can schedule your time to do all the things you need to do efficiently and still have time to fill your own cup (although, I suggest filling your cup first and then doing all the things on your never ending to do list.)

Maybe motherhood isn’t as fulfilling as we’ve been told because we have lost who we are as an individual in the process. If you want to find purpose in your life then you need to be intentional with your time. By being intentional with your time, you don’t waste your time. We often say that we are too busy, but what are we busy doing? Is what we are doing worth our time? 

Before we can change how we manage our time, we first need to know how we use our time. Be intentional for one day and see how you really manage your time. Write it down so you have a visual to refer back to. Then go through the list and see what serves you and what doesn’t. Ta-da! You have magically found more time to start creating the life you want filled with purpose.

What Does it Mean to Manage Time?

Being intentional with your time means you have scheduled what you’re doing with your time. You have allotted time for work, family, and personal time. You have time work for you instead of you working for time  

How to Manage Time?

It can be overwhelming to try and do everything at once. And if you do try everything at once, your chances of success are low. Chose one out of the four steps below that you can use to start being intentional with your time today.

– Managing Time Starts with a Plan

To manage time in your life, start by making a plan. Set aside time each week to see what you need to get done, then schedule those things over the course of the week. That way, you’re not trying to get everything done in one day and the stress levels are lower because you know you will get everything done. You also will see that you are unintentionally scheduling down time each day for you to do whatever fills up your cup.

– Brain Dumping Helps Manage Time by Creating Your “To Do” List

I try planning my day the night before. I look at the things I need to get done the next day and write it all down on a list AKA brain dump. I choose what I want to get done the next day from my brain dump list. Then I use time blocking to schedule when I do it the next day. Time blocking is a time management tool where you divide your day into blocks of time. Each block is dedicated to accomplishing a certain task(s). I suggest using blocks instead of hours because you have more flexibility. 

Finish your tasks early? Then you have some surprise down time to do what you want. The point of using time blocks is not so you can do more things in one day. It is so you can get the tasks done that you need to and have down time for you to enjoy and not feel guilty about. 

– Managing Time by Scheduling 5 Things to do Each Day

Now, don’t go and try to schedule 25 things to do in your time blocks. I suggest using my free template that can be downloaded below to schedule 5 things per day, with one of them being something you want to do. For example, the 5 things could be:

It can be easy to get inside our heads and say, “Their is no way that I can schedule and get 5 things done each day!”. And with that mindset, you would be right. In order to create a purposeful, passion filled life, we need to understand and reframe our mindset. By doing this we are taking something that has a negative light on it and shedding some positive light on it.

Negative – Their is no way that I can schedule and get 5 things done each day!

Mindset Reframe:

Positive – I will schedule one thing each day, When I can do one task each day, then I’ll add another task working my way up to 5 tasks each day.

By reframing our mindset, it allows us to manage time better. Instead of spending energy on negative thoughts that consume us (and can create us to spiral downward), we can focus our time and energy on positive thoughts that will allow us to create the life we truly want. We just have to get outside our heads.

– Managing Time Means Enjoying Free Time

As moms, we are wired to get as many things done as possible. So when we find a time management tool that helps us gain time to our day, we automatically want to be more productive and get more done. We automatically start adding more to our lists. Stop that urge! The point of motherhood is to enjoy making memories with our family and we can’t do that if we’re always chasing our “To Do” list. 

Instead, create a list of memories you want to create with your family. So the next time you find yourself with free time, you can pull out this list and make memories instead of cleaning out the cupboards. 

Managing Time Is Worth It

Your time is so important. In order to find purpose as a mom, we have to be intentional with our time. If we don’t, then we lose out on opportunities because we’re stuck doing the things that don’t serve us (a lot of times, not even knowing it). Be picky with what and who gets your time. You’ll be grateful that you did.