The past few months for me (as I’m sure they have for so many of us) have been a bit of a roller coaster. My best month in business in 7 years, happened to coincide with a worldwide pandemic and lock down with my two boys aged 5 & 3 at home, full time, with me.
Gone was school and childcare, as well as my lovely working routine. On a daily basis I would go from feeling so thankful that I was being kept busy with work, to feeling so overwhelmed and guilty that I wasn’t spending enough quality time with my boys. Overnight my business moved from my organised, calm and tidy office upstairs to the kitchen table with two little boys at my side.
The past few months have really made me examine how I spend my time and have encouraged me to try out some new ways of working, so I could still deliver an efficient and organised service to my clients, but also look after my boys, who needed me during a time of huge change in their lives.
I hope the following tips I share with you, help you to start managing your time more efficiently too, and freeing it up so you can begin to ease your feelings of overwhelm or guilt, if you are spinning multiple plates at the moment:
- Set the alarm – I don’t recommend doing this every day, but on the days that I know I have a lot on, I set the alarm for an hour earlier so I can get at least a 1 hour (uninterrupted) head start before the rest of the house wakes up.
- Take regular breaks – before lock down I would spend most of my working day in the office and just grab a quick sandwich at my desk. Now I tend to have regular breaks so I can spend some time building Lego, reading books or having a chat, before I get onto the next task. It can be hard to do this when I have a lot on, but I find that I am more productive for doing it and it helps to break up the day for my boys too.
- Say no! – learning to say no to things that don’t have a high importance / urgency to you isn’t a bad thing. It’s a great way to conserve the time and energy that you have available. I say no to a lot of things at the moment, just for the time being anyway, whilst I have a lot going on.
- Plan your week – planning your week to make sure you get everything completed, as well as leaving time for you, is really important. I have got into the habit of planning my week on a Sunday night, ready for the week ahead.
- Switch off in the evenings / at weekends – I used to be quite flexible around my working week but now I am really strict about working in the evenings / at weekends. Apart from my Sunday night planning, I don’t do any work now on a weekend. This is my family time and we try to get out of the house as much as we can. A weekend is when I feel I can truly switch off and not feel as much mum guilt as usual!
- Keep it manageable – don’t feel compelled to cram too much into your working week. Maybe try keeping some days dedicated to meetings and others to getting work done. Cramming in too much can lead to feelings of overwhelm, which we definitely don’t need at the moment!
The most important thing is finding a way that works for you and your business and sticking to it. Don’t be afraid to try a few routines until you find the right one for you. Once you do, you will soon start to see a difference in the time you have available each day and how you feel.
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