The one thing that moms need more of is TIME. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but how productive are you? You are most likely on the go the whole day with taking care of the kids, cooking, working and doing other household stuff. Finding time for yourself can be challenging. Determining how to master productivity and be efficient will help you fit everything you want to be done in a day.
My daily activities include being a mom to 3 kids, working full time, keeping up with household chores, exercising and working on my blog. I certainly have been experimenting with ways to be more productive and efficient in what I do.
Here I present my 5 best tips on how to master productivity
Productivity TIP #1: Finding pockets of time
Find those pockets of time during your day to get things done. Waking up earlier than your kids. Whether it be 30 minutes to a couple of hours, this time is yours. Use this time to do whatever you need to do to get a head start to your day. Enjoy quiet time, exercise, work on a project or hobby, do some stuff on your to do list, or whatever you want! However, with this tip, it is important to go to bed earlier to make sure you are well rested to start your day.
Other pockets of time could be when your child is napping, when you got 10 minutes while you are waiting for food to cook, or when your partner is playing with the kids. Look for those pockets of time – even if you have a few minutes.
Productivity TIP #2: Choose 3 things to get done daily
The power of pen and paper. There is something about writing things down. Either the night before or the morning of, write down 3 things (from your TO-DO list) that need to be done by the end of the day. Make note of how long you think it will take to finish the task. This will give you an idea of which ones you can quickly do in those small pockets of time you may find.
For example, making a doctor appointment or other quick phone calls when your kids are busy playing. Tasks that require more time will require a bit more planning.
Checking things off of a list is a great feeling. Furthermore, in one week you will cross off 21 things on your list! Win!
Productivity TIP #3: Use a planner and create a routine for the family
It’s important to have some sort of planner to help keep activities organized for the whole family. You can use a physical paper planner or use one online. Google Calendar is an excellent online option.
Use the planner to:
- Implement TIP #2. Write your 3 tasks in your planner
- List important upcoming dates (birthday parties, school stuff, sporting activities, special classes for the kids)
- Set a daily schedule. I believe kids thrive on routine. They know what activities to expect and are more willing to cooperate. Routine makes things flow better and fewer surprises for everyone.
- Incorporate more to do tasks in your schedule.
- Set deadlines for your tasks
- Schedule time for YOU.
Productivity TIP #4: Batching activities
Batching activities will save you time and effort. 3 activities to batch:
Cleaning
Set a time block during the week to get everyone to help with house clean up. Kids to clean up their toys and room and hubby helps out too.
Meal planning
Taking the time to plan your meals for the week, grocery shopping in one trip and batching food prep is a huge time saver! Meal planning will also help you save money by staying home to eat and leads to less food waste. Here’s how to meal plan: 9 Steps to Effective Meal Planning
Plan outfits for the week
This is a great tip for working moms. Before the work week begins, set out your outfits for the week. It will save you time every morning trying to figure out what to wear. Do it for the kids too!
Productivity TIP #4: Self-care
Taking care of yourself goes a long way to be being productive. It’s a cycle. If you are productive and get the things you need to be done in a day, you will have extra time to do things for yourself. If you take care of yourself you will have the energy and motivation to get things done. It’s like the chicken and egg story.
Productivity TIP #5: Minimize the distractions
What are some distractions for you? Your cell phone and social media can be huge distractions. Turn off social media for a set time period to get things done. It’s a distraction from spending quality time with your kids and it can be a time suck when you need to get things done. Schedule time in your day when you allow yourself to engage with social media.
Multi-tasking can be a distraction as well. Doing more than one thing at a time (is that even possible?) be deter you from being efficient at getting things done. Focus on one task, get it done and move one.
Moms can be incredibly busy with so many things to do in 24 hours. I hope my 5 “how to be productive” tips will help you master productivity. In doing so, you will find time to do things for yourself. Make life easier, effective and efficient.
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All excellent tips! I really need to get better about writing things down. Whenever I do write down my tasks it does help but it seems almost like a task to take the time to write a “to do” list. And batching activities is also a big help. I do feel more productive when I do that. At least I do sneak in 5 minutes intervals throughout the day to work in small amounts of intensity workouts, so that’s something. 🙂
These tips are good for anyone, not just moms.
Hi Minda.
Thanks for sharing these tips on how to more productive.
Planning outfits for the week is something I struggled with a lot when I was still working 9 to 5. Thank God I won’t have to anymore since I’m now a stay at home mom. lol
But batching activities, especially meal planning works very well for my family. And it gives me time to do other things. For self-care, I do night yoga and it really helps me sleep well and be ready for the next day.
Awesome post!
Great tips for productivity! Doing little stuff like this really does help!
Finding pockets of time in between different activities is a life saver. I had everything on my desktop but I invested in a mobile device in September and now I can manage my social media while picking up my kids and waiting for them at their extracurricular activities. It has definitely helped me a lot.
Good tips! I am terrible at all of these so I going to start to try writing my to do lists and see if it helps me! X
I really love these tips.
I am not a morning person at all, but when I do set my alarm to get up a little earlier, I do notice that my day is much more productive!
I love these tips on how to stay more productive as a mom. It is really nice to see number 5, where distractions should try and be avoided and i really have a hard time with this one but thank you for mentioning it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I am sitting here now, up early before the rest of my house! It is the best part of my day. I can catch up on tasks or simply have a tiny bit of me time!
This is good! I thought I was organized and productive then I had a kid. Lol! I really like the writing of the todo list for the next day. I also have a planner that I write in, and then don’t reference it again. ugh! Thank you for these great ideas; I will be implementing them!
Wow, your typical day sounds very similar to mine. I have 3 kids and work full time too, plus I always try to find time to exercise and work on my blog. I love your first tip about getting up early. I do this on the weekends and it helps me get some extra things checked off of my to do list.
I completely agree that having a good routine and an actual list you can check off to physically and visually know you actually accomplished things is so useful! While I know getting up early would really help, I have a baby that has a late bedtime – I need my sleep! Lol
Sleep is really important too! High on my list to get enough 🙂
Love the tips on writing 3 things to get done daily and how to use a planner. There were more I will implement too. Great suggestions, thank you!
Thanks Alex! I find the 3 things to get done daily is easy yet effective!
Love this! Smart tips. Thanks for sharing ♥️ ♥️ By any chance, are you interested in doing collabs? xx
Thanks! I will check out your website regarding collaboration!
Informative post, l like to write down my to do list because without it my day gets wasted. Thanks for sharing ❤
Yes! Writing down a to do list is so effective. Thanks for dropping by
These are great tips! I often forget to take time for myself too! I am a master at being unproductive. Thanks for the advice!
Jennifer! Lol, I hope some of these tips will inspire you to be more productive 🙂 I check out your website, I like your post on 12 surprising facts about weight gain!
Making lists and having a planner are essential to how I’m able to be more productive as a wahm. When I don’t have a to do list my productivity goes out the window!
I love lists and my planner. I agree – they are essential to being productive. Thanks for dropping by Rebecca 🙂
Love these ideas!
Thanks Kylie!