“You know, if you want to get something done, give it to a busy mom.” Kevin O’Leary
Are you a working mom? (A blogging mom? Yes, blogging is work. Lots of work you never expected). Are you like me and do them both? Let’s talk about working, blogging mom balance.
Women are the masters of the multi-tasking universe. Seriously. Do you ever make dinner while picking up the kitchen, helping with homework, being the entertainment director for a toddler, running the laundry and talking on the phone or catching up on your podcast? If you have, you are DEFINITELY not alone!
I don’t think I know how to just sit and fold laundry. Or eat for that matter. LOL. We have always got to be doing 2 (or more) things at once! I can’t remember the last meal I had that wasn’t also feeding someone else and no i’m not talking about a grapes to my husband. Ha!
I think it probably dates back to the hunter-gather times and the fact we gathered berries, watched kids, tended flocks, sewed clothes, stoked fires and a myriad of other tasks. Men went out and sat on a rock and waited for an animal to come. Still and silent. For hours. Lol
Fast forward some eons and we are still hard wired to multi-task. In whichever realm we have chosen be it career, school, relationships, as a mother, sister, friend. So much to do- not enough time in the day. So when faced with the reality that we can not be all things to everyone at all time, finding a balance in these roles is crucial to our success, happiness and fulfillment.
One of my biggest goals this year was to balance my family/home life with my work/blog life. This blogging mom balance is definitely elusive. This means putting those multi-tasking skills to good use where applicable (i.e laundry and webinars) and freeing up time to be intentional about other things. Spouse, kids, spiritual study, work, etc
My Multi-Tasking Background
I went from double majoring in college on multiple club presidencies and student bodies while working full time and raising foster kids to a working two full time jobs jet-setting career woman to a working full time mama to support our little family while my husband completed his clinicals to a stay at home mama with a full time blog, big aspirations and living 2500 miles away from family. Basically i’ve been through the trenches of being over-scheduled and trying to do it all. I have pushed myself to the point of cancer and being forced to take a step back and find balance.
So today we are going to talk about some time management, tips and tricks to help you find that sweet spot. Things I have learned thus far (and know that this continues to change as I learn more). Things that are important for my fulfillment, happiness and health.
BE INTENTIONAL
Define Your Why
It’s important to define your “why”. It’s important for anyone, but especially when you are trying to “have it all”. You need a plan. If you are going to take your life to the next level, be that woman you admire, you have to set yourself up for success. So what does your successful and balanced life look and feel like? Be honest with yourself as well. My successful life is going to look A LOT different than someone else and that is great! My balanced life looks like time for me to work on my hobbies, LOTS of time with my kids and family, a clean home, me making dinner each night, family time without technology once a week, a once a week date night, time at the gym, constantly learning something new or taking on a new project and time set aside to get to work. I need my work to feel fulfilled. There are other details in there but that is what my balanced, successful life looks and feels like.
What does yours look and feel like? I would love to know!
- You have 24 hours. What are you going to do with them? I list my top priorities for the day and how much time they take. Don’t forget to sleep. Then I subtract all of those and end up knowing what “free” time I have left to work with for my other items. When I look at it that way I go from feeling overwhelmed with everything I have to do, to realizing I have oodles of time. 😉
- 3 Daily Goals. Write down your three goals at the beginning of the day to accomplish each that day and focus on them. Do not fall into the abyss of social media, email or pinterest. Just three goals for the day can keep you on track.
- Weekly Goals. Write down your goals for the week. Be realistic. Make them actionable. Fill the smaller steps into the days.
- Hustle. Realize that you are going to have to hustle during your “spare” time. You can sit and whine about not having time or you can turn off RHOBH and get to work. Don’t get hangovers or stay up all night when you don’t need to. Don’t spend hours on Reddit. You have the same 24 hours that Oprah does.
Working (and yes that means BLOGGING) Mom Balance Tips
- Little Helpers. Have your kids help you with your household tasks. Be it filling the dishwasher, picking up the house, sweeping, etc. My 18 month old isn’t very helpful but even now you give him a towel and he will wipe the floor like mad! They also have pint sized cleaning tools so they can really feel involved. It takes time for sure, but then you are getting stuff done, spending time with little ones AND teaching them some valuable lessons that will be so great when they are older! My 6 year old is such a great little helper already.
- Sleep Time = Writing Time. Write your posts (or do your other #girlboss work) while they sleep. Even if you aren’t a morning person you can make little changes to help conquer that. I love the podcast by Michael Hyatt where he addresses this with 9 very doable steps. Then maybe put the kids to bed a half hour early and if you still get nap time- do a little bit then.
- Schedule social media posts out as much as you can! There are several great time-saving tools for this. I love TailWind for Pinterest scheduling, Hootsuite, Buffer and Coschedule all are great options for other social media. Save your social media responses for the you’re random in-between time. Say if you’re in line at the post office, or bank, or at the checkout counter, or breastfeeding!
- Keep a running brainstorm session! I use “notes” on my computer that syncs with my email account and phone to keep my random thoughts and brainstorming in one place- for the most part.
- Schedule and re-use old content. One of the most liberating and genius practical applications of this I have recently learned through the pre-conference training for the Build Your Blog Conference. Bonnie (the pre-conference trainer and rockstar) even shared an awesome template/planner (in webinar 3 or 4) to take your past content and get it back recirculating. As busy multi-tasking women we need to work SMARTER not harder and this has been so life changing for me! The conference will be available online for a year so you can pause, rewind and repeat. This has been crucial for me to fit into those free hours I find!
- Combine activities. Just like the idea with the cleaning, I moved all my skin care into the kids bathroom. I am an esthetician so I get a lot of stuff done in the bathroom while my toddler takes a bath. Chemical Peel time! Or I let him paint if I am painting. Etc. I try to include and combine things as much as possible.
- Be Ready To Make Some Sacrifices. For non-blogging work I am lucky enough to schedule that around my husbands work schedule. It means longer days for me but it’s important to me and my clients so I make it happen. I recognize how blessed I am by this.
Comments (45)
What a great list of tips! I especially love the idea of getting kids involved! This will help you and make fun memories too! Thanks for joining in on the blog hop!
Of course! Thank you for stopping by and reading!!
I know blogging is hard work!! My kids are grown and I still have a hard time getting things done!
I am not as creative as I used to be either. Keep up the good work!
I think that is the important thing to realize- there will always be hurdles and there will always be seasons of our lives! I wish I had the energy I had in my 20’s now for mom hood haha! Thank you so much for reading!
Deüx Bella recently posted…Blog Conference Tips & The Southern C Summit
Such a great post with wonderful tips! Being a mom is challenging and especially when you add blogging to the mix. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for reading! It was a lot of information I know 🙂
Deüx Bella recently posted…Blog Conference Tips & The Southern C Summit
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Thank you so much for these posts! You have offered some great tips for managing your time. I also love how you most recent post links back to your earlier posts on the subject.
Thank you! So glad you found this helpful, thanks for reading!!
What a great list. I love your honesty and motivation. I am new to blogging. I can’t wait to learn more and learn more about balance.
We are new at it too and we learn some thing new everyday! Good advice we got was to set the amount of time you can work on your blog and then make of list of what’s most important to accomplish in your time frame, everything else you don’t get done can wait. Xo
Blogging can take up a lot of time! Glad you found balance. Pinned to my blogging board!
Yay! Still working on it (definitely a work in progress) but I am relieved to be finding some! It definitely can take up a lot of time!
Wow your time management skills must be amazing. I pride myself a multi-tasker, but I’m not sure I could ever juggle as many things as you! I love your balancing tips, especially to schedule social media posts and re-use old content. Always a nice reminder. 😉
- Brianne
It’s amazing how helpful it is when pre scheduling social media! Really helps with time management. 😊
Love everything about this! I am a huge multi-tasker and I’m not sure I know how to sit still very long anymore. It is so important to choose how you spend your time and think about what is most important to you. It is too easy to get lost in mindless time-suckers and get behind on all that needs done. Thanks for sharing
Of course! So glad you found it helpful!!
This is such a great post! Ugh, I’ve just been feeling so much lately that there are just not enough hours in the day. And I’m a SAHM - I’m sure working and blogging and parenting and being married is crazy!! I always think I’m good at multitasking until I fail, but I’ve learned from this post that you can be smart about it! I love the idea of “little helpers” - can’t wait until my little guy is old enough to help 🙂 Scheduling, re-using old posts, and utilizing sleep time are all excellent tips too!
Ah thank you we are so glad you found it helpful. Whenever we come across a struggle or hurdle we have been trying to redirect our focus into something we know will be a success for us. 😊
Such great tips! It’s so hard to balance it all sometimes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!
xo
Lee Anne
http://lifebylee.com/
Thank you! I always say I would rather have too much, then not enough to do!
Yes, blogging is definitely hard work! For sure - so gratifying but hard… I love how you break out “goals” and write them down daily, weekly, etc. - I need to do this! Very encouraging post! Great tips! It’s so hard to stay “balanced” with or without small kids at home (I have two young adult daughters) and the struggle is real - but with a plan like you have…. at least we would have a shot of success!
I am so glad you were able to get some use from our post. It’s so amazing how setting that time aside, creating lists really help to stay more focused. Thanks so much for reading.
What a fabulous read, as a mom/blogger, too! I have rolled very much this way, but I don’t always execute these practices very well! So reading them, and especially in someone else’s words (yours today….and well put…thank you) is really encouraging. Just fantastic advice, formom/bloggers new and veteran.
Thank you so much! I am so glad you enjoyed reading this post. Blogging does take so much time so to have a plan in place always helps us get the most done for the day.
These are good tips and I’m going to take your advice and install the app for scheduling blog posts. Why wasn’t I doing this sooner? DOH!
Ahhhhhhhhh it is a life saver!!!!!!!! You will love it!!
Your tip of “Being Intentional” is right on! If you do not plan your day, it will get away from you! 🙂
Exactly!!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Some really great ideas here. I’ve recently started re-using old content - it’s still relevant so of course I should be! I am going to take your advice and start scheduling posts, I do it every now and again but need to be more consistent. Great tips!
Thanks Alison! These are definitely the things that have made our lives a bit easier when it comes to blogging.
I have a multitasking “problem” too! I can never just sit and watch TV. Last night we were watching a movie, I was eating ice cream, and checking my email. I still knew what was happening in the movie too! Moms are just wired to multitask. My husband is the complete opposite, he can barely even hold a conversation while he is concentrating on something else.
Haha you are totally right!!!!!! Women are just naturally multi-taskers, my husband has to do one thing at a time too! Lol
These are great tips and I am not a mum, but I work all day long. Trying to balance work and blogging is hard! Blogging does require a lot of time.
It sure does and we totally understand the struggle it can be to be balanced. It’s definitely a daily struggle but these tips have been really helpful for us. Thank for stopping by.
I struggle with this. So bad. I am new to blogging - only 5 weeks in and I am getting a little better with scheduling my time.
Welcome to the blogging community! Making top priority lists on which will be most impactful is always how I start the day. Good luck on your journey!!
I love these tips!!! Time management is everything and I can always use some tips!!! I work full time and we are expecting baby #2 in a few weeks!! I have no clue what blogging will look like then!
Ah congratulations!!!!! That’s so exciting! Great advice we got from Jordan Page was to set aside the amount of time you have that day to blog, make a list of what’s most important and anything you don’t get done can wait for the next day. Xo good luck!
This is such a great post!! I totally think that moms are the most amazing multi-taskers on the face of the planet! GO you. Thanks for sharing these tips- I may need them some day 🙂
Ah you are so welcome Kelsie! Thanks for stopping by!
I am learning how to be more intentional with my time. Grad school and working has really been something else, but I am fully confident that the lack of sleep is preparing me well for motherhood haha!! Love reading this post- I love how you break your goals into small numbers that are achievable.
It really is! I can confirm that! Haha I am so glad for the nights we pulled 2-3 in a row. All nighters and red bull. So fun. The only thing is now I’m like- I should have been sleeping! Hahahaha. You will be totally prepared 🙂
I work full time and blog part time (sometimes it feels full time). I am constantly multi tasking with work and blogging. I feel like even after work hours I am multi tasking with trying to get things ready for the night and next day.
Exactly!!! I totally know how that is, sometime I feel like I am even multi tasking in my dreams lol!!