In such a fast-paced world, balancing your time whilst also making enough money to survive can be a challenge; as can ensuring a plentiful supply of time with your family whilst simultaneously nurturing your career… let alone squeezing in the “me time” necessary to keep you sane.
Without a doubt, life can feel like a balancing act where we are trying to squeeze the most out of our two most precious resources – time and money.
Time is an often overlooked and under-appreciated gift. We are all blessed with 24 hours each day, yet many of these hours are spent doing things that truly don’t matter to you or create value to your life; as an example, being sat in traffic each day.
Life is short and unpredictable, and of course, there are necessary things that none of us enjoy which need to be taken care of, but sometimes we live our lives as if tomorrow is somehow guaranteed and forget to squeeze the most out of life.
Indeed, whilst we all know we have a finite amount of time here – it’s not usually until something shakes us up, like the death of a close friend or a terminal diagnosis that we truly appreciate the value of time. Consider, for example, the film “The Bucket List” where two guys are diagnosed with cancer and decide from that point in to use their remaining time to fully experience life.
Today, new mom’s for example, are having to work such long hours they end up missing out on the joy of parenting; either they’re too emotionally exhausted from having to balance their career with being a mother, or they are so time-starved they barely get the chance to spend time with their family.
Similarly, with single career-focused women, their career can become their life… and with so many distractions now vying for our attention, in today’s world we need to look at ways to have more free time freedom so that we can engage in the important things in life; rather than living in a perpetual state of reaction where we are just trying to keep balance.
As women, we are often guilty of playing the role of “caretaker” too well, in that we take care of everyone else first and leave ourselves to last, but it’s worth thinking about the safety announcement you hear when flying; how you should always attend to your own oxygen mask before helping others.
In a similar vein, it’s important to remember that life is for you… as well as your family and your career… it’s important to set time aside for yourself too and really connect with yourself.
We’ve established that time is an incredibly valuable resource so let’s now take a look at some time-saving tips to help you focus on what matters most:
- ORDER GROCERIES ONLINE
Think of how much time you could save if you were to simply order your groceries online and have them delivered to your door. The drive to the store, the time in the store, packing bags, driving back, unpackaging bags, not to mention the potential for traffic. Setting essential items to repeat on a weekly or monthly basis is a great way to keep on top of things without having to exert much mental energy.
- GET A CLEANER
It’s true that not everyone can afford a cleaner, but this can be such a time (and sanity) saver, particularly for busy moms. In the alternative, you can always turn cleaning into a fun game where the kids get involved with cleaning as playtime activity; or set yourself a timer and see how much you can get done in just thirty minutes making cleaning a slightly more engaging and manageable task.
- WORK REMOTELY
If possible, see if you can work remotely, from home, in a way that enables you to work flexible hours; this way, your time is your own. Similarly, if you study, nowadays you can study most courses online without needing to attend a physical class – as an example, you can even study online rn bsn degrees. This not only saves time but also money, as online courses are often cheaper due to the reduced overheads… plus you don’t need to travel to the course or get overnight accommodation, which in addition to cost savings, means more quality time with your family.
- ORGANISE YOUR TIME
The convenience of online working and online studying means you have much more time to enjoy your life, and for that matter build a life. We spend far too much time living in reaction to work – trying to fit our lives in, yet it doesn’t have to be that way; the amount of time you can save by having a good planning system in place is phenomenal… a lot of “time management” comes down to first planning your tasks so that you can keep on top of things with ease.
- WORK WHEN YOU WORK
Brian Tracy, a pre-eminent time management expert advocates the idea that you work when you work and rest when your rest; meaning if you are sitting down to work – ensure you have a singular laser-like focus on the task at hand in a distraction-free environment. Today, particularly when working from home, people multitask by working with their laptop on their lap whilst having the TV on in the background or even dropping in and out of a conversation with their spouse.
By fully working when you work, you can reduce the amount of time you are needing to work – and you’ll get the added benefit of being able to fully rest when you rest.
- THE PARETO PRINCIPLE
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule suggests 20% of our activities account for 80% of the outcome. In simple terms, you want to focus on what tasks are going to have the greatest impact and get these done first. Often, we can get lost in the small tasks that create a lot of “busyness” in our lives and detract from the time we need to manage our “business” – be that in a commercial or personal context.
The best way to determine what your most valuable tasks are is to write out a list of all your tasks for the day, week, or month and then determine which tasks are going to create the greatest impact; then make sure you focused on these tasks above all else. This time management principle is the cornerstone of almost all books on the subject and is just as applicable to busy mom’s as it is to busy executives.
Friends, those are my tips for managing The Great Balancing Act at home and in life. Share your story below. What are your best tips for managing it all at home? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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