Hello everyone!
Today, I am starting a new series on my blog called Mompreneur Tips. For the past year, I have been trying to grow a startup company (Bloguettes) while being a new mom. I decided to start this series because since Diego was born, I have learned so much about how to be a mom and run and business. So, I would love to share all of this with you! If you are a crazy busy mom like me, are thinking about starting a business, or if you feel like you can’t do it all successfully, this series is for you!
Specifically, today I’ll be talking about how to be able to do it all, yes all: work, family time, couple time, friends, healthy living, and more. I know how hard it can be, sometimes we feel so overwhelmed that the only thing we can see in front of us is a big wall. Sometimes, this can be so overwhelming that we decide to do nothing. Has that ever happened to you? It has happened to me a million times, and unfortunately, it still does. Or the GUILT! The guilt of feeling like you’re not doing enough. I hate this feeling; I struggle with it constantly and have to fight it every time.
So what can you do to be able to do everything you need and want to do, in just 24 hours? Here are 5 tips that have really helped me:
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Plan in advance
The key to doing more is using a calendar and planning at least one month ahead. For example, I used to think I never had time to get a manicure or go to the dentist, but what I do now is add my personal appointments to my calendar weeks in advance. This way, as the day gets closer and other work or personal appointments start showing up, I already had that time reserved for me. Before, what would happen was that I tried to fit my personal appointments in an already packed schedule, so that would just create frustration and a feeling of never being able to do anything for me. If you try to do everything in two days, that’s when you get overwhelmed.
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Add everything to your calendar
Us moms have a million things going on in our head, right? So, write all of this on your calendar! Add all your work meetings, family appointments, date nights, activities with friends, and tasks that you absolutely need to complete that day. I promise it will change your life, because it will allow you to be more effective. Make a list of the things that matter to you most, and add those to your calendar first. Check your calendar as you need, but especially every night before you go bed so you are aware of what the next day looks like.
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Know what is important to you
Being able to do everything has a different meaning for everyone. For me, it means being able to be a good mom and spend time with Diego, spend time with my husband and have a healthy marriage, run my business, and take care of myself so I can be healthy. What does doing everything mean to you? I found that you will constantly be frustrated about how busy you are and feeling you can’t do everything you want, but many times we have not even spent 5 minutes thinking about what everything means to you. So, think about what your top priorities are and make sure you allocate enough time for each one.
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Be mindful and stop wasting time
What I mean by this is that whether you realize it or not, we tend to waste a A LOT of time of our days doing tasks or things that are not at all contributing to our life goals, like 40 min on facebook just catching up on what people that you have not seen in years or watching funny videos. That is not the best use of your time, and even if you justify it by saying you need a distraction, these distractions are just going to cause you more stress as you are not dedicating enough time to the things you actually care about. So, before you sit down for two hours on the couch to watch a movie, determine whether it’s the best use of your time. You will often find that the answers is NO (haha). However, if one of your goals is to spend more time as a couple, watching a movie might be the perfect way to do it!
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Get rid of the guilt
Yes, the guilt! I hate it! It use to haunt me everyday when I would go to work and leave Diego at home with our nanny (who by the way was my nanny, haha). However, now each day I try to allocate some time to each one of my priorities so I feel like I have balance, and I rotate by dedicating more time to one of them once or twice a week. So what exactly does this look like? For example, one of my priorities is to spend QUALITY time as a family, so every night, I make sure we sit down at dinner (no phones allowed) and just talk and have fun and Dustin and I play with Diego until he goes to bed. This is on a normal weekday where I have allocated the majority of my time to work, but I still get to work on my other priorities. However, on weekends, I allocate just one hour to work and the rest to my health and family. I found that this approach makes me feel better and feel like I am actually doing all the things that I want!
Bonus Tip: STOP CARING ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY OR THINK!
Sorry for the long post, but I hope you found it helpful! I am always looking for ways to improve, so if you have any tips or helpful resources like audio books or podcasts, I would love to hear your recommendations! Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in my next post!
P.S If you like the dress I’m wearing, it’s from a brand I recently discovered called Xirena. I have also added some of my favorite pieces from this brand to the bottom slider.
