Isn't it amazing how much working moms can accomplish in a day? While juggling work and personal commitments, we have the opportunity to make each moment count with our family while achieving success at work. As working moms, we are constantly learning and growing, embracing the beautiful challenges life throws our way.
Time management is a valuable skill that empowers working moms to optimise our day and find a positive way to integrate work and life. By efficiently using our time, we will alleviate stress and anxiety that may arise from trying to do too much.
The technique of managing and planning how to split your time between multiple tasks and responsibilities is known as time management. If you implement it correctly, you'll find that you work more efficiently and successfully to complete more tasks in less time, even under deadlines and extreme pressure. The work-life juggle as a working mom will also become easier with better time management.
Time management and productivity
Many advantages emerge when you have effective time management skills. These include:
- Increased productivity and efficiency
- Reduced stress and anxiety
- Better standing within the business
- More opportunity for professional and personal growth
- Greater chance to accomplish your goals in life and work
- A better opportunity to be more present as a working mom
Overall, you start to feel more in control and confident, knowing how to best manage your time.
You're also in an excellent position to support your family because you're happier, more at ease, and have greater mental capacity.
Read: Boost your productivity as a working mom with these must-have home office essentials
How well do you currently manage your time?
Currently, how good are you at planning your time so that you can effectively complete all the necessary tasks? Can you manage the time you spend working on different tasks? Are you able to concentrate and complete tasks when you do find the time to accomplish them?
Take this quiz to see how effective your current time management strategy is.
Effective hacks to manage your time
1. Stick to a daily schedule
A daily schedule with allocated time for certain tasks can increase your productivity. Sticking to it is the key, though. Create realistic timelines and insert buffers in between tasks in case you run over the allocated time. Give the task your undivided attention. Switch your phone to silent, close unnecessary computer tabs, and avoid the urge to check your Instagram stories.
2. Prioritise the big rocks
Creating simple to-do lists can be of huge benefit, especially for working moms. Once you have created your list, prioritise when each task needs to be completed. Using this decision matrix, you can break down your list by:
- Urgent: important projects with deadlines, or projects you put off so long they are now overdue
- Plan for later: important tasks with no definite deadlines
- Delegate: tasks or projects that can be done by someone else
- Discard: tasks or projects that are no longer relevant or need to be done
3. Eat the frog!
Brian Tracy, a Canadian motivational speaker, came up with a simple, and quirky, solution to procrastination, Eat the frog. “If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning.”
In reality, your “frog” is your biggest and most important task. It is the one you are most likely to put off if you don’t do something about it.
So, “eat that frog” is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.
Discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else. You will be amazed at how much weight is lifted once you have “eaten the frog.”
4. Task batching
Task batching is when you identify similar tasks and tackle them together. These tasks can be grouped by objective or process. For example, schedule all client feedback calls on a Wednesday or respond to emails between 9h00 and 10h00 each morning.
Task batching can increase productivity and save you valuable time.
Read: 7 time-saving tips for busy working moms
5. Work efficiently
If you have been given a whole day to complete three tasks that should only take you three hours, it does not mean that you need to take the entire day to do those tasks.
Parkinson’s law states that “Work expands to fill the time allotted to complete it.”
Complete the tasks or projects and meet the deadline earlier. This will give you time to focus on other valuable tasks, or even allow you an extra hour at lunch for the school run.
6. Say no!
We only have so much energy in a day, and it declines as the hours pass. Know what's possible and when to say no if needed to prevent poor work output. Recognise your strengths and weaknesses. Concentrate on what you're good at, and if you can, delegate those tasks that others can complete faster and more efficiently.
7. Say yes!
You don't need to do it all, mama! Learn to accept help. If a colleague offers to type up the minutes from a meeting, and it would help you with your time, accept the help.
And the same goes for your personal life, if your husband offers to pack school lunches, or your children want to pack their own - say yes.
8. Don’t multitask
Multitasking reduces efficiency and may even be dangerous, according to scientists. The American Psychological Association states that mental juggling involves "switching costs" that decrease output. Switching tasks may only take a few seconds each, but if you multitask frequently, it adds up. Your potential for error also increases, and the stress on your brain is just not worth it.
Rather approach each individual task mindfully, you will be amazed at how much more you get done.
9. Be super organised
Your organisation skills may need a makeover if you are making silly errors like forgetting about a meeting, forgetting it’s your child’s turn for Bakerlady, or forgetting your username and password.
Luckily, organisation is a skill that can be learned.
- Maintain a tidy work desk - scientists believe that clutter can increase stress and anxiety, causing a flight-or-fight response. For better productivity, put away non-essential items, throw away unnecessary papers, and ensure your necessary tools are within reach.
- Make sure you have a daily to-do list, highlighting your priorities and responsibilities for the day, week or month.
- Sync your work and personal calendars, and set alerts and reminders. If you need to be somewhere that requires driving, include your drive time in your alert.
10. Online time management tools
Most time management tools fall under the umbrella of project management tools. When looking for the right tool for you, you want to consider the following things:
- How user-friendly is it? You want something that is easy to use; the last thing you want is for your time management tool to cause you more stress.
- The software must work well and be free of glitches. You don’t want your time management tool to take up more of your time by troubleshooting the glitches.
- Cost. If you are looking for a free version, then you may not have full functionality. Despite the fact that there are many excellent and free tools available.
- A good list of features helps.
Cloudwards reviews software, and their top five time management tools, when considering the above criteria, are as follows:
- monday.com — Best project management tool and great time management features
- Todoist — Designed to simplify your to-do lists and make it easier to stay on track
- GanttPro — Serves Gantt chart lovers and has great tools for accurate time tracking
- TimeCamp — Helps you manage time and improve resource management
- Airtable — The favourite task management tool, also helps improve time management
- Clockify — Free time management tool for those on a budget
- Trello – Fantastic tool for kanban fans to ensure you keep to your deadlines
monday.com tops the chart here, in addition to being the best tool for project management. Todoist is one of their favourite task management tools. GanttPro is for Gantt chart lovers, and it has a simple play-and-stop clock to track billable time.
Airtable is another task management champion, especially for focused working. Trello is for those who prefer kanban, and Clockify is the top tool for accurately tracking time.
RecruitMyMom understands that the work-life juggle is real and that it is overwhelming for working moms. That is why we go out of our way to find employment solutions that work for you. We provide flexible employment opportunities for skilled and professional women.
