Four Ways to Organize Your Time for Work and Family
Having a busy schedule is completely normal for me. As a small business owner, stay at home mom, and mother of two boys I rarely find myself with nothing to do. For the last three years I haven’t needed an alarm clock, mostly because I have had a toddler running around. I am up before the sun and bedtime is somewhere between the late night news and Letterman. I do what I do because I love my job and I love my family, however finding the perfect balance between the two takes some planning and even the most organized person has to work at it every day.
Do you feel like there is never enough time in the day to get things done? Here are a few tips to help improve the flow of your day:
1. Do you use a planner? I can’t stress enough the importance of using a planner and writing things down. If it’s a digital interface or a paper calendar, just make sure you use it. Having the proper tools in place can make all the difference in the world when working through your things to do list.
2. Formulate a routine. Creating routines helps children feel secure and safe, the same applies for grownups! Creating a routine of your work time, personal time and home time gives the boundaries we need to get things done. An example could be Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings are when you work in your home office, and Tuesday and Thursday mornings are for errands and personal tasks.
3. Make a things to do list. Take time before your week begins to document out what tasks you have and when they need to be completed. It might be good to have one list for business and one list for personal or household tasks. The important thing is to document it; you will soon feel the rewards when you are crossing things off your list as they are completed.
4. Know when to quit. When you work from home, it’s easy to get caught up in email or research online. With blocks of time set in your schedule, it’s easier to know how much time you have dedicated to each task. If you aren’t completing things in the time you have set aside, it might be worth evaluating the amount of time you are setting aside.
Feeling overwhelmed and in need of more time is something we all feel at some point. Taking the time each day to actually plan your day will help give you structure in getting things done!
About the Author:
Megan Spears, Christian woman, stay at home mom and owner of Disorder2Order, a home based business in Hood River, Oregon. Megan helps busy families create household management systems. She is a mother of two boys and a small business owner. Megan has always been a Christian, but really felt that she came to Christ in 2000, just after the loss of her father.
“Thy Word is a lamp onto my feet and a light onto my path.” Psalms 119:105. A passage that she carries in her heart, and believes that God’s Word guides her each and every day. She serves him by helping others!
Helping educate people on the benefits of organization is her passion. She has her own blog that focuses on life organization, and is a feature writer for the Online Organizing Blog and the Preschool Finders Blog. She teaches workshops and speaks on topics such as time management, paper clutter, and household management systems.
She is an active member the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), as well as a board member for NAPO Oregon Chapter, the Director of Membership for the NAPO Oregon Chapter, a committee member for the NAPO Chapter Relations Committee, a member of the Faithful Organizers, and an active supporter of the NAPO in the Schools program.
