Transcript of Episode #3:
10 Game-Changing Time Management Hacks Every Mompreneur Must Know!

Cristina:  Hello and welcome back to the Blissful Mompreneur podcast. I’m your host, Cristina Hall and I am so grateful you are here today. I am on a mission to help mompreneurs or female entrepreneurs who hope to be moms in the future, systemize and scale their businesses to beat overwhelm and reclaim their time. Join me each week as I dive into actionable strategies and inspiring stories to support you on your journey to entrepreneurial success and work-life balance. 

As a mompreneur, I have greatly struggled over the years to juggle all of my responsibilities from running my business, taking care of the house, taking care of my family, and with so much on my plate, I had to seek out some time management strategies so that I could be more productive while staying relaxed and always trying to show up as my best self. So in today’s episode, I’m going to share with you the top 10 time management strategies that are geared towards busy mompreneurs like you that have worked wonders for me. 

So here we go. Tip number one, practice self-care. Now I know what you’re thinking. Cristina, I don’t have time for all the things on my plate. How do you expect me to find time to take care of myself? And I hear you and it’s important to understand that you cannot afford to not spend time taking care of yourself. You cannot help others if you don’t take care of yourself first. Now everyone has a different definition of self-care. For me, self-care is doing things that are good for my mind and body. So that includes eating nutritious food, getting exercise, getting quality sleep, and feeding my mind with new knowledge. Now I know as a mom, it can be very difficult to get quality sleep. At the moment, my kids are four and a half and 21 months and sometimes I have wonderful nights where they both sleep through the night, but there are plenty of nights where I’m up all night with at least one of them. But I try to tell myself that this is just where I am in my journey through motherhood and all I can do is focus on what I can control, which is getting to bed early. I am usually in bed minutes after my kids go to sleep. They go down around 8 o’clock and I’m usually in bed by 8:15. When I can get good sleep, then I can wake up early so I can get some things done for myself. Usually my morning routine will include some sort of workout. Right now, I’ve been focusing a lot on strength training as I’m really trying to build muscle. As far as diet is concerned, I’ve been prioritizing protein to aid in building muscle, and fiber to support a healthy gut. I avoid ultra-processed foods and seed oils. I also, as a side note, have a lot of health issues. I have MS and some other autoimmune issues, so I find that I really need to be diligent about eating nourishing foods that are going to keep inflammation low in my body. When I nourish my body with sleep, movement, and good food, I am more energized and able to handle whatever life throws at me. I’m also constantly listening to podcasts and audiobooks to expand my knowledge. So typically my morning routine when I’m doing my workout, at the same time I’ll be listening to a podcast or an audiobook or even just going through YouTube and watching and listening to some of those videos. This is something I really enjoy and it also allows me to continue to grow and learn. 

Alright, tip number two, remove distractions. One of the best things I did about two years ago was turn off notifications on my phone. Even though my phone was always on silent, I would still see my phone light up when I get an email and it would take me away from what I was doing. Now I have set times of day when I check my email and this allows me to focus on projects with minimal distractions. I also deleted a lot of distracting apps. I used to have games like Candy Crush and Solitaire on my phone, which I primarily played at night. Now, not only was the blue light from the phone having a negative impact on the quality of my sleep, but it was delaying when I’d fall asleep. What I noticed is when I removed those apps, I got better sleep and was more productive throughout my day. So I highly recommend removing those notifications and distracting apps. 

Tip number three, always stay ahead. As a business owner and a mom, things are going to derail your plans. The kids are going to get sick. You’re going to get sick. There’s going to be a snow day. There will be an emergency at work. Expect these things will happen and plan accordingly. I like to be at least six weeks ahead in all my work. And as long as I stay ahead, it makes it a lot easier to handle those interruptions with grace. I’m not going to say that I’m perfect. I am human like all of us. But if I can have that buffer, I definitely feel way more relaxed when these unexpected things come up. 

Tip number four, delegate and leverage automation tools. So find things both at home and in your business that you can delegate or outsource.  To help with chores at home, you could order groceries and have them delivered or you could pick them up. You could hire a cleaning service to help keep your home tidy. If you have a partner and you could ask for help with cooking meals or taking care of other chores around the house. For your business, sometimes it pays to hire a part-time VA or assistant to hand off the tasks you don’t enjoy doing. As you go through your week, consider what you could delegate and slowly start to hand off tasks. Another form of delegation is automation. Every year, more and more automation tools are coming out that can make our lives so much easier. Zapier is probably the most popular automation tool, but there are also countless scheduling tools such as Acuity and Calendly. Consider things that you do on both a daily basis, and look into tools to automate these processes in your life and business. 

Tip number five and this is one of my favorites, batch similar tasks. We waste so much time when we’re constantly context switching, which is when we jump from one task to another. When we batch similar tasks together, we get into a flow and we can get more accomplished in less time. In my music school, we focus on a particular theme each month in our private lessons. To assist my teachers, I send out a video each month announcing the new theme and I include strategies on how they can implement the theme into their lessons. Instead of recording one video a month, I spent a few hours one day recorded all the videos and scheduled each video to be sent on a specific day. Now, it is something I don’t even have to think about.  Batching has really saved me a lot of time and has helped me stay on top of all of my responsibilities.

Tip number six, use a task manager.  In the past, I would have lists and postsets in various places and it was difficult to keep track of everything that I needed to do. I oftentimes relied on my memory, which was definitely more reliable back then, but now with everything that I’m juggling, it’s impossible to rely on my memory. So now when a task pops into my head, I have a place to document that task and I assign a due date so nothing slips through the cracks and I don’t have nearly as much mental clutter. 

Tip number seven, create and document systems. This is another thing that has made such a difference in my life. When I do something on a recurring basis, both at home and in my business, I write out all the steps and I store it in Asana. This has made it easier to delegate tasks, has made larger projects less overwhelming and has helped me overcome procrastination. In the past, when I’d sit down to work on a project, I wouldn’t know where to begin and sometimes that would mean putting it off. Now it’s harder to use that as an excuse not to get started. I usually have the steps documented or at least have a similar system documented that I can use as a reference. Each system includes a brief description of my intention, detailed steps and all the necessary links, programs and documents. I personally store these systems in Asana, but you could easily do this in Google Drive or in a notebook. It takes a little extra time up front to document a system, but it is well worth it because it will save you so much time in the future. Start small and work slowly. As you’re doing tasks or working on projects, document the steps as you go. In six months, you’ll be amazed at how much you have documented. 

Tip number eight, use the Pomodoro technique. So the Pomodoro technique is one of the best ways to reduce distractions and encourage you to do focused work for a short period of time. Choose a task that you would like to work on and set a timer for 25 minutes. Work intensely for the full 25 minutes and then take a three to five minute break, then repeat. After four repetitions, you will have completed two hours of focused work. You can then take a longer break, maybe 15 or 30 minutes and repeat the whole process again. I love how this helps me get in the zone while also ensuring that I take short breaks to keep myself energized. 

Tip number nine, eat that frog. Now this comes from Brian Tracy’s book, Eat That Frog. And essentially what it means is to do your most challenging task first. So if you listened to my last episode about weekly planning, you know that each day I assign a daily big three. So I review my big three and choose the one that is most difficult and tackle that first. Once that’s done, I feel accomplished and everything else becomes so much easier. 

Tip number ten, create an ideal week. First, begin by daydreaming.  In a perfect world, what would your ideal week look like? What do you need to do to achieve your goals? What would you do for yourself? When would you work? How much time each day would you spend with your partner and kids? How often would you see family and friends? Then either do this in a Google calendar or on a piece of paper and map out your week with time blocks. Block off when you would sleep, when you do your morning routine, when you spend time with your partner and kids, when you do tours around the house and when you work, etc. This really helps you recognize if your goals are realistic. Perhaps you’ll notice that you simply don’t have enough time in your day to do all the things you want to do. And then you can plan accordingly. This can also be a great way to apply Parkinson’s law, which is work expands to the time you give it. If you give yourself a set amount of time to complete daily tasks and routines, you will likely get it done in the time you allotted. 

So there is the list of my top 10 time management strategies. Now, if most of these are new to you, I do recommend tackling them all at once. Instead, choose one that you want to implement and once that is a habit, then choose another one to try. You’re more likely to make lasting change if you go slow. So please DM me at the blissful mompreneur on Instagram and let me know which tip you are excited to try. I love reading your messages. 

Thank you so much for tuning in to today’s episode of the blissful mompreneur podcast. I hope you found the information valuable and inspiring. Remember, you have the power to step off that hamster wheel, reclaim your time, and find balance in your life. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps me continue to provide valuable content to mompreneurs like you. Until next time, keep pursuing your dreams, finding joy in the journey, and creating a life and business you love. Take care and I’ll see you in the next episode.