Did you know that the average healthy adult processes 6200 thoughts per day? That’s a lot of stuff flying through your mind daily. Whether you work full time, stay home with kids, run a business, or a side hustle, you need a way to be more productive and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Let’s talk about the top 3 time-saving strategies I’ve implemented to balance life as a stay-at-home mama, freelance writer, and business owner.
A solid task management system is one of the main things that keep all my chickens in one pen. I love Monday.com for this exact purpose– I’ll share more about that later.
Productivity Tip #1: Time Blocking
Being a stay-at-home mama, I work when the babies are sleeping. That means I have to be very intentional about my work time to ensure I complete all the tasks necessary to keep things moving forward.
There isn’t much more frustrating than sitting down and spending 10-15 minutes figuring out what to work on, and then time quickly slips away, and you realize you’ve gotten nothing done.
For this, I use time blocking. This means I give space on my calendar for specific tasks. It’s not down to the minute or the exact amount of time, but in general, I know the timeframe to complete each task on my list.
My current time blocks are as follows:
- Morning Work Time (4 – 8 am)
- Block 1:
- Bible Time
- Journal
- Read
- Block 2:
- Work
- Block 3:
- Walk/Work Out
- Block 1:
- Afternoon Work Time (12 – 2:30 pm)
- Block 1:
- Get babies down for a nap
- Block 2:
- 1 Home Chore
- Block 3:
- Work
- Block 1:
Time blocking can be tricky if you aren’t sure how long each task takes. I created a time tracking sheet that will walk you through keeping tabs on time spent on your tasks. I promise you’ll be surprised to see how these numbers shake out at the end of the week.
Productivity Tip #2: Batch Work
Time blocking’s bff is batch work. You would never wear one outfit, wash it, dry it, and put it away before moving on to the next outfit, right? No, you would wear the clothes, and when you got a “batch” of laundry, you would do the laundry.
Why wouldn’t you do your tasks the same way? If you create content for social media, you will save time by creating it in a batch– one sitting where you crank out a week or more of content so that you don’t have to come back to it daily.
You can also batch days and do specific work or specific clients on their day. Here is what my current batch schedule looks like:
- Monday- My Business
- Tuesday- Client Work
- Wednesday- Interviewing, Writing
- Thursday- Interviewing, Writing
- Friday- Planning & Catch Up Day
This lets me know exactly what type of work I will do daily to utilize my time blocks efficiently.
Productivity Tip #3: Systems
Have you ever written something on a Post-it and misplaced it or had to flip through 2-3 different places to find all the things you want to get done?
Having one to-do list and all tasks in a central location is a vital time-saving strategy. There are oodles of methods and systems out there that can work. Each system has pros and cons; what is most important is that you find a system that will work for you and that you will use!
I set out on a new venture of testing systems about 6 months ago. I tried systems like Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Notion, but I ultimately landed on Monday.com. It best fits my needs, and the functionality is top-notch.
I keep boards for each client, my business, my personal life, our meals, my goals… literally everything is here. Each has its own list of to-dos, which beautifully populate a single list, and I miss nothing. The work is balanced and not too heavy on any given day.
Maybe pen and paper is more your style or a beautiful planner or a simple Excel sheet. Whatever works for you– USE THAT!
By implementing these time-saving strategies– time blocking, batch work, and a solid system– your time will be spent more efficiently, allowing you to maintain a work-life balance that fits your and your family’s needs. What works for me may not work for you, and that’s ok! Heck, what works for me doesn’t work for my husband, but the key is finding small ways to be your most productive so you can spend more time on what matters most– for me, that’s my family.
Do you have a favorite productivity tip? Comment below and share how you stay on top of your responsibilities.
Interested in learning more about Monday? I’ve got this blog teed up for you.
