How I Make Time Work For Me With My Business
One of the biggest challenges I have faced growing in my businesses while raising kids is the amount of time I have. TIME is never on my side and is the common denominator that makes me feel flustered. In the years that I have worked while my babies are with me, time is the thing that I’ve let control me and the growth I could experience while doing both. We simply cannot do it all. It cannot all be done. It’s IMPOSSIBLE and I know I am not alone in setting unrealistic expectations on myself and then being so discouraged when it just doesn’t happen. A few days before Christmas… I feel like I finally get IT because I am more focused than ever to be present with them and enjoy the holidays before they are gone.
One of the things that I have implemented as a daily practice that has really helped me manage multiple businesses and also raise my babies is a time blocking schedule. I often share that it’s important to know what time you have available to work but what do you do with the time that you have when you have it? The notes section of my phone has been super helpful to compile and brain dump ALL THE THINGS. I have several lists ready to go with activities that help produce an income in my business, build my brand and help with back end needs of my website. Time blocking will change your life, you can read more about it by clicking here.
My physical calendar has also really helped me with staying organized as well. Could you imagine all the things needed to keep up with 5 kids + 2 parents + 1 dog + 1 cat + 2 businesses? No? Yea, me either! IT’S A LOT! But guess what, no one is coming to save me. I CAN DO THIS. I can figure out what works best for my family and I have already found that a calendar alleviates the mental stress from me, helps keep us organized and everyone up to date on what’s going on. Harper is so cute right now, she LOVES the calendar we have in our laundry room because it’s bigger and she can read the action items I have on it. She goes into the laundry room and marks off the days, checks the schedule and tells me what date it is. I strongly urge you to get a calendar and actually fill it out. Take it a step farther and set up timers, alarms or reminders on your phone as well if you need more prompts.
The biggest thing that I did outside of those two items is get serious with myself. What’s my goal here? What do I want to say? What am I posting? What am I spending my time doing? For me, I would rather interact with people in my physical life than to spend hours of time creating content every day. I would rather form relationships than feel so weighted down with posting new content. I would also like to grow my social media so how am I doing that? I decided to lean into outside help in the places I am struggling. I delegate the things I can like household chores, doing grocery delivery or pickup instead of going into the store and ordering what I can online. I ALSO lean into apps that can help me like a new one I found called PLANOLY.
Planoly is a free app with the ability to add more features if you pay for them. I didn’t and I enjoy it just fine. It has allowed me to upload my instagram posts and stories into it, schedule them to post with hashtags and brands tagged! It could have fallen into my lap at the perfect time. I highly suggest doing this if you feel like you’re struggling and you have to post on social media. They are not paying me to share about their app, I just feel like I can geniunily help someone by sharing the things I have implemented into my life to help make it easier. I love when we all realize that there is room at the table for all of us and start deciding to help one another. Let me know if you try Planoly! I would love to hear your thoughts.
