Moms are you feeling stressed for not being able to manage your time more productively? If so, then you need to check out these top time management mistakes that you might be making and tips on how to avoid making them!
As moms, we always have a lot to do on our plate. From getting our kids ready for school in the morning to managing household responsibilities and for many trying to balance work and family. Well, the list of tasks is always endless and before you are somewhere close to the end of the list new tasks keep getting added up. It’s tiring and exhausting to manage it all but it’s frustrating when even after you have worked so hard at the end of the day you get the unsatisfied feeling that it was not enough. You feel that you were not able to manage your time and you could have achieved more in the day.
So, do you wonder why are you getting this feeling? What are you doing wrong? Well, the good news is there is absolutely nothing to worry about if you feel this way. I have felt the same way many times and I am sure there are many moms who often get the same feeling. Instead of feeling disheartened over not being able to do it all, it is important to find the loopholes that are causing it. In this blog post, I have shared a few time management mistakes that you might be making, and also helpful strategies for time management that can help you manage your time more efficiently.
Before getting into the post, make sure to download my daily task planner to prioritize and target your tasks accordingly. This will help you plan your day and get the most out of your day!
Related blog reads
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How to stop feeling stressed and enjoy your motherhood instead
Top 18 time management and organization tips for busy moms
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15 TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKES FOR MOMS AND TIPS ON HOW TO STOP MAKING THEM
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#1 Trying to be a super mom
Well, haven’t we all been there, always trying to do it all? Being a SUPERMOM is not a bad thing, mostly it comes naturally for a woman once she has a baby. For most women, there is a need to be present for all things in their life around them. Be it having a clean home, cooking, taking the older kids to the park, birthday party and whatnot. But honestly, it’s not that easy to do it all at the same time. It can only lead you to exhaustion which will ultimately make you give up on things. As moms, it is important to realize that in life there are often times when some factors take more priority and it is all rite to let the other things sit or you can even delegate them to others.
Solution
One of the best solutions to get more done without losing your mind is to try and make use of your resources. If you have older kids, try and delegate a few simple household tasks like loading the dishwasher or folding the laundry to them. You can also create a cooking schedule where your husband can take care of the dinner a few times a week and you can do the same for him while he gets a break. This way both of you are not overwhelmed and not too bored of doing the same work all the time. Lastly, as a mom, it is important to understand that your time is limited and hence try and adjust your expectations accordingly. It will help you in the long run!
Related: 10 Tips to stop feeling like an overwhelmed mom
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#2 Hard to say NO
Saying no to others will only come with practice. It is very easy to get sucked into trying to please your friends by showing up at every social event or be present at each school function of your kids when you have a lot going on at home, but it is also important to weigh the repercussions of you saying yes for everything on yourself as well as on your family. I remember myself a few years back when I was unable to say NO to things around me and which ultimately would only take a strain on my mental health as I would find myself overwhelmed with things to do and, in some cases, it would also take a toll on my husband. Once I started to say NO to a few things around me that were not important, I found myself with more time which only kept me in a better state of mind.
Solution
Trying to say no to things around you might not come naturally. One thing that can help is when you are asked to do something instead of promptly saying yes without thinking, take a few seconds to think whether this thing that you have been asked to do is worth it. Is it good for you or your family? Does it align with your priorities? Doing so can help you think clearly, and you can make a proper decision.
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#3 Not creating a to-do list
You have a lot on your plate, and you keep playing all these tasks in your mind, repeatedly but still at the end of the day you feel like you were not that productive. The main reason for that is not physically jotting down your to-do list in a planner so that you can have a visual of what your next day looks like. It’s proven science that when you write something or when you have a visual of something your mind tends to adapt it better and there is a higher chance that you will be more productive at achieving those tasks.
Solution
One of the things I do is to keep a small pocket daily planner and pen on my bedside table. Every day before bedtime, I would jot down my things to do for the next day. This small habit helps me clear my mind so that I can sleep better. I go to bed relaxed, knowing that I have an action plan for the next day and my mind is more composed with no mingled thoughts.
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#4 Trying to be a perfectionist
In the past, I would often make myself suffer trying to get my home clean to the best possibility when I would have a guest coming over or simply try to overdo a family dinner only to get exhausted and tired later. It was not after a few incidents like this when I realized that it is not always important to have every little detail figured out. Sometimes it is just important to start doing something to the best possibility that you can without having to lose your mind to trying to do a lot.
Solution
If you are still someone who cannot let go of your perfectionist attitude and have to get everything done, then it is important for you to spend time planning and thinking about time management strategies that can help you get more done. Without a proper plan in place, you will only find yourself exhausted and overwhelmed with thoughts. To maintain sanity, it is important to take action and act accordingly!
Related: 14 ways to simplify your life in 2020
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#5 Trying to accomplish more in 24 hours
How often have you found yourself while creating a to-do list that you begin losing track and try to write down more than you can probably achieve in a day? It is common nature! Initially, when you start creating task lists, you will often do this but it is important to understand the pattern and not keep doing it again and again. Not being able to complete all the tasks that you had planned can make you really disappointed and you can find yourself feeling unsatisfied and stressed many times.
You can download my to-do tasks daily planner here
Solution
I used to make the same mistake, and one thing that helped me was that I would have my top 3 tasks of the day that needs to be done no matter what and the rest would fall in the bucket that if I was unable to complete them they can be tossed over the next day. Forming a habit like this did take some time. Initially, I often found my mind running and unable to accept that I would only concentrate on those top 3 tasks, but slowly I have started to accept it and this habit has helped me a lot in managing my time. This is how I have been able to survive to work full-time, manage my home as well as my blog!
Related: 10 tips to balance career and mom life
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#6 Not keeping a fixed night schedule for kids
A very common but big mistake when it comes to time management. If your kids don’t have a fixed sleeping routine, then it would only mean less free time for you. If your kids sleep on time, then you can take an hour in the night for yourself before bedtime to just relax, read, maybe drink your tea, spend some couple time with your husband or even catch your favorite series. This can be so therapeutic for you and can really help you unwind after a long day.
You can find a few helpful kid schedule resources on the blog like how I set up a routine for my toddler that actually works and why routine in kids is important.
Solution
Routines are the base of any household. Every member of the family should have a routine as it can help them to know exactly what they are up for next. You can start small, by trying one thing at a time so that you do not stress out your kids too much. Start with waking them up at a fixed time, so that they can adjust their body clocks, and this can help them sleep at a fixed time in the night. Also try forming simple night routines for your kids like bath time, storytime and then sleep time, so that your kids look forward to it at the end of the day and they will be able to adapt faster to it.
Related: If you are struggling to help your baby sleep through the night, then make sure to check out Baby Sleep Made Simple which is a baby and toddler sleep program for babies 5-24 months, designed by a baby nurse and lactation consultant. This course is designed to help exhausted parents to get their babies and toddlers to sleep well, so they can get their energy back, feel like themselves again and start enjoying all the little things. Baby Sleep Made Simple is the ultimate resource for tired moms!
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#7 Not sure of your priorities
Not having your priorities clear in your mind, can make you run after things that are not that important. This will make you inefficient and feeling stressed at the end of the day of not being able to achieve your important goals.
Solution
Again, to better understand what your priorities are you needed to make sure that you jot down your next-day tasks at the end of the day in a planner or you can download my free daily task planner here. Physically writing down what needs to be done, can help your mind think clearly and understand what your top priority should be for the next day. It is critical to have a goal in mind so that you know that your time is not wasted.
Related: How to set your 2020 goals for success
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#8 Procrastinating important task
Procrastination is the biggest enemy of time management. It is often common for our mind to keep pushing off important things for later on so that you don’t have to deal with them now. Doing this does not help! It does not take away the important tasks at hand but what it does is make you inefficient as you are still constantly thinking about it all the time. It is important to get to your important tasks completed as soon as possible and try and cater to them first so that your mind is free.
Solution
There are many ways to fight this. The first one is to commit to the task and not keep all distractions away so that you can cross that off your list as soon as possible. The other and most effective way is to give yourself a small reward once you have complete the tasks. It can be a simple reward like buying something that you have been wanting for a really long time or taking a few hours for yourself guilt-free because you have earned it. These simple steps can help you stay motivated and keep you focused on achieving your goals.
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#9 Keeping a negative attitude
We often don’t realize it, but sometimes our minds start developing a negative attitude and we only see things in the wrong manner and feel frustrated with them later. With so much going on and so many things to get done, it is difficult to maintain sanity and keep a healthy mindset. But take it as an intervention, that when you feel that you must react negatively stop to think is it really worth it. At the end of the day, the only thing that this negative attitude is doing to you is harming you. It’s important for your mind to keep positive because as we all know that a happy mom always raises a happy baby.
Solution
Trying to keep sane when your kid throws a tantrum and not let it affect you is easier said than done. Although, there are a few ways that you can help you deal with this situation. The first one is not letting every cranky mood of your kid get to you, sometimes it is just best to ignore it and just keep doing your own things. When my daughter was going through her toddler two’s we often had to face situations like these. In those moments I would just keep calm, keep doing my work and sometimes hum music in my mind. I noticed with time my daughter realized that her way of acting like this did not affect me and she eventually stopped doing it. Also try listening to good music, surround yourself with positive people. Being around happy things can keep you happy which in turn will keep you in a better state of mind so that you can manage your time more effectively.
Related: Tips to help you become a more patient mom
Related: 15 simple habits of a happy mom
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#10 Losing focus and trying to multitask many things at the same time
As moms, we often try to juggle many things at the same time, which at times is important to do as well. But what is more important is not to get lost trying to multitask and not able to get things done that are more important.
Solution
An easy way of dealing with this is to always go back to your to-do list for the day and concentrate on the top five important tasks that you have identified for the day so that you do not lose focus on them.
Related: Top 18 time management and organization tips for moms
Download my daily task planner and get the most out of your day!
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#11 Not seeking help
Again, going back to the most common time management mistakes that moms do is trying to be a Super Mom – where she tries hard to achieve it all. This can only cause exhaustion at the end of the day and leave you feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Take as much help as you can whenever possible as it can give you some extra free time for yourself.
Solution
It is important to look hard into factors that you are unable to keep up with that is causing you the most stress. Maybe you are unable to find time to clean your bathrooms and it’s affecting you, so you can hire a cleaning lady that can come in 1-2 times a month to help you clean. Or maybe you have a project deadline and you need some additional time at home to work on it, in that case, you can ask your husband to help you out or maybe hire a nanny for a few hours.
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#12 Not getting enough sleep
Sleep is the most important form of pf self-care that you can do for yourself. Not getting enough hours of sleep in a day, can make you really cranky and you will have less patience towards taking care of your kid.
Solution
The best way to get enough sleep in the night so that you don’t lose your mind is to have a fixed time to go to bed and wake up in the morning. No matter how interesting the TV show is or how much you want to try out a new hobby, it is important to understand that a well-rested mind is a happy mind. If you have a peaceful mind, you will be in a better shape to handle things and hence manage time effectively.
Related: 5 steps easy morning routine for a working mom
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#13 Starting the day late
One of the biggest reasons why I was unable to find enough time in the morning to get everything done was because I would start my day late. As soon as I would wake up in the morning I would get sucked into trying to get my daughter ready for daycare, making breakfast and trying to reach my work in time. By getting up late, I would start my day by running around which would never give me enough satisfaction at the end of the day. After a few months into motherhood, I started waking up an hour before my daughter and it completely changed my life. I suddenly had this power hour all to myself in the morning when the house was the quietest which helped me a lot in getting a strong head start to my day.
Solution
Forming a habit to start waking up early in the morning will take some time. It was not easy to put myself in a schedule like that. There were nights when Mishika was cranky and did not leave my side or I had something else going on, so during those days sticking to waking up at 6 AM in the morning no matter what was extremely challenging. It took me some time to get used to this routine but now I don't struggle anymore to wake up at 6 in the morning. No matter what the situation was I made sure that I would set an alarm for an hour early in the morning. Things that kept me motivated to do so was not checking my clock when I was woken up in the middle of the night by my daughter, sleeping in a separate room as my daughter so that I could keep my alarm on loud and I always kept my alarm at a distance from my bed.
Related: Why waking up before your kids will change your life
TIME MANAGEMENT MISTAKE#14 No time for self-care
Even if I am not a mother I imagine that life changes radically and it is not always easy to find ways to manage the situation, time and difficulties. Interesting analysis.
You’ve outlined this really well. I like to think I’n good at time management but there’s always room for improvement. Thanks so much for sharing this with all of us!
After reading all this I noticed that I felt in so many levels so I’m going to save this and try to do some of your Solutions cuz they are very accurate with me
I procrastinate, so I’ll keep these in mind. I have never tried to be super mom at least. I knew from the beginning that would never be, ha.
This list is amazing! As a mom who sometimes has way too much on her plate, I have learned to do a lot of these techniques. I have also found, that trying to start the day in a good mood changes the outcome of my day. A lot like #9, those negative feelings can portray even on our little ones. If I am in a good mood usually they are too. I like to also take a step back, if something is stressing me out, I walk away from it for a little bit and come back to it.
It can be hard to manage time with young kids. You have a plan and they can change things so this post is good.
I’m not a mom yet, but I know mums make this kind of mistakes. I’ll share this post with my mommy friends for sure! 🙂
I am sharing it!!! It reminded me of a friend of mine who keeps on complaining about not having time to do anything lol…Amazing guide.
Even though I know better I am still doing about half of these things. I need to be more mindful of them so I can get back some of my time.
I have been really bad with time management. Many of these are applicable to any one. Great post!
Yes, these are so true for anyone! I am so guilty of the “try to stretch 24 hours” one. I’m always thinking ‘just one more thing…maybe I can squeeze this in”. Maybe I can try to tone it down a little! Thanks for sharing.
I feel 24 hours is too less for one day. I am a furmom. Yet, sometimes I am stretched thin trying to find time to spend with my adorable boy.
This is a great post because I think anyone can learn to be a little more efficient with their time. For me, I know trying to multitask actually makes things worse. I don’t get anything done that way.
I don’t excel at time management and on top of that, I’m also a procrastinator. But I’m taking steps to fix these. Thank you for the great tips. They are really helpful.
Love this post. My kids are pretty much grown now, but one of the things that helped keep my sanity and gave us time to still have a relationship was keeping that bedtime schedule. My boys were all in bed by 7pm. At that time, hubby helped me straighten up a bit and then it was Mommy and Daddy time. I loved it. So important to have time for a relationship when you are raising kids!
Great article. Such an interesting read. These tips are really helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Wow, these are very interesting to read. I am not a mom but I have mom friends who will be suprised at these mistakes list. I have to share them with them!
A great list, very helpful. I’m not a mom but also find the list useful
So many of these are important. I kept my kids on a bedtime schedule but schedules don’t seem to be in fashion anymore. I think consistency is important.
I think, whether you’re a mother or not, it is important that you learn to manage your time wisely. Life can be overwhelming. Tasks can easily overcome you. Your first tip is truly valuable. That is something I keep reminding myself this–I am not a superwoman, so I can slow down a bit.
Thanks for this great reminder.
I think the ability to say no is one of life’s most important skills. It defines who you are not only for yourself but for other people so you cannot be taken advantage of.