Time Management For Working Mothers

 As a mother do you struggle to find time for all the things you want to do and need help with time management for working mothers ? Are you struggling to cope with the demands of your job? If you could really choose how to spend your time, how would you spend it?



 Most likely you answered yes to one or more of these questions and feel like you are not really where you want to be in life. It could be that the pressures of your professional life are getting you down. Or you feel bad because you are missing out on important occasions with family and friends.

 Don't worry, it may not be as bad as you think. There is a solution to this problem and it is far easier than you might think. Simply by changing the way you approach the use of your time you can find the hours to do all the things you want to, and even have some time left over. This is not only about managing your time effectively, it can change your life fundamentally and for the better.

 Time management for working mothers means managing yourself

 There are 24 hours in the day. This is something that you have to accept because it will not change. You can not manage time, but you can manage yourself. This is the secret of effective time management. You must train yourself to focus on the things that really matter to you and spend your time on these things only. Everything else is just a waste of time.

 It is important to point out at this stage that making the changes necessary to manage your time effectively can mean making some fundamental changes in your lifestyle. Because of this, you need to take one step at a time. If you bite off more than you can chew at the beginning there is a chance you may fail.

 Time management for working mothers means understanding yourself better

 Knowing yourself is the essential first step on the road to effective time management. With the pressures of modern life it is easy to lose sight of what we really want in our lives. For most people, this is an unfortunate fact of life.

 Therefore, the first thing you need to do before you even begin to manage your time is to get in touch with what you really want from life. When you discover this you have discovered your vision. Cast yourself back to when you were an adolescent or a young adult, a time when anything seemed possible. How did you envisage your life at that time? Your dreams and goals at this time may help you get in touch with your vision. Your vision now may not exactly match what you wanted then, but it will probably be close.

 You should also think about how you would like your life to be both in terms of your professional life and your personal life. Also consider your potential and what you think you can really achieve in life. We will call this your vision.

 Where are you now?

 At this stage you probably have a fairly clear picture of what your ideal life would be like. Now comes the scary part. You must take your vision and compare it to your life at present. If you are writing all of this down, the difference between the two probably will not make for very pleasant reading.

 Don't worry if this is the case as bridging the gap between your ideal reality and your life now is much easier than you would expect. There is a widely held belief that effective time management is about good time-keeping. Not so. Effective time management is much more about you and how you choose to spend your time.

 Living your life and spending your time the way you want to will involve a few changes - some big, some small. An example of a minor change would be eating healthier. Quitting your job and starting a business, that is a big change. There is a big difference between the two, but both goals are attainable. You will have to take a close look at how your hours are spent and make the necessary adjustments so you can achieve what you want to achieve.

 Planning your day.

 You should start by picking two things you want to achieve, one big and one small. Now you need to think of one thing you can do towards achieving these goals that you can fit into tomorrow's schedule. If you can complete the one step towards achieving each goal then you have made an excellent start.

 This is just one very small step on the way to effective time management but should show you that if you go at your own pace that it is far from impossible. However, you must be much more meticulous in planning your days so that you complete everything you need to do while only spending time on the things that really matter to you.

 So for every day you need a clear plan, a time plan. You need to have a very clear idea of what needs to be done, how long it will take, and when it is going to be done. To help you in this it is useful to keep a time log for a week or two before beginning to plan your time in detail. With a time log you write down in detail how you spend your time. This will show you exactly how long different tasks and activities take. When you know this you can plan your days much more accurately and effectively.

 The 4 Ds of time management

 Now, as you make your time plan for each day you need to decide how to handle the various tasks that need doing, and how to deal with any new tasks that may arise. So let me introduce you to the four Ds of self-management. Which are:

 *  Do it - This can not wait and needs to be taken care of now. * Delegate it - Not the best use of your time. Pass it on to someone else. * Dump it - Anything that is unimportant now and in the future. Bin it. * Defer it - Something for the 'to do' pile. Come back to it later.

 You should be able to file any task that arises in your average day under one of the four Ds.

  This was a quick overview to time management but should get you started. If you take this process in small steps it will be much easier to incorporate the necessary changes into your life. Each of these small steps will bring you closer to your vision and leave you with time to do all of the things you want each day.