Life of the Working Mom: Keeping “Too Busy” Out of your Vocabulary 

Let’s cut to the chase. Moms are BUSY. Just you reading this means your kiddos are sleeping, not with you at the moment, or you need just 2 minutes of mommy time as they are tying your shoelaces together this very moment. You peaked down didn’t you.

Lately I have been noticing myself say “I am SO/TOO busy”. And I have come to realize with being a new mom and with starting a new business, that everyone is busy! Life is busy. Period. I am not the exception. I have finally started to turn my “too busy’s” into “I will find time.” I just need to suck it up and make time, ultimately I am the one who is making the decision to be “TOO BUSY.”

Upon coming to this realization, I needed a way to organize my life and not the way you find on Pinterest or Real Simple magazine, that is a factitious mom-dream for me. I needed to set goals for myself to keep everyone’s sanity in my family.

Here are a few things I have been changing lately that have really helped me balance my family, my business, and everything else under the sun. These are simple changes that have helped me organize, goal set, and make myself make the time.

Change 1: Get a Planner

I stumbled upon this article one early morning laying in bed, scrolling Facebook, instead of up and at it being super mom and maybe washing my hair for once. I digress. The photos of these planners inspired me to get with it. If I could be a sixteenth as creative and organized as the planners in the post, I could rule the world! And by rule the world I mean GET THINGS DONE.

Some people can handle planning their day by day on their icalendar and phone, I did attempt this and found if it’s out of my sight, it’s out of my mind and I couldn’t keep up with a digital calendar. Huge props to those who can do that! I am old school and extremely visual…and I love the feeling of crossing something out. Yeah, you know that feeling.

So off to Target I went. I did look at other stores, don’t waste your time. Go to Target and, yes, get the pretty one that you really like for the extra $5-$10, you will take more pride in something you love over something you saved money on and isn’t aesthetically pleasing. Promise. And get some highlighters while you are at it because highlighters make everything better, obviously.

Now sit down and make yourself plan out your month or next couple of months. It’s a constant re-fresher of what is to come and what can you look forward to.

Plan your “Big Five”. I can easily get lost in my business to-do’s and events, which are important and I truly enjoy, but I need to reel back to my roots and remember what are THE most important things in my life and make them a priority.

I am making a conscious effort each month to plan out my Big Five.

1. Plan a family outing or weekend trip. Make an effort to stop working and start living. My family and I haven’t put much thought into “what do we want to do as a family this weekend”? We are constantly scheduled for others and have a hard time saying no. And on the flip side we find ourselves exhausted from our day or week and the couch is all we can manage. Nope, no longer. We are changing this. One day or weekend out doing fun things together is so needed! I have been thinking about all the fun things I would love to do with my husband and daughter— take a weekend trip to Door County, go to a fall festival, take a trip to the pumpkin patch— and then realized, well why can’t we? Pencil it in and keep yourself to it. You and your family deserve a little off time away from work and the rest of the world. Get out and live!
2. Plan a date night. No kiddos allowed. Just the two of you. Some of my friends may give me a hard time that we try to take just one date a month, some people do date night once a week! That’s incredible! We are not there, and may never be. For us, we are starting at one a month. Set the date. Hold hands. Laugh. Talk stupid. Invest time into the relationship as nobody else can do that for you.
3. Plan a girls night. For you and your girlfriend’s sanity. Go to the Bad Moms movie. Need I say more? Find time for those who have been there for you. Be the party planner, don’t wait for someone else to do that. Before you know it five years passes by and you think, why don’t I have any friends? Invest your time.
4. Visit that person who isn’t going to be here forever. Sad right? You don’t want to think about that. That pink elephant in the room; in the back of your mind. Spend time with them now, invest in THEM as they have invested in you. Maybe its going for a walk, grabbing coffee or even facetiming them to spend time. Do it now as there won’t always be a later. And listen to this song — it puts the above into much more magic than I can.
5. Actually plan a time for YOU. Yes, YOU — so selfish right? Whether it’s getting your nails done in complete silence, reading your bible, or going to the gym to sweat it out. You time, mommy time, is SO important as you can’t pour from an empty cup.                                                                                                                                 

Are you up for the challenge? Try to schedule your Big Five this month and work in changing “busy” into “doing.” Have a great month!