Today is for ALL of you. Whether you’re a college student, a working woman, a momma who works in an office, a stay home momma who works at home all day raising babies, or -like me- a momma who runs a company from her home. No matter what your situation, this is for you. Time management is hard to nail down. There are so many distractions to bump us off our goals for the day, and I know that all too well. With a toddler pulling at my leg as I edit content for clients or capture images for a campaign while Knox plays at my feet, or it’s my phone dinging notifying me of emails or Instagram comments… it’s hard. Life is hard to stay on track with and manage your time well, getting all the things done in a day that need to be done, if we aren’t meticulous in the way we manage every single minute we are given.
Anybody else with me? How am I supposed to get my work done, raise a healthy and happy child, drink enough water, eat the right food, cook meals for my family, make it to the gym 3 times a week, AND have some time to myself for my sanity?… Surely I need 50 hours a day to make this happen, right? Girl, I feel you. I have been you before. I have been there. I am in recovery for never putting my phone down, never closing my computer, and multi-tasking at all times. I used to think I was a rockstar for “balancing” so much… but really, I was just dying inside and missing the fullness of moments.
I want to share my schedule with you that’s really helped me. It requires discipline, but man does it work. And of course, there are days things just don’t pan out accordingly. But, for the most part, this is what I live by and I try my very hardest to schedule meetings and shoots and all the things within these guidelines!
My Daily Schedule:
6 AM Wake Up (often it’s earlier, but this is the time I must be out of bed by)
6:10-6:40 Quiet time, prayer, cup of coffee
6:45-7:30 MIT Part 1: Most Important Tasks, this is my first part of the day to review my schedule for the day, reply to emails/send out reminders for my day, attack anything necessary for the day that came in over night. This is often my most creative time to write as well (devotionals/blogs/etc.)
7:30 Knox Wakes Up: Make breakfast, color, play
9:30 Gym: My goal while pregnant is the gym 3 times a week! I will share my alternate schedule below for the days that I don’t go and do a home workout.
10:30: My gym has a coffee shop and we pay a little extra a month on our membership to get up to 3 hours of childcare a day! It’s like having a nanny built into our gym. They are great and we trust them, so it’s been such a good fit for us. I work in the coffee shop and finish out my MIT Part 2. This is usually my time to edit content/captions/client work.
12: Home for lunch!
1: Knox naps, I get some time to clean/do laundry/rest/read/watch an episode of something I want/Work if needed
3: Knox wakes up, play, color, go for walk, prep dinner together, etc.
5: Start dinner! This is family/daddy time while I cook.
7: Milk and wind down time for Knox/read books/maybe watch 1 episode of something depending on tv time for the day
7:30: Bedtime for Knox
***On days I do a workout from home, Knox will often take a nap at 10 AM. As long as he gets about a 2 hour nap every day, he is happy and sleeps great at night!
The thing that’s been most significant for me that I encourage you to do for yourself in order to accomplish work most efficiently is that you MUST set aside intentional MIT time. Trying to do your most important tasks of the day while multitasking makes your work less-than and it will take way longer than necessary. I find I can knock out my MIT in about 3 hours a day or less IF I set aside the intentional times to do so. I also have a nanny every single Wednesday (it was Tuesdays but just changed for scheduling needs with our nanny!), so I know it’s my day to have for photo shoots and any big projects I might have to work on. It’s rare I have meetings or shoots on any other days of the week, which helps with our childcare budget and keeping it at the number we know to set for every month.
What you don’t see in the Instagram posts: Knox at my feet and climbing all over everything… hehe.
We all face challenges with our jobs and our working environments. I love that no matter what our days look like, we are all hardworking women looking for ways to maximize our time and what we are passionate about! That’s why this schedule truly is so great. Be intentional with every minute of your day- it will help you accomplish more. Set aside time and tasks for certain times of the day! You can do this. I believe in you, go-getter.
xoxo,
Han
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