Scheduling - A Different Perspective
I have a few ways to deal with mom duties, business duties, and
everything else. I'm not sure the ages of your children, mine are
11, 9 and 7 months. - it certainly helps that the older two are in
school during the day - which *helps* increase my productivity. But,
as most of us know, building a successful business (let alone building
2) with an infant can be difficult to say the least (we won't even
get into the toddler years!!) So, yes, time management is an absolutely
MUST!
Let me preface the following by saying that I live by my planner!
Without it I would be absolutely lost. I use the Busy Woman's Daily
Planner and it's worked soooo well for me! First, the whole concept
behind the planner (and the company) is that it's personality based.
Each of us has a different personality - personally, I'm very organized
and have been for many years, so it's been an easy thing for me to
adjust to using a planner. However, I know women that aren't naturally
organized and have a very hard time adjusting to using a planner.....this
planner/company will HELP you determine your personality and then
start using your planner - I think that is one of the MAJOR things
that sets the Busy Woman's Daily Planner apart from all the others!
So, this is how I manage to maintain my productivity and "make time" for
everything that I need to do.
- First, I use the monthly/weekly/and daily goal pages - so that
I have a clear outline of what steps need to be done every day/week/month.
- I prioritize EVERYTHING (this has been difficult at times - initially,
everything was high priority....it took time for me to get it through
my head that EVERYTHING can't be the highest priority every day).
- Next, I use two pages for every day (this can be tough at times
- and I know, through speaking with other women and the owner of
The Busy Woman's Daily Planner, this is too much for many people)
- I use Appointment pages AND regular daily pages. In the appointment
pages, I literally block out time periods to work on various projects.
- I keep my planner on my desk - right in front of me (I have one
that will detach from my purse - so I can easily attach it when
I'm going out of the house and always have it with me) - and make
sure I stick to the time blocks that I set up.
- I ALSO use a program on my computer that will sound an alarm
at certain times throughout the day. This helps me from watching
the clock - I simply focus on work and when the alarm sounds, I
check my planner and move on to the next task.
- I block all my time in 2.5 hour segments - with a 1/2 hour break
in between. Not only does this help me focus (on average, people
will get more done in short blocks of time than longer blocks of
time - 2.5 hour segments work really well for me, but I've known
people who chose 1.5 hour time blocks with 15 minute breaks in
between), but this also helps me "build in" time for any "urgent" needs
of my kids (for example, the baby isn't very good about following
MY time lines....she seems to think if she's hungry, she's hungry
NOW ).
- Finally, I make sure that I block some time EVERY DAY with all
the kids individually and together - this helps them feel like
I'm not ignoring them and cuts down on interruptions (at least
with the older ones). I've done that since my children were toddlers
- and it's almost always worked really well.
- I also make sure I take "me" time every morning and "planner" time
every evening (right before bed) - this helps me feel better...AND
keeps me on track with what I have in my planner. : )
I would suggest reading some of the articles on The Busy Woman's
Daily Planner site - http://www.thebusywoman.com . The owner of the
company also is a mom to three...so, she has some experience juggling
business and family as well. She is also available to chat via email,
phone, etc to help you figure out what is going to work well for
you - Susie (the owner) is a real gem, and is very good at figuring
out what will work best for people and walking them through managing
their time.
I will gladly help further, if you would like - but I would highly
recommend going straight to the source, so to speak, and speaking
with Susie.
©2003 Dee Kreidel
Remember when business was easy... Dax does!
http://www.daxdevelopment.com
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