Shift From Managing Time To Managing Priorities

By: Tracy Ross Garcia

Can you believe it? We have endured almost a full year of living through a global pandemic. Before we could even settle into our “new year, new me” goals of 2020, Covid-19 turned our aspirations and normalcy upside down. It has been economically, emotionally, physically, and mentally challenging, to say the least.

Although the impact of the virus lingers, we are learning to live a new normal. Early on, information about the pandemic was constant, so it made sense to take things day by day. Now that we have experience living through a public health crisis, knowing things may not be what they once were, a shift in the way we manage our personal and professional lives is inevitable. Adjusting to staying safe at home, social distancing to remain connected (and sane), creating structure and routine again has allowed us to uncover or discover our own resilience.

If you find yourself overwhelmed, juggling mom-life and work-life while trying to live your best life, a realistic schedule may be exactly what you need. And what better time than now, at the start of the year, to refocus and realign with what makes you feel like the best YOU!

Clarity

After a year in survival mode, you owe it to yourself to align with what’s important. Getting crystal clear on what you want will help you create a routine that is true to you. Take time to write down what you really want to get done. Include how you want to feel and visualize what this looks like for you. Commit to a short term and a long term goal and identify all the
steps it takes to reach them. Breaking down goals into small steps makes them feel more attainable, and you gain momentum with each step you take.

Perhaps coming up with goals is a bit unnerving, especially after the year we just had. If so, one helpful exercise to get your head and heart in the right space is to do a brain dump. Get out a notebook or napkin, nothing fancy or formal, set the timer for 15 minutes and write down all the things you have to do, want to do, wish to do, and even things you never want to do again. Let it all go…out of your head and on to paper, free up your headspace.

I heard on a podcast once that our brains are meant to create ideas, not store them…mind blown!

Brain dumps can be done as often as you need, so when you’re feeling creative blocks or overwhelmed, use this tool to get you back on track.

Priorities

Now that you have decluttered your mind and can see it all laid out, SIMPLIFY. Getting it out of your head is so freeing, but if you ended up with 101 things on your list and still feel caught in the whirlwind, this is a critical next step.

What can be removed? What doesn’t feel aligned with what you really want and how you want to feel? Prioritize what needs to be done, how often you need to do it, or even if it’s you who needs to be doing it. (Mom tip: delegate/outsource low priority tasks.) Make time for what’s most important. Using a paper planner might be your jam, you might work best off a digital calendar or app, maybe you rank your to-do list, whatever works for you, start with the non-negotiables. These are those “big rocks.” Things like sleep, exercise, quality time with your spouse, commitments with children, self-care, and fun, along with actions that get you closer to your goals, should all be on your list of non-negotiables

Schedule this on your calendar like you schedule meetings with your boss. Whether it’s an hour a day, a week, or a month, show up, show up on time, and show up big. Knowing what’s important in this season helps manage your own expectations and empowers you to say no. The focus should be on getting the right things done, not the most things.

You might be thinking, how do I get it all done while working (from home), homeschooling, managing the home, and the “invisible load” — a topic worthy of its own discussion? Time blocking is another trusty tool to help manage distractions and create flexible structure to feel less overwhelmed and more productive.

Each day is broken down into 30-minute blocks of intentional activity. For example, Tuesday and Thursday I block 7am-8am for morning workouts, and Monday, Wednesday, Friday I exercise mid-day, 12:30- 1:30pm. I like to wake up at least half
an hour before my little one three times a week. This allows for un interrupted time for meditation, journaling, and prayer. On the days I’m not up early, I have it blocked during my lunch hour. Notice the flexibility, no overcommitting, and consistency. I’ve learned through lots of mommin’ how to extend grace and manage my expectations. My time blocks as a stay home mom certainly shifted now that I’m growing a business from home. {If you want to learn more about time blocking and see how my weekly time blocks look, send me a message, I’m happy to share.}

Whether you experienced unimaginable setbacks or instructive breakthroughs, one thing we can agree to is the pandemic exposed to us how little we need, how much we have & the importance of extending kindness to ourselves and others.

The standards of modern motherhood can easily leave us feeling inadequate and frustrated. Regardless of changes to the external world, it’s our internal environment that will determine how we get through 2021.

You’ve got this!