Time Management Tips for When Nothing Else Works

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You want to manage your time wisely, but sometimes nothing works. Check out these time management tips that do.

This post is written by Life as Mom contributor Prerna Malik.

Time Management Tips for When Nothing Else Works

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Print & Go Planner; Rainbow List Thingy

Have you ever looked around the house and wondered where the day went? Do you struggle with getting things done even though you feel you’re following all the time management advice you can get?

If so, you aren’t alone.

As someone who has actually written a book on productivity for mamas, I can attest to the fact that time management can be a pain. There will be days when I sail through everything and then, there will be weeks when nothing seems to get knocked off.

During these periods of seeming “stuck-in-the-rut”-ness, I fall back on a few proven time management tips that are guaranteed to work and put me back on the momentum train.

If, like me, you struggle with making time work for you, pay attention:

1. Go Back to the Basics

Yes, that’s right. What are the 2-3 basic time management tips that always work for you?

For me, it’s making a list for my to-dos, planning my calendar and using a timer to focus. What are the basics that need to be included in my time budget?

When life gets out of control for me, I just pause and go back to making a list of everything that needs to get done, look at my calendar and plug in a few projects and start using a timer to keep me focused at work.

What are the 3 things that always get you back on track?

It could be using your home management binder, weaving breaks in between work or school days or like me, making a to-do list.

Time Management Tips When Nothing Else Works

2. Take Small Bites of a Big Project

Overwhelm loves overwhelm.

That’s right. When you have big projects or missed deadlines or a mountain of to-dos, it’s easy to feel even more overwhelmed than ever.

Want to know what’ll help you cut through the chaos and confusion? Breaking a project down into teeny-tiny steps. For instance, one of the things that I had really fallen behind on was folding the laundry. Surprise!

Anyhow, the clean, washed laundry was just overflowing from two laundry baskets and hunting through the pile of clothes every day was just overwhelming me even more than the sight of the two overflowing baskets.

So, once I had it on my list, I could either let it be till I had a decent chunk of time to fold them {read, never!} or take small bites out of it.

I broke it down {mentally} into folding undergarments and socks first, then, t-shirts and so on. Before I knew it, I was done. I kept knocking out one “item” and that kept me going, even with breaks and interruptions in the middle of it all.

3. Drop and Roll

Finally, and most importantly, when it seems that NONE of the time management tips can help you get more done, drop and roll.

That’s right.

Drop and roll with the flow, go with the punches and wait for life to get a little calmer instead of trying to force yourself into yet another schedule, routine or productivity plan.

As someone who’s been there, I can vouch for the effectiveness of this last technique that helps you to step back a bit, look at things differently and gives you more insight into what your family and you need from a time management perspective.

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The Print & Go Planner is one tool to help you manage your weeks, days, hours, and minutes. It’s designed for you to print and go, simply and easily.

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So, are YOU struggling with managing your time? What seems to be your greatest challenge? Better yet,

What are YOUR favorite time management tips?

Prerna small

Gourmet content chef, author of the Content Cookbook and community manager for time-starved entrepreneurs and bloggers, Prerna Malik, along with her husband Mayank, infuses online communities with sugar, spice and everything nice… for a small business. Grab her FREE social media and copywriting goodies here!

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8 Comments

  1. Excellent tips, Prerna! When my schedule starts getting out of sorts it’s usually because I’ve started hitting the snooze button in the morning, rather than getting up and starting my day before my son gets out of bed. And that’s usually because I stayed up too late the night before. So my #1 tip is always making sleep a priority. Everything else depends on being well-rested!

    1. Thanks Katie!! And YES you’re right, hitting that snooze button pushes everything back… and sleep is key for all of us mamas to function with sanity and serenity 😉

  2. Thank you! Yesterday I had such a hard time getting started, and I don’t want that to happen today. Taking small bites will be especially useful. I need to remember the basics, too!