The Busy Mom's Guide to Prioritizing and Time Blocking

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#218 - Ever feel like there's simply not enough hours in the day? What if I told you there was a way to not only manage your time more effectively, but also achieve a greater sense of balance and fulfillment in your day-to-day life?  Join me in this episode, as I share my personal journey, revealing how I transformed my life through mastering the art of time management. I share the secrets of the 80-20 rule or Pareto principle, which emphasizes focusing on the tasks that yield the highest results. I’ll also guide you through the time blocking method, a system designed to allocate specific blocks of time for specific tasks, eliminating the chaos of multitasking.

But that's not all - I also talk about another method,  designed to streamline your decision-making process, helping you prioritize tasks with ease. Discover how merging the 80-20 rule with time blocking can result in a balanced, fulfilling routine. Learn how tracking your activities can free up your time and energy for what truly matters. I also  share my techniques for delegating chores and the positive impact effective time management has on my productivity and overall well-being. So, strap in and get ready for some life-changing insights. Remember, you've got this and I believe in you. Don't miss out - this episode could be the game changer you've been waiting for.

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Episode Transcript

Teresa Hildebrand (00:09):
Hey, my name is Teresa Hildebrand and this is
Organized Chaos.
We take a deep dive into livingwith intentionality, focusing
on what's important in our livesso we can truly feel our best.
It may feel chaotic at times,but with a little organization,
the right mindset and a ton ofself-love, we can still thrive.
Join me as we talk to otherbusy moms and experts who will

(00:31):
share tips and strategies tohelp you reach your goals.
Hope you enjoy this episode ofOrganized Chaos.
Now on to the show.
Hey friends, welcome to thisepisode of Organized Chaos.
Today we're going to be divinginto time management systems.
I want to talk about thisbecause we all want to manage
our time wisely, especially usbusy moms.

(00:53):
We're going to dive in andexplore three different systems
to help moms make the most outof their days.
So, because, as moms, we wearmany hats and managing our time
wisely is crucial for achievingour goals while still having
quality time with our favoritepeople.
There are a lot of differenttime management systems, but I
wanted to share these threebecause I use a combination of

(01:17):
two of them and another one Ijust wanted to offer up to you
guys so that you can maybe tryit out.
So, basically, I'm sharing thisso that you can find your
perfect fit, okay, so I want tostart off with something that
I've actually talked about a lotbefore, because it's really

(01:37):
nailing down your priorities.
This is the 80-20 rule, thePareto principle.
So this time management systemis basically something that
teaches us to focus on 20% ofthe tasks that yield 80% of the
results, so we can identifythose kind of like high impact
tasks, prioritize them and thenalign our efforts with our most

(02:02):
significant goals and, basically, we can free up time and energy
for the things that trulymatter.
And this isn't something thatyou just use once.
You do it one time and then youhave to continually do it,
maybe quarterly or semi-annuallyor even more often than that,
because our lives change and wehave different life events and

(02:26):
seasons change.
So this is just something thatwill give you the ability to,
kind of like, come back andground yourself and reprioritize
.
The way that I use this and Ithink it's the most effective
way to use it is to track.
First, track your activities,track the things that you're
doing on a daily basis andreview it and look at some of

(02:50):
the things that you're doingthat maybe you don't have to do
anymore or it doesn't have to bedone by you.
So, for example, I was cleaningmy house, right, so we gotta
clean the house, we gotta keepup with the housework.
However, I don't necessarilyhave to do that.
So one, there's three otherpeople in the family, so we can

(03:12):
divvy up some of those tasks,but also I can have somebody
come over and pay them to cleanthe house.
So I do that every other week.
I'm actually thinking of doingit every week because now we
have a puppy and we have moremesses.
So that's kind of the thing thatI looked at to see okay, does

(03:34):
this really have to be done byme?
Now, I have my preferences.
I'm kind of a clean freak andthere's certain ways that I like
to clean.
So this was kind of a challengefor me, but for you, it might
not be your like, I don't care.
I just want my house to besomewhat clean and in order and
I don't wanna have to do itbecause I'm busy doing a project

(03:55):
or whatever.
So kind of looking at thosethings that really didn't need
to be done, that honestly, likethey weren't gonna move the
needle forward in my business.
However, if it got done bysomebody else, I would have the
peace of mind that my house isin an absolute mess and that
wouldn't be clogging up my mindand now I can focus on work.

(04:19):
So you also wanna take a lookat this from many areas of your
life.
So that was a task that waslike a home task, and I also
have to look at some of thethings that I'm doing in my
business that maybe don't needto be done and I can, or I can,
pass it on to someone else.
So I really have to be realwith myself and track all of the

(04:43):
things that I'm doing and, ifyou wanna get deeper into it,
see how long it's taking you.
See how long each task istaking you so you can add up the
amount of time that you'regoing to save by either
completely eliminating it fromyour task list or passing it on
to someone else.
This may be one of the mostimportant exercises you do to

(05:06):
start to manage your time better.
Okay, the next time managementsystem is the time blocking
method.
So this is a really popularmethod.
I mean, it's really a gamechanger for us busy moms and
this is something where youcreate blocks of time for a
specific task in activities.
So we kind of gain focus andavoid the chaos of multitasking,

(05:29):
because I think we all know nowthat multitasking just doesn't
exist.
I mean, you can't reallymultitask and be efficient at
the same time.
And this is all aboutintentionality.
So you are blocking specifictimes for your work, family
self-care, personal development,and that gives us the ability

(05:53):
to be present and productive ineach aspect of our lives.
Really, what it comes down tois time blocking is all about
creating balance and justfostering a sense of
accomplishment at the end ofeach day, so you don't feel like
you're completely defeated andyou lack energy and you just

(06:14):
feel like you're movingbackwards rather than forwards.
And you can combine the 80-20rule with time blocking.
I think that's been kind oflike this perfect marriage that
I have been able to really dialdown on, because, first off, I
have my priorities, I knowexactly what it is that I need
to work on, and now I'm justblocking that time for

(06:37):
intentional work, whether it'sactual business or spending
quality time with my family oreven, you know, making time for
myself.
So that's how I've been reallyable to create this perfect flow
for each day.
So the next time managementsystem is called the Eisenhower
Matrix, and you've probably donethis before, maybe in school.

(07:00):
It's very similar to the SWOTanalysis, but this method helps
us differentiate between urgentand important tasks, so
ultimately streamlining yourdecision making process.
Now, with this, you cancategorize your to-do lists into
four quadrants so urgent andimportant, important but not

(07:22):
urgent, urgent but not importantand neither urgent nor
important.
So this is another form ofprioritizing, or the 80-20 rule,
but if you're a more visualperson, this may be better for
you.
But basically it guides you onhow to make decisions, on what
tasks to tackle first and how todelegate or eliminate tasks in

(07:45):
each quadrant.
This may be pretty eye-opening,because you really have to sit
down and think of whether or notsomething is either urgent,
important or not urgent orimportant at all.
So you may be putting a lot ofthings at the beginning in the
urgent quadrant, right In theurgent and important quadrant,

(08:09):
but as you continue to make yourtime management systems better
and you start to see results onhow this can really help you,
more of the task will fall intothe fourth quadrant of not
urgent and not important.
Now, this is a skill to buildup and it's going to take some

(08:31):
time to really find your perfectfit, but once you do, it's
going to free up your schedule,it will reduce overwhelm and
you're going to be able toexperience that increased
productivity and justfulfillment in the work that
you're doing.
And there's noone-size-fits-all approach, so
just experiment with thesetechniques and find what really

(08:52):
works best for you.
Now, if you're struggling withtime management, let me know
which one of these methodsyou're going to try first.
You don't have to try them allLike I said, this is kind of
like a skill to build up but atleast try one and let me know
how it goes.
So that's all I have for youtoday.
So thank you so much for tuningin to Organize Chaos, and if

(09:14):
you found today's episode to bevaluable, please share it with
your fellow Mompreneurs, who canbenefit from just kind of
mastering their time.
I greatly appreciate yoursupport and I can't wait to
connect with you again.
Remember you've got this and Ibelieve in you.
I hope you have an amazing dayand I will see you next week.