As a working mom with a toddler, I have to say my days are quite busy. I’ve learned some tips and tricks to manage my time and provide for my family, all while focusing on my own goals as a working mom, that I’ll be sharing with you all today.
Focusing on Your Own Goals as a Working Mom
I do want to preface this by saying I only have experience being a working mom so I’ll be sharing what has worked for me. I also think that to achieve work-life balance, child care/daycare can make a big difference. It gives you time away from your child to focus on your goals/work, etc.
I often have to remind myself that I am not only a mom. Although being a mom is my biggest role in life right now, I am also a wife, a sister, a friend, an employee and I have my own goals in life. The first year of Partaap Singh’s life, I felt like I was in survival mode and only focused on him and his needs. Once he turned 1, I finally started to slowly think about myself and what I wanted to get out of my life.
Goal Setting
To begin, I highly recommend sitting down and writing down your goals in life. I personally do this every year and I just do it in Google Sheets. I like to have different categories under which I write down specific goals. For example, I have Sikhi goals, Wellness goals, Financial goals, etc. Under Sikhi goals, some things I have written down are: listening to Sukhmani Sahib every day, doing Simran for 10 minutes each day, etc and for wellness some of my specific goals include exercising for 10 minutes a day, getting 10K steps a day, etc. By doing this, you yourself realize what you want to make a priority in your life. I even have a category called Partaap Singh which includes things I want to teach him, take him to, etc.
Plan Out Your Week
The next thing I recommend doing is planning out your week. Again, I do this on Google sheets and I have all the days of the week listed out and underneath I include the specific things that need to get done. Your list will include things that are just normal things that everyone has to do. Like doctors appointments, grocery days, cleaning days, etc. But I want you to go beyond that. I want you to write things that are good for you, I want you to write down your specific goals. For me, that means listening to Sukhmani Sahib, exercising, reading books, working on my blog, talking to my family and even going to the apple farm with my friends. If you don’t write down your goals, you’ll never focus on them and make them a priority. You’ll only continue to do the things that need to get done.
Finding the Time to Actually do the Things
So now, that you’ve actually written down your goals and which day of the week you want to do them, how are we going to find the time to actually accomplish them. This is where you begin to get creative. I do not have time to exercise in my day, I really don’t. I come home from work and I get a couple hours to make dinner, eat and then spend time with my family, so I don’t want to be doing exercise. So, I get creative. My lab is located on the third floor of our building and there are 13 floors in total. Every day at work, I spend 10 minutes, going up and down the stairs. Let me tell you, this is one intense workout. Be creative.
If your goal is to listen to Sukhmani Sahib every day, then do it while you do some mundane work at work. If your goal is to talk to your family and friends more, call them while you drive home from work. And if your goal is to write that blog post, set a timer for 30 minutes and do it during your lunch break. Finally, if your goal is to spend time with your friends, then invite them along on your next family outing. You’ll be surprised, even your friends that don’t have kids will still enjoy spending time with you and your kids.
Doing Things That Need to Get Done
Don’t get me wrong. You’ll still need to get the things you need to. I still need to get my child ready for the day, I still need to prepare meals and snacks for the day, I still need to clean and do the grocery. But I get creative. I make dinner every night but make sure there is enough for lunch the next day as well. I batch bake muffins, snacks and breakfasts on the weekend so I have snacks and breakfast for the week. Then I also do online grocery and get it delivered to my house, I have a rotating meal plan that is on autopilot so I’m not wasting my time planning meals and writing down grocery lists. I get it done, but I get it done efficiently. So, I have more time to focus on my goals.
Remember, you are not only a mom, you are your own person, you have goals, you have dreams. Make a plan and write it down. Make time for you!
I’ll be sharing more specifically how I get things done effectively in future posts, so look out for that. You don’t want to miss my foolproof rotating meal plan either.
I also don’t recommend you doing chores/work while your child naps. I am a huge proponent of using the time your child naps to do something for yourself. On the weekends, during nap-time, I either nap with him, watch YouTube videos or organize. You all know how therapeutic I find organizing, in fact it’s what Kamfy Living is all about š
Hope you all enjoyed this post and are inspired to start focusing on your own goals as a working mom š