I bought my first Living Well Planner at the end of April 2018 and it has been life changing. It has weekly spreads with a time blocking section for each day. At first, I would try to plan out my days on the provided space and I would get frustrated when I didn’t (or just wasn’t able to) stick to my schedule. This made me not even want to fill in my planner the next week. Finally I realized what was wrong with how I was trying to time block.
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As a mom, especially a stay/work at home mom, my day has a lot of variables. What time I wake up, what time each of my kids wake up, what we have planned for the morning/afternoon/evening, what time my toddler naps, both of my kids temperaments, my mood, my husband’s plans for the day, what chores need to be done… I’m going to stop now but I could go on and on.
My days are only going to get more chaotic as my boys get older. Mom life is constantly changing, day by day, it seems impossible to actually plan it all out, despite the proven benefits of planning. I have news for you, it’s not impossible. It is totally possible to plan out your day and benefit from having a schedule despite all of the moving parts in our lives as mothers. Are you ready to find out how?
Time Blocking For Moms
The misconception of time blocking, especially for moms, is that each hour needs to be planned. There are people that can plan every hour, or even every minute, of each day but I’m definitely not one of them. I have come up a couple tricks to use when time blocking my days. It allows me more flexibility in my schedule but still lets me know what to expect and make the most of my time.
First, I split the day into 3-4 hour chunks. Next, I made a list of all of the things that happen every single day. Even if these things aren’t always at the exact same time, they are usually happen within a certain window so I make a generalization for when to “plan” for these things. Finally I put each of these things into the time blocking sections on my planner, next to the time I have assigned for it.
Technically, I have planned each task or activity at a specific time. However, when I look at the way I have sectioned the day, I know I have some buffer room and these activities might not happen at the exact time assigned to it. Simply having the days blocked out makes me more likely to get more done. You can do it too!
What is your biggest time management struggle?
Do you have another time management tip?
