5 Tips to Manage Your Time

1. Separate “awake tasks” from “naptime tasks.” What I mean by this is that I have a pretty good idea of what I can manage to accomplish while the little guy is playing versus what I need to do while he’s sleeping. I know that he’ll sit in his high chair and have a snack while I do the dishes, but there’s not a chance of him playing by himself long enough for me to sit down and write, so I plan my day accordingly.
2. Clean as you go. I walk up and down our steps countless times every day, so I try to grab something that needs to go wherever I’m going each time that I do. I clean up the little guy’s toys periodically throughout the day as we switch back and forth between rooms. I also try to keep my desk as clean as possible. Cleaning up throughout the day only takes a minute or two and it’ll save you the aggravation of rushing around to do it at bedtime.
3. Close your email and Facebook. I’m not even kidding. It’s so easy to get sucked into checking email and wasting time on social media and completely lose track of what you were originally doing. Schedule yourself downtime, but don’t let it turn into an all-day thing. I’m one of those people that tend to have a half dozen browser windows open at once, but when I seriously need to get things done, I close everything except what I’m actually working on.
4. Stick to a schedule. For the most part, I’m incredibly rigid on a day-to-day basis. I try to keep us on a fairly consistent schedule because it makes our lives more predictable. I thrive on structure and the little guy seems to do better when we stick to our routine – wake up, nap, and go to bed at approximately the same times every day. He’s actually a great alarm clock at this point – I get woken up between 7:30 AM and 8 AM seven mornings a week.
5. Know your priorities. What’s important to you? For me, it’s the little guy and work – those two things come before anything else, so when I’m planning our week, I make sure his needs as well as my work obligations are take care of. After that, I have some flexibility with how I prioritize and manage everything else – housework can be done a little bit at a time. There are only 24 hours in a day. Decide what to-do list items aren’t negotiable for you and schedule those first.

Do you have some favorite tips to manage time? Leave a comment and share.

Written by: Cristi Wuenschel