I’ve been a little bit off my game here lately. I still wake up early – before my entire family – and it’s the best thing that I can do for myself and for my little family. But, I’ve been struggling with focus lately…which seems odd to me since I’m your standard Type-A personality and losing focus isn’t something that comes naturally to us.
So I’ve been struggling with managing my time spent with my husband, time spent with my children, and time spent on the blog. Not to mention, I’m struggling with keeping my house in order. Honestly, it’s starting to feel a little overwhelming.
Dress the Part
But, I’m committed to taking back my time and to stop letting it run me. One of those things that I’m doing is consistently avoiding the “mom uniform”. Don’t get me wrong, when you or your kiddos are sick, it’s practically impossible to wear anything other than the mom uniform. But I’ve realized that if I dress for the day that I want to have instead of the day I’m having, I’m in a way better mood.
I mean, think about it. Whenever you’re wearing your pj’s until noon do you feel like a beautiful woman or a hot mess? If you’re like me, you feel like a hot mess and completely unfocused and out of control. So just like I pick out my kids’ clothes for the following day, I’ve been picking out and planning my outfits the night before. It makes getting out the door so much easier.
Write it Down
Another thing that I’ve been working on the night before, is writing down my to-do list in my business planner. I literally write down my entire schedule – including when I’ll throw the laundry in and when I’ll vacuum. By doing this, I’m staying more focused on my business and home tasks instead of getting to the end of the day with breakfast dishes still sitting in the sink.
If you need help coming up with a schedule or routine to your day I highly recommend both Say Goodbye to Survival Mode and a Mother’s Rule of Life. Both are great, practical guides to helping you get your day in order.
Daily Top 5
Something else that I’ve been working on, is something that I learned from Make Over Your Mornings by Crystal Paine. It’s the Daily Top 5 – basically, you do the same top 5 things every morning and that will ensure a great start to your day. Here’s what I mean:
- Read the Bible readings for that particular day.
- Morning prayer.
- Unload dishwasher and set up breakfast for the boys.
- Start a load of laundry.
- Shower and get dressed.
Literally, I do these five things every single morning – even on vacation (minus the laundry and dishwasher part). By doing these same five things, I end up setting myself for a much better day ahead. Granted, I need to make sure that I’m writing my to-do list the day before to make sure that I’m not frazzled as soon as I get out of the shower.
***If you need help with self-discipline, make sure you grab the Master Your Life eBook (it’s on sale!) here. It walks you through, step-by-step in mastering the art of self-discipline and helps you regain control over your life!
Drink it Up
Before I had kids, I was great at drinking water all day long. In fact, I have never liked cokes (soda or pop for all y’all not from the South 🙂 ) so drinking water was never a challenge for me. That was until I started staying home with little ones all day long.
What ends up happening is that I’ll pour myself a big ol’tall glass of water with my favorite lemon essential oil and while drinking it, I get called away by a loud crash somewhere in my house. When I come back an hour later to drink my water, it usually has a Hot-wheel car or dirt in it as a “present” from one of my darling boys.
So, I’m now working on increasing my water intake by “not allowing” myself to drink coffee, hot tea, or anything else until I’ve drunk a glass of water. This is definitely not a perfect system but I’ve seen a dramatic improvement in my mood, my energy levels, and just my overall feeling by drinking more water.
I definitely missed it.
Clean it Up
Okay, so something else I’ve noticed is that my work area – my desk – has gotten crazy. Back when I had an office job, my desk NEVER looked like mine does now. I know that part of why my desk looks crazy is because my desk is in the living room (the trials of living in an older home 🙂 ) so it’s like a homing beacon to my little ones.
But also, it’s a crazy mess because I’m a crazy mess. There’s an old expression about a cluttered desk being a sign of a cluttered mind and for me, that’s very true. I cannot function in chaos and so it’s no surprise that I’ve been unfocused here lately because my desk looks like this:
For real, it’s awful and I don’t like it. So as soon as I finish typing, I’m cleaning it. 🙂
Okay so that’s all I’ve got for you, but I’d love to hear your advice for regaining control over your day!
Great tips! The main thing I’m taking away from your tips is the theme of intentionality: Be intentional about how you’re going to spend the time in your day.
One thing I’ve found to increase my water intake is to set a full glass of water on my nightstand before I go to bed. The first thing I do when I wake up, after turning off my alarm, is to drink that water. Then I go downstairs and have my coffee. 🙂 It’s also handy if I wake up thirsty in the middle of the night too!
Staying aware from social media is key for me!!
thanks for posting this! I too realized that showering and getting dressed produces a huge boost in my motivation and changes my mood for the better. With four kiddos at home and one still nursing and co-sleeping, its challenging to make this work, but when I do it, its worth it! I also find that getting out of the house can be a huge reset for us. We live in the city, so saying “Go play” in the backyard isnt an option yet (we’re moving soon), but it really helps the rest of the day to go well, even when it means there are things to be done when we get home.
Whenever I’m feeling stressed and overwhelmed with all the things on my to do list. I take a deep breath and think about what I absolutely must get done for both my business and my personal life. I then choose the most important things from that list and get them done. If it means my pins don’t get scheduled oh well, if it means laundry goes another day oh well. By not letting myself take on too much it really does make my entire day run smoother.
I need to regain control over my day, too! I had a great start to the year, but the busy-ness of holidays seems to be creeping in already. Sigh. Great reminder to dress the part. I need to do better at that. Oh, and getting a good night’s sleep so I have the energy for a good day. That’s key for me.
Absolutely! Could not agreed more. Heading up in the day by taking deep breath and drink glassful of water. That’s my daily mantra.