Time to Time Block!

Rummaging through your cabinets looking for what to feed the fam? Double booking yourself? Not living in the moment because you have 90 thoughts spinning in your mind? You are not alone! I have been there and have found many strategies that I share with my busy mom clients to stop the overwhelm and be able to balance their lives.

So today I am not going to overwhelm you more with TONS of tips, but just ONE thing that can truly change the dynamic of your week. I have talked about it before, but mama, sometimes we need to hear things a few times before we take action.

If you struggle with balancing life, keep reading!

TIME TO TIME BLOCK

Many of my clients come to me claiming they plan their weeks out. I call this fake-news planning. Jotting down your doctor's appointments and baby showers is not what I am talking about, here. I highly recommend getting yourself a PAPER planner (This is a great one: https://shop.passionatepennypincher.com/collections/home-planning/products/daily-weekly-calendar-home-planner?aff=94 , and start time blocking. If you want balance this truly is the start to achieving it. That being said, know that things don't always go as planned, you may have to pivot or change things up sometimes...but having the plan helps the anxious mind from spinning so much and organizes your life...and ensures you get your needs met as well. I help create customized weekly plans for my clients if they need it, but I will give you a general example of what should be on your planner for the week:

First take an little time on Sunday with your partner/kids (if they are older) to chat about what appointments or obligations they have so you can put those in my planner, too. This should go on a shared digital calendar. Then grab a notebook and write out a 'brain dump' of all the upcoming activities, errands, calls you have to make etc. for the week. Then grab your planner and plan your time blocks with them in mind. Some of the general time blocks consist of:

Here is a sample of one of my days. I color code so I can see at a glance if my day is balanced. Again, some days can go off balance and that is ok!

A "Me Time' block...and let me tell you this...without this time block, you will not get rid of overwhelm. FILL YOUR CUP GIRL!!! (With wine and self-love) We cannot pour from an empty one. I get up earlier than everyone so I can have some time to meditate, pray, journal or shove a frosted pink donut down my throat. For me, this is an hour and half before the world wakes up. I am not saying you have to make it that long. But I know if you want to priortize the important things, me-time is essential. Find the time and block it off. TIME FOR YOU TO HAVE FUN! BTW this is just you time...not friend time. We got a block for that, too! You know I love my girls!

A "Family Time" block... this ensures that you get that precious quality time with your family in. This can be whole family time or one on one time with one of your kiddos. The point is to make sure you aren't squeezing in little moments with your phone in your hand. Prioritize what matters. We generally only get 18 summers with our babies.

A "CEO of the Muthaa Effin House" block: OK I just made that title up for fun, but this encompasses all of the house related things. Projects, cleaning, calling the plumber...whatever it is. As a queen on that throne, you wear many hats and one reads "house shit". Don't forget to delegate some of that to those little people and your partner if you have one. You can't do it all!

A "Friend/Extended Fam" block: This may be more important to some of us than others ( extreeeeeeme extrovert here!!) but we all need some friend time. It is important to nurture our friendships. On the other side of things, some convos can get way too long or texts can swallow up time that we need to allocate to other things. It all adds up. We need balance. Time blocking helps us keep balanced while still ensuring we nurture our important people!

A "Work Outside/Inside the Home" block: This is pretty self explanatory and will look different for all of us. Some are 9-5ers some are entrepreneurs like myself and every day may look a little different. Maybe you are a stay at home mama in which case your CEO block will be longer and take over this block.

An "Errands" block: We have them every week, so yeppp they go on the planner. What errands can you knock out while you are already out at one place? Planning ahead saves so much time!

I hope those give you a good idea of what blocks may be helpful for your planning for the week. Some other tips:

- Delegate

- Disconnect from your damn phone! There will be a whole blog on this coming soon.

- Hire help. Sometimes we may have to sacrifice some pretty shoes or eating out as often to hire someone to help clean, etc. You have to priortize what matters, and for most of us that is living a balanced and happy life.

GRAB MY FREE 4 minute MOOD BOOST meditation for busy mamas here:

https://christymirabello.podia.com/4minutemeditation

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Be Fiercely You, Christy Jade