As a busy working mums, daily time management can be challenging.
Tasks are started the moment we wake up.
It is a tough gig and extremely tough especially if you must do it solo most of the time.
In summer, my body clock follows the sunrise therefore I wake up early while in winter, my body just know when to wake up.
I sometime wake up early because my body wakes me up naturally. I listen to it. Instead of rolling around on the bed, I do some stuff, yes, random stuff like decluttering, sorting out papers or kitchen, journalling, listening to podcasts, etc whatever time I wake up.
Following are 10 practicals idea that you can implement for juggling work and personal life daily:
1. Drink enough water
A glass of room-temperature water after sleep is good to wake up internal organs. It is recommended to have it within 30 minutes of waking up time. Your body will thank you for this. Drink water throughout the day.
A glass of water to start the day!
2. Morning stretch
I practise Yoga with Adrienne and Charley Yoga because it is quick and I feel the effect almost immediately. Be mindful and intention about the yoga movement in the morning. The body is adjusting from sleeping so be gentle. I caught up with this myself a few times that I sprained my left arm because I got excited when the body warmed up a little.
Stretch your body!
3. Have a sip
What’s your favourite beverage in the morning? I hope it is not a carbonated drink. I can’t drink coffee due to the high caffeine in it so I have a sip of tea in the morning. This is a luxury thing for me so if I don’t have the time at home, as soon as I get to the office, I make myself a cuppa before starting to check my emails and tasks to do for the day.
Enjoy that luxury time of sipping warm drink slowly!
4. Meditate
Do you meditate regularly? I learned meditation due to my family upbringing as a Buddhist. It wasn’t a 5-minute meditation, as a youngster, I did at least 30-minutes meditation. We can talk more about that in another blog. However, recent years, I have been introduced to an apps Insight Timer to do guided meditation for any topics.
I choose 5-10 minutes one and around grateful or any important event for the day. I meditate for lots of things such as before an interview while using the public transport as soon as I sit down. Meditate is not recommended while driving a car.
Start small then build up!
5. Breakfast or Brunch or straight to lunch
Do you have breakfast? I am not a cereal person. I like warm foods in general due to my upbringing. I was fortunate that when I grew up, a warm breakfast meal is served on the table before school. It is a time to chat with my parents especially my father because that is the time of the day that we are together while dinner time was depend on if he was home on time to have dinner together.
Now, my son has a breakfast every day before school while I sometime have it or get something light on the way to the office or just skip it completely and have a proper lunch.
Breakfast or not having breakfast, it’s your choice.
6. Plan your day and have regular breaks
Set the priorities for the day/week if it hasn’t been done last week. Planning will keep your day/week productive. I work in front of the computer a lot during the day if not going to a meeting, and I can spend hours for not getting up from my chair other than the toilet break.
I now intentionally walk and chat with colleagues and stretch my upper body, so it doesn’t lock into closing posture from using keyboard frequently. I am thankful that the office desk is adjustable so I can work while stand up during the day. Remember to get your daily water intake around 2 litre a day and lunch break away from your screen.
Find your break and plan it intentionally!
7. Set up boundaries
Like a boss, yes, you heard it right. Your boss at work may not like this but it works wonder for working mums. The truth is as busy working mums, we have the ultimate boss at home. I don’t mean your husband or partner. It’s your little one. They couldn’t care less if you had a bad day at work or if you are sick, they still need your attention 24/7.
I worked long hours before child and was still working long hours when returning to work after maternity leave, but I couldn’t sustain it for long time. When I say about boundaries, it doesn’t mean that neglecting work completely.
Get the work done and productive while you are at work. If lucky, we get an understandable boss or workplace that the old style of working is dead. Thank goodness covid hit us. In this context, it is a reset button to revisit the working style. Work can be done anywhere and by showing up physically at the office, it doesn’t mean that workers are more productive than the workers at home. The outputs and processes that needs to be measured not attendance.
Be firm on boundaries!
8. Listen to podcasts
I started to listen to podcast on my way home recently instead of trolling Facebook although I do that occasionally too. The reason that I stop trolling on the bus is also because my eyes need a break from screen and the bus movement makes me feel sick. The problem with trolling is time-consuming; it was started with 5 min then 60 minutes later, you are still there. I don’t watch TV at home so my life can feel like in a little bubble. I don’t like TV because one needs to sit down for hours without doing anything else.
I forgot that I used to listen to the radio a lot for music. I could pinpoint the stage of my life according to the song replays on the radio. Now, I just shift what I am listening to without dismissing the music completely. There are range of podcasts to suit our needs around money, parenting and relationships.
Listen to your current interest!
9. Eat dinner
Our weekly dinner time is a quick process because I do Sunday Cook-up and only reheat daily. I plan my meal from Sunday dinner to Thursday lunch. Currently, the meal planning includes lunches and dinners. It includes one meat (protein) with vegetables and carbohydrate. We have one vegetarian day.
I am off from the kitchen from Friday to Sunday afternoon. By doing meal planning, dinner time is less stressful and have time to spend quality time to help with creativity or read book before bed.
Do you do meal planning?
10. Sleeping
I was an easy sleeper. I can do power nap of 20 minutes to refresh. It changed over the time especially after giving birth. My sleeping pattern were shocking and only now after 3 years, my old self returns slowly. It happened previously that I really couldn’t continue working during the day. I wasn’t ill enough to go home but I need to lay my head down or in a relaxing posture. Luckily, my workplace has a wellness room.
Now, at night soon as the lights off and my head hits the pillow, it won’t last long for me to dose off. I sometime can randomly wake up like 2.30am and started to get a few things done. This is usually only happened during the week so I can cope, and I listen to my body. I have been told it still means that I don’t sleep well and that is for another discussion.
Power hour sleep!
Be kind to yourself and take care until then.
Busymumhacks x
