Welcome to episode 106 of the Mom CEO Suite podcast, Tiny habits that have improved my time management as a work from Home mompreneur. Now, time management is a significant challenge for many mom entrepreneurs. And in this episode I'm sharing 10 things that have helped me manage my time better. Implementing tiny habits has shifted my approach to managing time. Instead of attempting drastic overhauls, focusing on small incremental changes has made it easier for me to adopt new practices that ultimately promote work life harmony. So tune in to discover how these 10 tiny shifts help me to have a more organized and fulfilling daily rhythm. Hey friend. Welcome to the Mom CEO Suite podcast where faith, family and business come together. I'm your host, Phylicia Pough Christian wife, mom of two and life and business system strategist for mom entrepreneurs. With over 10 years of experience working behind the scenes of businesses and ministries and as a work from home mom entrepreneur, I'm here to share my personal journey and practical strategies to help you design systems that bring peace to your work and home life. While many strive for balance, I believe it's harmony, an integrated flow that works for you that truly sustains. Together, we'll explore how to grow your service based business in a way that is sustainable and keeps your family at the heart of it all. Plus hear real life stories and expertise from other mompreneurs who are walking the same path. Motherhood gets hard entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship gets hard. But together we can do hard things. Welcome to the suite. Hey friend. Welcome to the episode. Thank you so much for being here. Now today I'm talking about time management and I'm talking about this because anytime there's conversation with mom business owners, one of the greatest challenges that always comes up is how to quote, unquote, balance things or how to better manage time. Now, I'm not coming into this episode and sharing as an expert or as someone who has it all figured out, but I have implemented some things over the past, I guess I would say the past year or so that have really helped to improve my time management. And these things, I call them tiny habits because they're very small things that I have done. You know, sometimes we get so caught up or focused on trying to do big things, make big drastic changes or kind of go cold turkey with something when really we can start with something small, start with a tiny habit and then build upon that. So if you've been following along for a while, you may remember that I mentioned I eliminated sugar from my diet and I didn't just wake up one day and say, oh hey, I'm going to go cold turkey and stop eating sugar. No, it was a progression and it started with tiny habits. So first it started with me not eating candy, and then it progressed to cutting out sweets like donuts and cupcakes and cookies and ice cream. All those things when I was doing that, I didn't 100% eliminate it, but I said, okay, I'm going to only have sweets on the weekend versus almost every day of the week. And then once I did that, I also had to do things like stop putting sugar in my tea and looking at the ingredients of different products and trying to find sugar free products and all of these things. So again, I just want to emphasize that we're focusing on tiny habits. So as you are listening, just think, go throughout your day, think about some small changes that you can make that will help you to manage your time better. And just so we're all on the same page, you know, when we talk about time management, what we're really talking about is how you're planning your time, how you're organizing your time, basically how you are controlling your time. And so kind of assigning different tasks and activities to take place during specific times. Usually the goal is to do this in a way that is effective so that you can achieve things that feel important to you or achieve the goals that you have set for yourself. Okay. Whatever that might be. And it can, it can look different whether it's personal goals, business goals, family goals. Right. Time management is really one of those foundational things that's going to help you to experience work, life, harmony, which we talk a lot about here on the podcast. And if you want more, I dive deeper into time management in one of the modules of the Harmony private podcast. So if you want to dive deeper into this, definitely check out that private podcast. The link is in the show description. Okay, so I'm going to. In this episode, I'm really just going to be sharing 10 tiny habits. And they're very random. Some of them are related, some of them are not. But it's 10 things that I have implemented that has helped me to improve my time management, helped me improve my productivity, and just be a better steward of my time. And these are in no particular order. So, number one, the first thing is that I started showering before my kids woke up in the morning. Okay. What I used to do is that I used to get up, get the kids up, we used to have breakfast, and then I would shower and get dressed for the day. Well, by the time I finished all of that it was most days almost close to 10:00. Right. And so I found that just by waking up a little bit earlier and showering before the kids got up, I was more, I guess you could say, ready for the day. I was ready to tackle the day. There is something to be said about getting up and getting dressed every day. So now that I shower before my kids, once we're done breakfast, which is around 8:30, and I put my, my son down for a nap, now I have this 90 minute window where I can be present with my daughter or I can squeeze in some work while she is independently playing. And this is time that I quote, unquote, did not have. I was just doing something else. But it feels more productive and it feels like a better use of my day time. Okay. Because also during the day when we're first waking up, this is optimal time for me. Right. And so I have more energy, my head is clearer. It's a great time to be able to get some business tasks done or be fully present with my daughter. Okay. So that's number one. Number two is I started using a planner now this is, I've probably been using a planner for about two years now actually. And once I started doing that, it just made my day to day feel a whole lot smoother because I knew exactly what I was supposed to be doing each day. I mentioned in a previous episode when I talked about my structure for the day on Sundays, I plan out my week and so I plan out the different tasks that I'm going to do each day. And so having that written out in a planner, I already know, you know, when my work block times arrive and I look at my planner, I know what I'm supposed to do. So I am not wasting time trying to figure out, okay, oh, what should I do during this 90 minutes? No, I already know. And so it helps me to not waste time and just helps me to stay on track with getting closer to my business goals. You know, what I am putting in my planner on a weekly basis is really based on what's happening in the business monthly and then whatever is happening quarterly. Okay. So it's not random. It's all connected to the larger goals. All right. And having it actually written down in a planner has been super helpful for me. The next thing, number three, which is kind of related, is having smaller to do lists. And I think this is helpful because I used to pack my to do lists for the day and it always made me feel like, number one, I was not being productive because I Could never check everything off of the list. But then it also felt overwhelming and with overwhelm for me at least, comes procrastination and stagnation because I'm avoiding doing the work. So now when I do my to do list, when I put them in my planner, I'm only putting max three major things on my and not even major, but three things on my to do list for the day. Okay? And sometimes it might be less than that, depending on what the tasks are and how I, you know, how long I already know they're going to take or what type of mental capacity it'll take. But having these smaller to do lists helps me to be much more targeted during my work blocks, and it has improved my productivity. The next thing, number four. I also think I talked about this in a previous episode, but I have been easing into and out of my weeks, okay? And so this provides a sense of rest for me so that every single weekday, I am not feeling pressured to be doing all of these business tasks, and I feel like I have some rest. With rest comes clarity. With rest comes rejuvenation. With rest just comes you getting new creative ideas. And so on Mondays, I kind of ease into my week. On Fridays, I'm easing out of my week, meaning I don't put a lot of things on my to do list. In fact, on Friday, I don't put anything on my to do list for Friday. And I choose what it is I want to do business wise. I choose based on how I'm feeling, based on what priorities might be. I choose what I want to do instead of having that mapped out because it makes it feel a little bit more fun and flexible for me. And it's like a flex day. So easing into and out of my week, again, has created this sense of rest, and it's helped me to kind of maintain this state of harmony between my business work and home life. Because, you know, I am not trying to pile on too much as it relates to the business. All right? So easing into and out of the week has been super helpful. The next thing, number five, is theming my days and my weeks. What this has done is created structure for me again so that my time is not idle and I am able to designate the appropriate amount of time for business tasks, and I'm able to kind of balance that against what's happening in my home life. Okay? And so, like I mentioned before, each week of the month is designated for a particular thing. So I have weeks where I'm focused on client work. I have weeks where I'm focused on podcast production and I have weeks where I'm focused on administrative work. This is helping me to assign my time so I'm not idle. I'm not caught up in time wasters and just having these themes for my weeks and also for my days, because I do CEO days. I mentioned how Friday is a fun flex day for me. This structure allows me to be a better steward of my time. Without the structure, I can quickly go into doing things that I don't need to do or doing things that are priority. All right, the next thing that I did, number six, is that I took threads off of my phone. Okay, why did I do this? Because I was scrolling way too much on threads. I really enjoy the app. I love connecting. You know, the conversations, at least for my feed, are very interesting to me. But I found that I was on threads when I could have been doing something else a little bit more productive, or I actually should have been doing something else that was on my to do list for that particular day. And so taking the distraction away helped me to be a better steward of my time and helped me to be more productive in what I was actually doing day to day. Now I'm in a space where I feel like I can actually put it back on my phone and it not be a distraction. So I took it off of my phone for maybe two weeks or so. I think it's been. And I've been using it on my desktop, but now I feel like, okay, I have more discipline and I can add it back because it is convenient to have it on my phone. Nonetheless, taking it off of my phone eliminated the distraction for me and help me to just use my time more wisely. The next thing that I did, number seven, is that I started prioritizing Bible study and prayer. And when I say prioritize, I mean most of the time, unless it was. Unless I woke up late, I would be prioritizing, reading my Bible and praying before I did anything else. Like before I check my email, before I got on social media, before I text anybody back. I am putting my faith first. This has helped me with my prioritization and my boundaries. This is also something that I talk about in the Harmony private podcast. Priorities and boundaries. But when you have these things in place again, it supports the work life harmony that we are desiring. And so this has just helped me to keep my priority, the priority. And it has helped me to be a better steward of my time because it really sets the foundation for me. I'm more grounded. I Am I'm more in alignment with what it is that I need to be doing for the day. You know, I'm not operating as much in my flesh and so it has been helpful in that capacity. The next thing, number eight that I've done is that before every work session that I have, I pray. And so yes, I pray in the morning. You know, I would pray in the morning when I wake up, but when I have an intentional moment of prayer before I go into one of my work sessions, you know, I mentioned that I have two. One in the afternoon when the kids are napping, and then another one in the evening once they go to bed. When I pray before these work sessions and have an intentional moment just to connect with God, I am able to be more focused on the tasks at hand. What I have experienced is that my work flows so much easier. A lot of times I'm writing emails or creating some type of content and the things just flow so much easier for me once I kind of submit myself to whatever it is God wants to do through me during this work session. You know, I have a limited amount of time and I'm not wasting it, you know, grabbing something to eat and getting on social media and scrolling and just checking emails. You know, I'm very focused because my faith grounds me. And so having that moment of prayer, it keeps me grounded and focused on what it is I'm supposed to be doing in the moment. The next thing that I've done, and this is number nine, is minimizing my TV intake through the week. And so I usually do not watch TV through the week anymore. I reserve that for the weekends. Admittedly, I have a guilty pleasure for some reality tv. And currently I'm also watching or re watching the old show from the 2000s called Lincoln Heights. So it's been really interesting to watch that as an adult. But yeah, not watching TV through the week, that has been minimized as a distraction. And I'm able to really get a good amount of work done during my limited work blocks because I am not, you know, spending my time watching tv. The final thing that I have done that has really helped me improve my time management is meal planning and meal prepping. And I started doing this because meal prep through the week became a challenge for me. I was struggling with figuring out what to eat, what to make for the kids on a day to day basis. And so when I started planning ahead, it eliminated that decision fatigue that comes up for me when I'm trying to prep meals. And so I now plan my meals at the end of the week for the following week. And I also prep. So meaning, like, I don't do meal prep in the sense of cook full meals and put them in containers and all of that. But I will prep the ingredients, but I'll clean the chicken, cut the chicken up or whatever. I'll cut my vegetables, cut up the fruit, you know, and I'll just be prepared to make it a less stressful situation for me. And what I found is that because I'm not having to put so much energy into this meal prep through the day, it allows me the brain space and the capacity to be able to get work done quicker. And for me, just to be in a more pleasant mood with my children, cooking is just not my favorite thing. And so this was like a thorn for me. It may not be for you, but meal planning and prepping definitely helped with me being able to be better with my time through the week. Okay, so those are just some of the tiny habits that I have implemented into my life that have helped me just be better with time management. And so let me know, are you going to try any of these things? Are you already doing any of these things? And if you have tiny habits that you have implemented into your daily rhythm, let me know. Shoot me a message on Instagram. I would love to hear what's working for you. Thank you for tuning in and I will see you in the next episode. Thank you for listening to the Mom CEO Suite podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, can you do us a favor? Leave a review on itunes and share with other moms in business like you. Help us spread our message and empower others who are at this intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship.