Welcome to a very special Time Management Series here on the Systemize Your Life Podcast. This series is all about diving deep into the most frequently asked questions from our Systemize Your Life Facebook group. This time management series is all about how to get it ALL done, how to tackle that never ending to-do list, and how you CAN actually have time for yourself. Balancing your work, your kids, and your home is kind of a bear, I totally get it. I do it too. If you are looking to find MORE TIME and you know your lack of organization and haphazard schedule is the problem, then this series is for YOU!
If you have had enough of the never ending laundry, dishes, to-dos. If you are constantly being late in a mad dash out the door, never having focus time to work on your business and are just DONE with the stress of juggling ALL the things between working on your home and business then head on over to The Systemize Your Life Academy where you can spend the next four weeks going from overwhelmed to organized. In just four weeks you could wake up every single day feeling focused. You can wake up every day knowing exactly what tasks to prioritize, every day. Furthermore, the whole family understood this system and helped YOU keep a tidy and well run house. This is the home management system you need to make it happen.
Listen below for the entire episode on The Systemize Your Life Podcast
It is day two of the Time Management Series and we are going to dive into the five tips that I suggest every mom use to be able to beat burnout and frustration when we are feeling like we need a break. There is this common feeling that we all know too well of feeling like you need more time for just you. Especially when your babies are young, and especially when you are in the thick of it with a lot of teenage kids who don’t yet drive yet and you are having to a lot of carting around.
This is also true for those with younger kids. Especially for those with a servant heart who tend to give, and give, and give and it is pretty relentless. Some of us, me from time to time, have experienced that resentment and bitterness you feel from someone taking the life out of you. I remember when I was nursing I felt this way a lot, I just needed a minute to myself. Physically, my actual nutrients being depleted and my sleep and my emotions. So many things.
Building An Infrastructure To Support Yourself
It can seem so discouraging and defeating especially when you don’t have any other way. When you have not yet set up any kind of infrastructure to be able to support yourself. I think it is because we are not taught how to do it, we are not shown how to do it. Everything we see in our culture now is just for show. It is everything on the outside, you don’t ever really get a peak on the inside of these other women’s lives.
My entire mission is for YOU to be able to take care of yourself AND to be able to help take care of other moms so that YOU CAN find the time to be able to become WHO you were created to be and everything that you want to be for your spouse, for your kids, for yourself, for the future generations. Or just for you, where you are, right now! Here are the five tips, I would encourage you to write these down!
My entire mission is for YOU to be able to take care of yourself AND to be able to help take care of other moms so that YOU CAN find the time to be able to become WHO you were created to be and everything that you want to be for your spouse, for your kids, for yourself, for the future generations.
Tip #1 For Overcoming Frustration And Burnout- Choose An Impactful Task
For the first tip to avoid burnout and frustration in order to get more time for you, I want you to think of the most impactful task that you can do that rejuvenates you on multiple levels. This one might take a little bit of time, it might take a lit bit of thinking. But really, this supports the concept of your Fundamental Needs.
Find A Task That Truly Rejuvenates You
A tip would be to find a task that truly does rejuvenate you on multiple levels. For me, it is taking a bath. There is so many parts of taking a bath that invigorate me. From the essential oils that I use, the specific time of day where I am using the bath to decompress from my entire day. Plus, taking a bath helps me be able to shut everything off and to slow my brain down before getting into bed. It also is bathing me and cleaning me which is also very important.
Just being able to take a bath is my little sanctuary when I feel like I can’t feel all the hours washing and conditioning and treating my hair – it is A LOT. For those who also have A LOT of hair you totally understand this process. The bath is a place for me to actually take care of my hygiene. There are so many different things that this does for me. Often times, I have my battery operated candles with me, calming music playing in the background that helps restore my spirit. That is just one of the tasks that I go to.
For Example – Working Out
Another example that has been incredibly rejuvenating for me has been working out lately. Recently, I have been testing this task to see just how much it is rejuvenating me. I am looking at this on all levels to see how it is helping me and how essential is it to me. Once you get to this place where you are trying to figure out what to fit in with your limited time, you should be extremely particular. You should be vetting and looking through how you are using your time as if it were a science.
This is your job. This is what you do for a living. You manage a home, children, you, you also support the other half of the marriage. You potentially are supporting another half of finances, or all of the finances, or none of the finances at all. You have a passion, a mission that you are on, you do volunteer work. Whatever that is – you have a lot of things and everything comes down to how you use your time. How you structure your time and what you do with it.
This Has To Be Something That You Look At
You can’t be haphazard with it. This has to be something that you look at it. This is data. This is how you get really smart and you GROW simply by how you use your time. Whenever I sit down and think about taking time during my day to go to the gym multiple times a week, I think to myself, how essential is it. I think through all of these things to think through what tasks truly rejuvenate me. Not just on a singular level, but it has to be multi-dimensional. It has to impact me and the things that I am trying to do.
Look at this for yourself and figure out at least what ONE of those tasks could be for you and start experimenting with it and testing it out. Start layering it into your week, once a week, three times a week. If it is an every day thing, then that is going to go inside your routines which we will talk about later in this time management series!
Tip #2 For Overcoming Frustration And Burnout – Know Your Warning Signs
Tip number two for overcoming frustration and burnout is to know your warning signs. The question and the topic of this podcast episode is “How Do I Get More Time For Myself – 5 Tips To Beat Burnout and Frustration When You Need A Break.” You will not be able to get the time that you need, nor will you be able to understand your burnout or your frustration if you don’t understand your symptoms and your signs. You should be able to detect them at the earliest point possible. From that point, is tip number three!
Tip #3 For Overcoming Frustration And Burnout – How To Communicate Your Warning Signs
A lot of you may be able to recognize what your warning signs are, but you are not able to communicate them in a calm and respectful manner without passing judgement, without releasing bitterness or frustration, to whoever it is you are bitter to. If you are working outside of the home, it could be the people at your work, but for those who work within the home, it is our spouse and our children. If we get frustrated we will quickly snap at our spouses or our kids. Or we will call a “mom time-out,” completely fall off the bandwagon. We go to these extremes, have these arguments, yell at our spouses. It becomes a thing that you have internalized for so long instead of patiently waiting.
I understand the dynamic of feeling like you are constantly picking up after other people. You are doing for others SO MUCH and you can’t get anyone to do anything for you. Let alone, feel like you can’t even catch a break and find time for yourself. I do truly understand what that is like. We have a completely normal functioning home, just like you do. I have to work really hard at knowing what my warning signs are and how to communicate them, whether that be where I am at in my cycle every month, or that be because something heavy or challenging is going on in my personal life or my business.
Understanding Your Warning Signs
Whether that is because something challenging is happening with my children and that is demanding more of me. Or if it because there is something financial, or something in our marriage, or something in our house. There are going to be things that happen that demand of you that no one understands what that does to you. Therefore, it is so important to understand what your warning signs are and how to communicate those. To be able to talk about your feelings with no expectations other than just sitting down and having a conversation and see where it goes BEFORE you get to a point where you are at your wit’s end.
Tip #4 For Overcoming Frustration And Burnout – Identify where you are showing up that isn’t necessary.
You probably are showing up and serving in areas in multiple different capacities all day long at the same time. Time blocking will definitely help solve this problem. But, it can be really hard for you to get to the place where you feel like you can actually time block because you don’t know how to tease apart all the things you are doing simultaneously, aka multi-tasking. You are multi-tasking because you are trying to give to ALL the things at the same time.
Look in this micro moment that you are in, right now. How many people and how many things are you trying to serve at the same time? Do all of them truly need you? How independent have you taught your children to be? How independent have you encouraged your husband to be? How much do you demand to control because you are a control freak? Where are you at? Where are you giving way too much where you can suck back those claws and relax a little. It is okay to relax a little bit and you will get that time back. If you could just relax 15 minutes four times a day you would get that time back. An entire hour to yourself, alone.
Tip #5 For Overcoming Frustration And Burnout – Use timers.
If you are looking to get more time to yourself, try using timers throughout the day. Especially if you have little kids, set a timer with your kids to have them learn how to play independently. Start with 15 minutes, or even start with 5 minutes. Give them a designated space with a designated couple of toys. One toy bin to start if they are super small. Definitely use timers and then you grow that to larger time segments as your kids grow.
If kids are out of the equation, set a timer for yourself. Set a timer for 30 minutes and only clean for 30 minutes and then I am going to do x, y, and z, for myself for 30 minutes. This is a great mentality for you to practice if you are wanting to transition to the time blocks from a schedule based system. A good tool and tip for those looking for a starting point and immediate results starting right now. You can set a timer on your phone, but set the phone up and away. You don’t want to constantly be looking at the timer. Set it and then set it away.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I avoid burnout as a busy work from home mom?
As a busy work from home mom you can avoid burnout. By knowing what your Fundamental Needs are and planning out your weekly schedule to where you are prioritizing the actual things you need to function – you can be sure to avoid burnout as a busy work from home mom, by prioritizing your needs first! Yes, you absolutely can do this mama!
