How to reclaim your time as a mum

When it comes to the question of how to reclaim your time as a mum, many mothers will automatically start thinking: “how can I add more hours to my day”? What if we need to reframe our mindset and think about how we can make the most of the time we have to make space for breaks?

I want us to start thinking about this today, since I have a love-hate relationship with the idea of women, especially mothers being excellent at “multitasking.”

It’s not like we have to learn how to multitask as a necessity. Multitasking is not a thing, by the way. It is simply single tasking, really, really fast. Sometimes, that is what we have to do. However, I want us to find a way to reclaim our time when navigating motherhood and be more conscious of it.

By simplifying and creating better boundaries, we can use a couple of simple hacks to make the most of our workday.

Our boundaries from working life are blurred. We find ourselves not finding the proper flow to feel successful every day: being able to create physical or mental boundaries will have a crucial part in the way that we run our days. However, there are other things that we can do to support these changes.

So while mothers have no doubt realized the incredible impact of working from home on their lives and mental well-being, today I want to provide you with three ideas that you can implement for yourself to reclaim your time as a mum. You might get excited; I get it. But please pick one of these hacks to implement and reclaim your time as a mum before you try and work on the next one. Just go with what feels right to you, and follow your intuition.

Reclaim your time as a mum with these three four

Step one: Fast-track your chores

Cleaning the house is a huge part of a mum’s day, but you can spend less time on chores without compromising on your tidy home. Investing in smart devices, such as hoovers and mops, will save you from having to manually complete the errand, as you can schedule the gadgets to fulfill the tasks for you – leaving you more time for what truly matters in life.

Also, replace existing fixtures, such as the oven, fridge, and toilets, with smart alternatives that are extremely low-maintenance. Hate spending time cleaning toilets? Washloo, the UK’s sole domestic bidet toilet seat brand, offers a range of self-cleaning Japanese toilets, so you never have to undergo cleaning the lavatory again – perfect for saving and creating more precious time for spending on more fulfilling activities in life.

Step two: The focus hour

A straightforward way to make the most of your time is to create one focus hour throughout the day.

In my book, Reclaim your Time Off, I talk extensively about focus hours and why having one hour of uninterrupted time can be very powerful for us.

The power of focus hours can be linked to our Chronotypes: these are affected by our circadian rhythms (sleep and wake cycles). We all have one energy peak (or even two) throughout the day. These energy peaks are the times when we can do our most analytical and focused work.

The first step is figuring out where your energy peaks. Is it in the morning is in the evening? If you can find that time and make sure that you have one hour to 90 minutes of uninterrupted work, that could be the best way for you to tackle the most significant projects you’re working on, on a given day.

Sixty minutes may feel a lot for you right now – here’s why starting to create boundaries and better communication is critical. My top suggestion would be to enlist your partner to help you, whether it’s creating a sacred space for the hour or just watching over the kids.

Step three: Create time snacks

One of the biggest problems, especially as mothers, is finding time to have breaks. Far too often we find that we don’t have the time to exercise, prepare a healthy meal, or even do nothing. One of the biggest hurdles is that we preconceive that we need hours to accomplish these things.

I want your mindset to shift completely. Instead of thinking about 30-minute workouts, I want you to start incorporating something known as little time snacks: these could be 10-minute exercises. It could be a quick snack that you can prepare in five minutes or meditation, a brisk walk, or anything else, to take a break from your screens and set physical boundaries. I like to try and incorporate at least 3 of these 10 minute snacks throughout the day.

Optimally, our work to break ratio should be five to one. However, I appreciate that it might not always happen; even starting with three simple time snacks could be ideal and deciding what you’re going to do within them.

Ask yourself, once again: “what do I need the most right now?”

Is it movement? Is it mindfulness? Once you know that, go back to what you want to do, and ask yourself one more question: “What do I need to do to be able to fit these snacks into my day”?

Write down what that may look down to you: creating a playlist of 10-minute workouts, finding some meditations or breathing exercises you can do. Preparation is key.

Step four: Boundaries

Boundaries are a great way to reclaim your time, and will help you with all the other habits and little hacks we talked about in this piece.

Boundaries can be physical, such as finding another room to do your work or your time snacks, but they can also be mental. When it comes to creating boundaries, the first thing is achieving excellent communication.

Understand what the one thing that you can do to create a better boundary in your life is. Is it to make some physical space that is just yours? is it having at least half an hour to yourself at the end of each day? There is always one thing that can help us, reclaim a bit of time, so you need to understand what that boundary looks like for you.

It’s time to enlist some help, once again: Who do you need to talk to or whose help do you need to create this boundary? Whether you need your partner, a co-worker, or your boss, get clear on who can support you with shifting things to accommodate that new boundary you’re looking to create.

All in all, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Being able to juggle everything, motherhood, work-life commitments, relationships can be complicated, even without a pandemic going on. Focusing more on what you can control will give you the confidence to make meaningful changes.

However, I hope that some of these steps guided you to find the best way to reclaim your time off.

***Giveaway***

Here’s your chance to win a copy of Reclaim Your Time Off alongside F*cked at 40 and Face Yoga in this Wellness giveaway with Watkins Publishing.

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Author bio

Fab Giovanetti is an award-winning entrepreneur, writer and marketing consultant. Reclaim Your Time Off is her second book, published on May 11^th by Watkins Media. Fab is the founder of Creative Impact Group, a collective of hundreds of creatives making a positive impact on others and the planet. Through her community and her work at Alt Marketing School, she has touched over 100,000 people from all over the world. Discover more at https://fabgiovanetti.com

Photo by Elena Koycheva on Unsplash

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