The modern mom can be a single mother of one, a married mother of two, an entrepreneur of four, a widow, or recently divorced. Her hours can be full time, part time, night or day shift. She can have one job, a successful career and/or she can be a stay at home mother.
At any rate, the modern mom often times is working "while he sleeps", baby that is. She's up preparing for the next day, finishing up the day; whether looking for a job, another job, getting things together for the job or even attending school.
While he sleeps, she is the maintenance for the vehicle that will push the cargo. The behind the scenes person that irons out the kinks so that no one in her crew will encounter road hazards, run out of gas or break down. All you may see is that she is always dressed to impressed, always organized, shes got things together and in order. She makes it look very easy and smooth. What you don't see is the work she does when no one is looking, so that the vehicle can always perform exceptionally.
As a modern mom, a lot of things may fall in your lap and it will take prioritizing to pull it all together. A great idea is to keep a check list.
Check list are popular and they work. When you write things down, you remember and your chances of accomplishing them are greater. When you can see all that you have to do and not be overwhelmed, setting reasonable time frames for completion or logical deadlines, it is a great chance you will complete the list.
So where do you start. If you do not own a calendar, purchase one. Make sure its one with a notes section in it or that the dates have notes on each page. It's best to keep everything in one place. Use a highlighter or fun colored pen or marker to circle important dates. Write additional notes on those dates about what you need to do or if its a scheduled appointment. This is a great tool when preparing or setting immediate goals because you are creating a time line that you can see. You are also making sure appointments don't overlap. It will save you a lot of time with un needed cancelations and so forth.
Write your daily to do list in your notes. Even if they are routine things, you would be surprised at how writing it down, checking it off will help. When you write it down, you are always reminding yourself to allow time for it too, even though you feel like you do it everyday. This will assist with transitions into the next thing to do on your list. Alloying proper time, paces you and keeps you calm. Paying close attention to the best time to complete certain task helps you strategically compose your list and create the list you can accomplish. For example: you Har I make a phone call that usually takes a long wait time for someone to answer. It's probably best that this call is placed somewhere near the top, so that you are not running the risk of calling at closing time and not reaching someone. At the same time, if you need to hang up, or if the line is continuously busy; you can put a star next to it on the list to come back to after you have completed other items on the list. This way, you are working on that call throughout the day and not forgetting that it needs to be done.
As you go through your day, periodically check your list to ensure that you are staying in top of it. You may find yourself with a free moment and realize that is ten minutes that can be spent sending an important email, returning a phone call or preparing a load of laundry. At the end of the day, check your list one last time. Complete what you can while he sleeps. Everything else, transfers to your next days check lists. So, while he is sleeping, create your new list.
Make sure that all of the things that you did not complete today, goes in the top of the list for the next day. Separate them by drawing a line under that last, first thing to complete. By doing this, it helps visually to see your accomplishment. Complete. One thing down on my list, and I did it while he slept. -)
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