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How to Find Time for Your Passions {Episode 16}
105 Plays6 years ago
Ever feel like motherhood defines your life? Reclaim part of your identity by working on a business or a passion project!
Don't feel like you have the time? We're here to help!
We're sharing our tried and true tips for MAKING time for what you care about, regardless of if you have 1 child to care for or 13. We discuss how to change your outlook on time management, how to find techniques and routines to be more productive, create space to do what you love and give yourself permission to do it. We really hope you love this one!
Full notes to this episode (including lists of age-appropriate activities to keep kids occupied):
https://bonnieandblithe.com/alt-summit-time/ (password: alt table 2019)
Handout to evaluate where you might be wasting time:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11MbcRmUZe9RFgR5OQ4FiqsR0-ZebSb7EjLoCV1vnlRw/edit?usp=sharing
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Transcript
Introduction to Bonnie and Audrey's Large Family Life
00:00:11
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Outnumbered the Podcast. I'm Bonnie. And I'm Audrey. And we're moms to a combined total of 16 kids with two more on the way. Yes, we know that sounds insane, and it usually is. But we're here to share the tips that help us keep our sanity and to share inspiring thoughts that help us get through each crazy day. Uninterrupted conversation is foreign to us, but we'll try. And we invite you to join us on our journey as we find joy in the chaos of motherhood.
Time Management in a Big Family
00:00:47
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome to episode 16 of the Outnumbered Podcast. And today we are going to be talking about something that every mom struggles with and that is how to manage our time. Is that something you struggle with Audrey? Oh yeah, definitely. I am always feeling like I don't have enough time. Yeah, for sure. And we get this question a lot, I think, at least I do. I'm sure you do too, Audrey, about how we get it all done with a big family and homeschooling and businesses on the side.
00:01:15
Speaker
And so we wanted to share some of our favorite tips to help other moms and also to just kind of start your thinking outside of the box if there's something else that you'd like to fit into your day and you've been having a hard time doing that. So just a little background to this episode. I recently attended a blogging conference called Altitude Summit. Audrey was supposed to join me at the time, but her baby was born too late, so I ended up going solo. And I presented this information that we gathered together
00:01:40
Speaker
to help other moms and business owners understand how they could better fit things in in their day and how they could, you know, get rid of the distractions and things that were making them less productive. So we thought that we would share a bulk of this information with you guys as well, because we feel like it's a lot of really good content. And again, it's things that have helped us to be successful in our busy lives. To start off, I just wanted to share something funny that happened while I was gone at this blogging.
00:02:04
Speaker
conference, business conference. My husband was home with the kids and at about nine o'clock at night he texted me a picture and said this is happening now and it was my oldest son carrying a bunch of towels
00:02:19
Speaker
by the kitchen table and just water pouring from the ceiling over my kitchen table. And I'm like, what's happening? That's all he says. This is happening now. I'm like, oh, that's helpful. So apparently someone had clogged a toilet upstairs and someone else super helpful had tried to unclog it.
00:02:36
Speaker
And the water just started to run and run and run until it went through our bathroom floor, through our ceiling below, and onto my dining table, which is super gross. But I had two thoughts. My first thought was, oh no, my poor husband has to deal with all this on top of taking care of the kids by himself. I mean, there was a sitter during the day, but you know, at nighttime, it's still not easy. And then my second thought was, I'm so glad I'm not there.
00:03:03
Speaker
So I just share that to kind of commiserate with moms who feel like they can't get everything done and be everywhere every minute because we can't. That's just the fact of the matter and that's totally okay. It's important for us to realize our limitations but also to realize that when there's something that's really important to us we can often find ways to squeeze it in.
Effective Time Management: Making vs. Finding Time
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah absolutely. So we're going to start with time management. It's not
00:03:28
Speaker
really about finding more time because we all only have 24 hours in the day, but it's about making more time. Time is finite and more is not going to drop into our laps unless we borrow or steal from other areas. So a task will expand to fill the time we have to do it. Um, we need to constrain the tasks that take the longest. Uh, like they're usually the hardest, most tedious or the ones we like the least. Like, um, we did a, we did a podcast on laundry. I know that's a big
00:03:58
Speaker
One that takes time around here is all the laundry. Giving a task we dislike boundaries makes us more motivated to get it done, to get in and get it done and then move on to other things we find more enjoyable.
00:04:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's been a really important tip for me personally because there are a lot of tasks, especially in my business that I just really dislike doing. But they need to be done, you know, like sharing on social media or something. Sometimes I love it and sometimes it drives me crazy. And so to say, well, I have a half an hour to get this done and then I can move on to something that I like better makes me more motivated to get started on it.
00:04:35
Speaker
and also quicker at finishing it because I only have that time to get it done and then I can, and then there's kind of a reward waiting for me, a fun sewing project or something. Right. Exactly. I'll be like, okay, I have to answer 10 or take, deal with 10 unread emails and then move on to something more fun. So the second aspect of time management that we wanted to address is the fact that the busy bee tends to get things done more quickly, right?
00:05:00
Speaker
So I noticed this last year, my kids went to a special school program, a public school program that they only attended once a week. And so I remember thinking, great, once a week, all my kids are going to be gone. I'm going to have all this time and get all these things done. And honestly, I got nothing done that day. It was like my least productive day of all. And I couldn't figure out why all of a sudden I had seven hours with just one kid and I couldn't get anything done. And I realized it was because
00:05:24
Speaker
in my mind I had seven hours to do things I needed to do. And so like we were saying a task expanding to fill the time you have it like I would say my goal today is to fold laundry and mop the floor and it would take me seven hours. You know I think moms who work full time out out of the home probably understand this aspect really really well because they probably get things done way quicker than someone who might stay home and have a lot more time to do it because they have to get it done quicker.
00:05:50
Speaker
And so to make sure that you've really understood that mentality can really be helpful to realize, well, I have two hours to get these things done. It's time to move fast.
00:05:59
Speaker
And what helps me improve in this area is analyzing what times of the day or days of the week I am the most efficient. Which ones I hustle the best at, okay? So I've noticed that in the late evening I am not very efficient. Some people work really, really great at night and I do not. I've also noticed that
00:06:21
Speaker
I have to be totally distraction free to get a lot of my work things done, so I tend to do my work stuff when my baby's napping or other kids are occupied.
00:06:30
Speaker
So just to kind of analyze, where am I the most efficient? Where can I squeeze some more things in? And to give yourself a little grace in those slower times. If you are not a morning person, don't torture yourself and try to get up at four o'clock in the morning and get things done. You might just sit there staring at your computer for two hours and never actually accomplish anything. But if maybe you really are a night owl, then sleep in a little bit and let yourself stay up till midnight or one to finish those things. Totally depends on you and your natural rhythms.
Balancing Passion Projects and Family Life
00:06:58
Speaker
Right. Exactly. This reminds me of a podcast that I really enjoyed. Um, it was won by live free creative Miranda Anderson of live free creative. It was our second podcast that she ever did. It's called manage your energy instead of your time. And that she really digs in deep to like exactly just what you were saying about, um, figuring out the times that work best for you.
00:07:19
Speaker
Yeah, I really like that. Yeah, we think that we're creating these constraints on our time, but really it's our energy that wears out usually a lot quicker than our time does.
00:07:30
Speaker
Okay, we're gonna move on to allowing yourself permission for your passion project. So often we find energy in creating a business or working on something we love outside of motherhood or just the daily motherhood tasks that can become like, they don't feel like our passion project sometimes. Motherhood. Wait, laundry's not your passion project? That's too bad. No.
00:07:56
Speaker
So then, how do you feel when you work on your passion? It should feel different than when you work on laundry, really. If not, you're doing something wrong. Maybe laundry is your thing. But anyway, here's some questions to ask. Does it invigorate you? Does it inspire you? Does it motivate you?
00:08:15
Speaker
Does it make you happy, energetic, fulfilled? What do you have to offer the world? I know when I start working on, okay, so like sewing or my sewing, blogging things that I do, those are like my passion project. I know when I really get into a project and I start getting creative, it's like all these ideas come to me and more and more ideas come to me. It's like, oh, I don't know if you were writing a poem and the lines were coming to you faster than you could write them down. That's kind of how it feels when you're working on your passion project.
00:08:45
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I like to ask myself what I really feel like I have to offer to the world. And sometimes that's kind of overwhelming, like, well, you know, there's so many people doing things better than I can do them. But it's not about that. It's about what unique aspect I have in my personality or my talent repertoire that could really help benefit someone else. And every person has something like this. Sometimes we don't take the time to delve into it and try to find it because we're busy with parenting or other things. But I think it's really important to not
00:09:14
Speaker
let those passions fall by the wayside just because we're really busy taking care of our families. The second aspect of giving yourself permission for your passion project I think has to do with how we allocate our time between important things. So like if you're building a business you need to spend time on your business to be successful. But also you have family, you have friends, you have other obligations that require your time as well. And so this has been a challenge for me to realize sometimes I have to take time away from my children to be a better mother
00:09:43
Speaker
or time away from my extended family to be a better sister, daughter, etc. But it can be difficult when people don't understand that. You know, I've had family members say, oh, you know, I'll say I have to get some work done. Well, you don't need to do that. That's just something. I mean, that's your own self-imposed project, right? I'm like, well, whether it is or not, it's important to me. So I'm going to take time for it, even if it means I have to say no to things with the family or friends.
00:10:06
Speaker
And so one way to communicate this to our loved ones is to share our why with them. So, you know, just a minute ago, you talked about what, you know, what your why is, like why you do these things that make you happy, mainly because they make you happy, right? And to share that with your loved ones, sometimes it might be a spouse that doesn't fully understand or your mom or your neighbor or your sister-in-law.
00:10:28
Speaker
but to say this is important to me because I feel like I have something to contribute to the world and so I'm gonna make time for that. I will make time for you too but maybe something a little bit more limited but you know carved out for them. You know for example let's say you always hang out with your sister every Friday afternoon you might have to say you know what let's hang out once a month. I can totally commit to that and I really value our relationship and want to spend time together but I also have these other obligations to get done.
00:10:54
Speaker
Yeah, that makes total sense. Another way to phrase it or maybe a third aspect is that investing in your business is investing in yourself, your education, your future, which also includes your family.
Productivity with Kids at Home
00:11:10
Speaker
So you can
00:11:12
Speaker
look at it like that. If your business or your passion project fulfills you, then anything you invest in your business is also investing in yourself, which is a worthwhile investment. So maybe you want to sit down with your partner and discuss resources, time and money. Where can you get more
00:11:30
Speaker
time where can you get more money to invest in your business, which is investing in yourself. The two are tied closely together. Is your partner on board with you investing 20 or more hours a week? What about investing money, communal money, money that you share?
00:11:49
Speaker
Maybe he's the, maybe your spouse is the, maybe they bring home most of the money and are they okay with you investing some of that? How can you communicate the importance of growing this business with your partner? So again, share your why, why it's so important to you and how it is improving you when you're improving your business.
00:12:11
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And I think that I wanted to emphasize that we keep saying business here because we created this presentation for other bloggers and business women. But this really applies to anyone who has something that they value doing outside of motherhood. So it could be planting a garden. It could be painting a picture. It could be becoming a triathlete. It could be
00:12:33
Speaker
just reading more books, whatever it is that's really important to you that you're not finding enough time to do because you feel kind of, you know, steamrolled by motherhood, you, we're giving you permission to do that. And you might need to sit down and talk to your loved ones about how that can happen better, you know, sit down with your kids and say, mom needs one hour away from you every day. So this is what mom's going to do. At 2pm, she's going to lock herself in her room and she's going to read the book she wants. And if there's an interruption, it's going to, it's going to go for another hour.
00:13:02
Speaker
or whatever it takes to get your family on board. But this really applies to anything that's important to you and that makes you feel like a better person. So the next section we're moving on to is how to gain more productivity with kids around and or other distractions. Because we all have both of those, right? So I created some tips and suggestions for kids of specific ages on how to keep them busy when you are working on something that's important for you. So I'll go through these really quickly. And I'm sure that
00:13:30
Speaker
Many of you moms have used some of these in the past, but they're just kind of a refresher to help you find a way to get those kids distracted. So for preschool age kids, quiet time or nap time is very important, right? Sometimes they just get too overwhelmed with the day. So putting them down for a little quiet time is helpful for you. You can trade playdates with other moms, you know, like you take their kid on Wednesday, they take your kid on Thursday.
00:13:54
Speaker
easy hands-on activities like Play-Doh, sidewalk chalk, kinetic sand. You know, some of these are messy. You're probably gonna have a mess to clean up when you get out, but it will be worth it for the two hours of quiet that you get.
00:14:06
Speaker
Right. I wanted to add to that that I have toys or activities that I only let my kids do or have when I'm working on my passion project. So, like, if I get my special time, they get their special toys. And then they don't get those things at other times. Like, for example, I made them this huge quiet book. It's 26 pages, one for every letter, the alphabet, and it's got a cover in it. Anyway, it's this huge thing and they love it.
00:14:32
Speaker
but they only get that about once a week when I'm working, you know, during my office hours. So, and there's other things I pull out too. Like they get a reward or they get something special too that they look forward to while I'm getting my time too. Right. Instead of it being something that they dread, mom has to go lock herself in her office. It's, oh, it's time to play with our fun sand or whatever. Yeah. For the elementary age kids, audiobooks are a huge one. That's something that they usually only do during quiet times. So my kids love that.
00:15:00
Speaker
I'm drawing videos. There's a ton on YouTube. My kids are obsessed with drawing videos, coloring pages or subscription kits or books. Those are just super hot right now.
00:15:11
Speaker
Anything to get them excited, like you said, about mom's work time. Oh, great. We can build our little kit because mom's in the office. And then for middle and high school ages, these are a little bit easier to entertain themselves, obviously, but you can still make it a special time for them when you are occupied. So maybe looking into online courses for something they're interested in, like art or music design. You could have a special hall of library books that only come out during your work hours.
00:15:36
Speaker
or an independent project they can work on together with the siblings or alone. They can work on building a treehouse or a craft project or anything that they're really passionate about that's just special for those hours. Right, exactly. They could maybe start developing their own passion project following your example. Otherwise, we just had an episode come out on kids and phones. Otherwise, that age is just going to spend the entire time on their phone, right? Exactly.
00:16:03
Speaker
unsupervised mom's not here to nag me, you know. Yeah, and that's the next thing, teaching entrepreneurship by examples. So kids of business owners are more likely to also be creative entrepreneurs. So you're teaching them by your example just by simply doing it, even if you're not teaching them, you know, this is how to, for you and I, it's sewing. This is how to, you know, sew a seam or put in a zipper. There's, just by you doing it, they're learning.
00:16:32
Speaker
So beware of self-limiting talk to yourself because they listen and absorb that too. And, um, they, you know, if you're negative about yourself or about your progress or about your business, they are going to pick up on that too. So what can you do? How can you encourage them to get started on their own businesses and dreams? How can, um, you help them carve out their own time since that's what we're talking about, or how can you maybe support them a little bit financially to get launched their own
00:17:02
Speaker
dream, those kind of things. Yeah. I really love seeing my kids get a dream and just take off with it. And sometimes the practical mom in me wants to say, that's not going to be successful. But who am I to say that? And I do have to try to be careful about what I say about my own business or my own dreams in front of them. I don't want them to ever limit themselves and think, well, that's not going to work before I ever get started. Because their businesses and passions and things that take off every single day that everybody doubted
00:17:30
Speaker
would work you know and sometimes it just takes one person to be to be passionate about it um any any idea your kids have you know let them run with it let them see where it goes and and teach them along the way right yeah absolutely another part of this productivity aspect is that we have noticed that kids of busy moms tend to be more self-sufficient they're more independent and they're more aware of the needs around them
00:17:55
Speaker
So for example, my oldest would be content. He's kind of a hermit. He would be content to just sit in his room and read his book all day long. But when mom's in her office, I say, Hey, you're just kind of in charge of making sure that no one dies and that, you know, nothing terrible happens. And so he really is a lot more aware of what's going on.
00:18:14
Speaker
And if somebody starts to make a mess, he'll stop them. And he just kind of steps up to the plate when mom's not around. My kids are more self-sufficient. They can get themselves snacks. One of these days, maybe they'll clean up after the snack. But point being, they learn a lot more when mom's not there to do every little thing for them all the time.
00:18:31
Speaker
And I fuel this by giving them responsibility at an early age. You know, we talked about kids in chores, you know, giving them age-appropriate chores as soon as they can do something. You know, age three, they can pick up their toys. They can put their clothes in the drawer. Lots of little things to help them feel like they're contributing and that they're valuable to the household.
00:18:53
Speaker
Yeah, I really like that. I've noticed that too a lot since I just had a baby. My teenagers especially are really kicking in and it's so sweet to see them say, no mom, we don't want you to overdo it. You go sit down and we'll do this task or whatever. It's really neat to see them stepping up and taking some ownership of things so that they can actually help take care of me, which is pretty sweet.
00:19:19
Speaker
Another thing I noticed that you and I both do, and I don't know if we do this because we've learned the hard way. I think that's the way it is for me. But you and I, I noticed that we both spend time with our kids first. So like we do our schoolwork with them in the morning, we do devotional time, we do
00:19:36
Speaker
We get them full up of us spending time with us because then they're more content and they'll let us work and not interrupt us so much in our office hours. So just like, you know, I am a morning person and I could get the most stuff done in the morning. But really when I factor in the amount of interruptions I have because my kids are, you know, needing this and that and really they're just needing mom time that they haven't gotten yet in the day.
00:20:02
Speaker
I really get more done in the afternoon or the evening because they're filled up first. Yeah, I totally see this a lot. There are mornings when I have a
00:20:13
Speaker
oppressing deadline or something where I have to be on my phone or Checking emails or something first thing and those days are just a nightmare everything falls apart because my kids feel like they're not my number one priority and so I try to Make up for that later on in the day, but I've noticed that when I can give them my whole Hearted undivided attention first thing in the day. They do so much better when I need to sneak away and get my own stuff done
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah. And I even noticed that if I know I have a busy afternoon or a busy list for my passion project business plans that afternoon, if I cut their time short or truncate it a little bit, eliminate a few things from the routine, it still does help to do them first. Yeah, that's true.
00:20:54
Speaker
All right, moving on to routines and tips for
Maintaining Efficiency and Work-Life Balance
00:20:57
Speaker
efficiency. So when you do have your time that you're working on it, there's some pretty important things, tips that we found that help us be more efficient during our business time. So batch creating is a huge one. Work on craft projects for three tutorials at once, or take photos for three posts all at once, or edit photos or videos three or four at a time. So it really does help if you can
00:21:24
Speaker
do more than one thing at a time. Like it doesn't take that much longer to do three tutorials than it does one. And then another thing, huge thing is to eliminate the things that are distracting. Hide the phone, TV remote, put a do not sign, do not disturb sign on the door, lock it, do not check Instagram.
00:21:48
Speaker
Do not multitask, actually. I think you're getting more done by multitasking, but actually get distracted. So make a to-do list for each day and write down a time allotment for each one. When you think that you've, how much time it will take, write it down, estimate it, and then when you're done,
00:22:09
Speaker
move on to the next one, you know, unless it's a deadline, then you can't move on, you know, so you have to finish it and rob time from something else. But anyway, if you've got, you know, I'm going to spend 10 minutes or dealing with unread emails and then I'm going to move on to something else, you know, and just stick to that. Create an editorial calendar and daily tasks that are the same for each week. That makes it easier if you
00:22:34
Speaker
helps cut down on decision fatigue. If you don't have to decide, what do I do next? What do I do next? Note that you know that automatically after you take the pictures, you edit them or whatever your flow is, just create daily tasks that are the same and then get in a routine and stick to it.
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah, and you know I wanted to say about the to-do list thing I am the kind of person who feels like if I'm not running a hundred miles an hour I'm not getting anything done, right? So multitasking is always a temptation for me like as my computer's booting up then I'm writing something down and as I'm waiting for this to load I'm doing something else, but it really is distracting and when it comes to a to-do list I really have Had to get strict with myself and do number one first until it's done number two second until it's done, etc
00:23:19
Speaker
If I don't, then at the end of the day, I have seven things that are halfway done and I feel completely unproductive. Whereas if I only got two or three things done, but they're completely done, that feels way more efficient and it really is than hopping all over the place.
00:23:34
Speaker
Yeah, I totally understand that. So now that we know what to do during our business or our passion project time, we need to figure out a way to allow for more time for these things. A few tips are to hold regular business hours or hours for yourself, like we talked about, hiring a babysitter for those little kids that are home, taking your business or your project seriously. So not like, when I have extra time, I'll do XYZ because let's be honest, you're not, it's not just going to fall into your lap. You have to carve it out.
00:24:01
Speaker
Like we said before, sharing goals with family members, like I'm going to try to work on one painting a week. Would you check up with me on Friday and tell me if I asked me if I made time for it and and hold me accountable? You know, we also mentioned investing money in our project.
00:24:17
Speaker
and learning to say no to things that do not further our passion project. So this has been a hard thing for me in blogging because there's always so many opportunities to do fun, fun things, but I've really had to get specific about my why and only follow the opportunities that really further that why, if that makes sense.
00:24:36
Speaker
Yeah, I have totally been having to learn that one too about turning down opportunities because like you want to do every one and you want to participate in them and they're fun, but you have to really define what you're doing and why. Right, exactly. It has helped for me to make a note about what is active versus passive forms of income and so active
00:25:02
Speaker
income is something that you have to do each time to make money off of it like say a blog post. If you have a sponsored blog post that's an active income because you have to write the blog post and then you know maybe the sponsors paid you for that but passive form of income is if you create a product once that people can purchase and download then you've done the work once but you keep making
00:25:26
Speaker
income off of that so that does Allow you more time if you focus if you're able to focus on passive forms of income it does allow you to Like it might take more time To create a passive form of income than an active form of income, but the passive one will keep making money for longer Does that make sense right you're actually your your return on your investment it for that time is
00:25:53
Speaker
is higher and higher and higher as the money keeps coming in. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Another thing that helps you be more efficient is making dedicated space and time. So we see this a lot in the sewing community, like if you sew on your dining room table and you have to clean it up before you can eat the next meal.
00:26:10
Speaker
then you don't have a dedicated space. I mean, not everybody has their own sewing room. I happen to have a little spot carved out in my bedroom, a table set up that I don't have to break it down and put it back up. But that does add to your time, the time that it takes to work on your passion project if you have to pull it all out and set it all up every time.
00:26:33
Speaker
that is not as efficient as having a dedicated space and time. So the more potential distractions, the longer things take. Can you maybe try the library or communal workspaces? A lot of bigger cities offer communal workspaces. Maybe go to a friend's house while they're at work, extra room in somebody's basement or something. And then one thing, don't forget to take breaks. If your mind is wandering and you can't focus, get up.
00:27:03
Speaker
take a walk, eat some chocolate, grab a snack, put a timer on for 10 minutes and then do something completely different from what you were doing like YouTube or whatever and then get back to what you were doing and your mind will be fresher than trying to spend the next 30 minutes just pressing through and you're not focused and that helps you be more efficient with your time.
00:27:28
Speaker
Yeah, that definitely happens to me when I've got a to-do list full of things I don't want to do, like we mentioned before. So to just stop and take a break is really helpful. So another thought for being efficient is to maybe post your personal or business hours in your home or on your front door.
00:27:44
Speaker
So this doesn't happen so much in our new home because we're a little bit more isolated. We have a little bit bigger property, but in our old house, we would have neighbors knocking on the door all the time. And so we had to tell them when our school time was and when my office hours were so that they knew I couldn't come to the door.
00:28:01
Speaker
If a kid could open it then great but if not so be it. And I'm finally better at not answering the phone when I'm busy with something instead of you know hopping up every five seconds to check on that distraction. If you have a business it could also be helpful to post these business hours on your website or on Facebook so that your customers know when you'll be getting back to them. There are so many home-based businesses now that most people understand you're not going to be monitoring and checking back on emails 10 hours a day but
00:28:29
Speaker
Even that being said, I still have customers that are asking why I didn't respond to their email two hours later. I'm like, well, because I had a poopy diaper and three kids melting down and I will get to you later today, I promise, you know, but it could be really helpful to say between one and three. That's when I answer my email. So you're going to have to wait for me then. Another option is also creating automated text or email responses.
00:28:53
Speaker
So friends and clients know, oh, she's not at her desk right now. She'll get back to me later today or within 24 hours or whatever your thing is. Right. Sometimes just knowing your email went through helps you be a little more patient. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Going back to making a dedicated space, you can find a dedicated corner where you don't have to put away your crafting or business supplies, a closet, a pantry, a garage, a corner of a bedroom.
00:29:19
Speaker
an unused shed, lots of potential spaces when you start looking. And then it's important to keep your business tools and supplies separate from your personal. This is important, of course, for taxes and business records too, but it also sets them apart in your mind too. In the sewing community, we joke about our sewing scissors, you know, nobody gets to use their sewing scissors for anything else.
00:29:42
Speaker
because we like to keep it sharp but also because we like our tools to be useful and usable when we need them and that for any project that's you know that helps you. I remember as a kid liking to play bank with my mom's old checkbooks and things like you just have this special set of things and they're yours and you get to
00:30:03
Speaker
deal with those, play with those. Keep your business records updated. It takes so much longer in April to find and categorize a year's worth of receipts. Ask me how I know. Then if you just do it every Friday or at the end of the month, digitize things if possible so they don't get lost and then have a backup system or a outside of your
00:30:30
Speaker
on your personal computer, a space where these things can be stored and kept so you don't have to go back and find them all over again. Again, saving time. Yeah, that's a great tip. It's always easier to do it as you go than once a year.
Self-Care for Enhanced Productivity
00:30:46
Speaker
So our last portion for keeping our time as managed as possible and getting as much done is self-care. And at first glance, this might not seem to have a lot to do with your efficiency of your time, but it really, really does. And the first aspect of that is sleep.
00:31:02
Speaker
How much sleep are you getting and can you get more? And I know we talked about this before. This is a touchy subject for moms because none of us feel like we're getting enough sleep. We always feel like there could be more happening there in that regard. But I think most of us have probably figured out at this point in adulthood what our basic needs are for sleep. So I know mine is about seven hours.
00:31:23
Speaker
Sometimes I wish it was more like five or four, but it's not. That's just what my body needs. And so I noticed that if there's two or three nights where I'm getting significantly less than that, bad things are going to happen and everyone's going to notice it because I'm not going to be happy. And so I have to make that a priority. Anything that I can get done late at night,
00:31:43
Speaker
that bites into my sleep time is really not worth it. Yeah, exactly. In fact, Bonnie, don't we have a whole episode about sleep? We sure do. So if you need more sleep, go listen to that one. There's some good tips for sure.
00:31:56
Speaker
Alright, another tip for self-care is don't become a workaholic. Self-employment burnout is real because like you're accountable to yourself and so be accountable for self-care as you would for an employee. Take care of yourself. Just because you love your job doesn't mean you should do it 24-7.
00:32:15
Speaker
If you do, you'll get burned out fast or ask for a spouse or partner, a friend to help you on this and then create a weekly day of no work. Um, it'll help you be much more productive on the days where you do work. Um, I think it's pretty common. My day off is Sunday.
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah, so my day is also Sunday, and I'll have to say that at the beginning when I first started my blog, it was difficult to hold to it. I always thought, well, I'll just run over and finish a project really quick in my office, or I'll just go start a new blog post. But honestly, it became so that my business was like,
00:32:51
Speaker
weighing on my mind all the time. And while it's still hard to shut off my brain with ideas and thoughts coming to it, business related, it's so nice to have one day where I know I'm not allowed to work. I just tell myself that's the day for myself and my family, and I'm not going to do anything that day. Okay. So that moves us on to the very last aspect of self-care, which is to get outside, being locked inside your house as a business owner or someone who's, you know, stuck inside doing something that you love.
00:33:20
Speaker
can be eventually harmful for your personality and your brain. You need some exercise. You need to talk to real human beings.
00:33:29
Speaker
Um, to network in real life, you know, so let's say you're an artist and maybe there's a, an artist meetup at your local library. You can go and talk, talk techniques with them, um, share your work, et cetera. So helpful to talk to other people, especially if you're always stuck inside, find others who are doing what you do, what you do and, um, share your frustrations, your highs, your lows, and, and you'll both be more efficient that way.
00:33:52
Speaker
Right, exactly. I think with social media, we kind of feel like we're interacting with real people, but there's, I mean, it is real people, but there's nothing like in-person interaction. Right, exactly. And like I said, just getting outside, see the sun. Don't turn into a vampire, right?
Conclusion and Time Usage Analysis
00:34:08
Speaker
We are actually going to include a link to these notes and a handout we used from our presentation in the show notes today because this handout can help you analyze where you're spending your time and maybe where you can cut some things out. One of the things we talk about a lot on this handout is what you can delegate if necessary. Is there something that's just taking a ton of your time that you could delegate like carpooling your kids, for example, and that might help you better analyze where your time is going and where you can
00:34:36
Speaker
Find some more time. So that is all we have for you today We really hope that these tips are have been some concrete good advice for you guys To help you find some more time for your passion project your business anything that you feel really really called to do and we'll talk to you next week
00:34:51
Speaker
Thanks so much for listening to Outnumbered the Podcast. You can contact us at outnumberedthepodcastatgmail.com and find us on Instagram at outnumberedthepodcast. We're so grateful for our listeners and would love it if you take the time to leave us an honest review on iTunes, Stitcher, or any other podcast platform. And don't forget to share the podcast with your mom friends. Can't wait to talk next time. Bye.