Time Management Hacks for Busy Entrepreneurs - Alyssa Wolff

Website: https://yourunbusylife.com/  

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-unbusy-mom-time-management-for-work-at-home-moms/id1601873433

 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/alyssa-wolff-unbusy 
 

00:02
Hi, so today we're going to go over how to organize your work from home schedule without overwhelm. But I'm not going to do this the productivity way, no five AM club and just do what mandates for you. We're going to revamp your working mom life the UN dizzy way, which means a whole lot gentler and way easier to wrap your head around it for you. So let's start off by talking about dealing with mom guilt as a work from home mom, a topic we're all intimately familiar with, right? The first thing I want you to do is to stop buying into all that guilt and quit it by doing this because listen, it's time that you stop paying the price. 

00:39
The CEO mom guilt price i mean the price for not knowing if you've got enough time to finish your To Do List today. The price for staying up too late the night before cramming in another website console and all the quotes to go with it. The price for dithering over what the exact next right goal in your quarterly To Do List should be. Or the price for furthering away precious kid free work time down the social media scroll hole again, you've already paid so much but you're still stuck with that miles long To Do List. Especially when you think about two taxing this business. That's the price. It's like interest on a debt that keeps accruing till you're still under by just the interest payments. 

01:16
Or like a payday loan that's way too big for you to pay. Not unless you get some sort of supermom energy and magically clear everything from your To Do List, which never happens, and then you're still stuck with that time loan yeah, but you know what? There's a payoff plan for this. It's called getting time management help. That's not the mean kind. You know, the time management skills, quote unquote served up to you with a slap in the face like get your weekly VA meeting in order, but you need to use this exact template or fill out this planner every day, seven days a week, because all the millionaire business listeners swear by this exact one. 

01:49
Or my favorite alphabetically organized your Google Drive files by date, time and keyword yesterday. What you weren't up at four thirty AM to meditate and work out every day? That kind of supposed productivity. We are done with that route. 

02:05
You need compassion and strategies and good job. I can see the change happening it's working. That kind of support. And you know who else needs you to quit the mean productivity BS? It's your kids. Because they've been paying the price too. The price of a mom who's so stressed she can't walk over to see the latest Lego creation. The price of a mom who yells at them day in and day out. 

02:27
The price of a mom who gets on them constantly for chores with 0 grace about it because we've got to be somewhere in 10 minutes. Or the price of a mom who slaps meals together in a huff and constantly obviously resents every demand her kids sports practice or dance class hands on her. That is another form of price. And your kids are paying it. Isn't it time they stopped? Isn't it time you gave yourself that grace i mean, if you won't create a good work life balance for yourself because you're not sure you deserve it, at least do it for them. 

02:56
There are memories of what your work from home motherhood was like because it's way past time for you to quit on the self shame but your supposed lack of efficiency levels. Who cares if your planner isn't pretty? Who cares If your handwriting is almost unreadable when you script for your future self in your next level? Who cares if you get distracted by the laundry beeping that it's done each and every Thursday at one forty two PM? Who cares? Because I like the kind of life where I can close up shop and go to organizing projects after work because I want to, not because I have to. 

03:30
And I'm cramming it in on a no energy slump because the whole closet is a disaster and I've got to get it done. And I want that kind of margin for all the mom organizing projects for you too. So Are you ready to go get it for yourself? And if you are, the next thing we need to deal with is are you afraid of your primary function not being the cleaning and the cooking anymore? Or of what happens when you are no longer doing housework for your family? Or at least the vast majority of it, even though you're actually working at home so you're still around. 

04:03
Maybe you're getting cold feet at the thought of all this outsourcing and plate clearing and what your husband or older kids might say to you. Then we need to talk because seriously, there is no need for all the stay at home mommies or your existential cleaning crisis why? It's not your housework, it's your family's housework. And it doesn't really matter whether it's you taking out the trash or your husband or your nine year old son or a Paige housekeeper doing it, really. 

04:33
So if you're afraid of this kind of levelling up, ask yourself whether you would feel the same worry if, Oh no, my role's being taken away. If it was your husband who wanted to do all the cooking because that's always been his hobby, or your daughter suddenly convincing a desire to bake more and she asked if she could handle all your breads and cookies for you, would you tell them that no, they weren't allowed that no matter who had joy in the kitchen, it was your job as the mother to grit your teeth and struggle through 21 meals a week. 

05:02
Before you need your commando, just stop and think of it. Are you actually doing that, though? By refusing to outsource dishes to your kids? Shower clean to your son? Veggie food prepping to your daughter or letting your husband gasp and take the teacher's guide and check the answers for your kids math homework? I'm serious. Every time you refuse to hand off a chore, doesn't matter which one it is, it is because you have pinned your identity as mom on being the one doing it. So stop. Because in the overall scheme of things, it truly doesn't matter if your husband changes the baby's diaper or you do. 

05:35
If he mops the floors or you do, they still not clean. If your son slices the homemade bread he just did, or you do, it's ready to eat. Those were just tasks that needed to be done for the family. And often it's in your best interest to have more stuff off your plate because you're needed on other things, business things. Your son can run your marketing campaign for you. Your daughter can't take your client calls for you. Your husband can't put on the makeup and record the reels for you. You are the one handling those parts. 

06:04
But your kids could break the bread and the bread machine and slice the loaf and assemble their PBJ sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. Let's get their backpacks and shoes ready. It is OK that you are not doing it all. Ok that you're not even doing the majority of it. Ok, the someone else is helping you with the mom life part of work life balance even though you're working from home if there's one thing you need to hear from me today is that you have permission to outsource this. So if you are afraid of up leveling your housework chores, don't be a whole world of business creativity and see you at time freedom awaits. 

06:38
All you have to do is delegate half the chores in your plate. So journaling prompt, which housekeeping task are you going to outsource today? What's the first one on your get rid of list? And Next up, do you want to know the two biggest myths about working from home with your kids around yes. I would be curious to know if you believe these two myths when you started that work at home lifestyle in the beginning with your kids. 

07:04
So myth number one is you can't ever work if your kids are up and awake so as soon as they get up it's closed down the laptop for you. Quit recording those reels the second you hear that Crips squeak and back to work in childcare land. Listen, the reality of the moms day is you can keep your eyes on all your kids every second if you've got more than two of them. In fact, if your kids are school Agena, you probably don't need to have eyes on them perpetually. So as long as you're breaking up the sibling squabbles, making sure the chores get done and keeping an ear out from any major deviations from their supposed to be doing school schedules, you're actually fine to go do some sort of project. 

07:40
I mean, that's what house cleaning is, by the way it's a project, you're not usually doing it with the kids literally right next to you, next to you and you're mopping, right? It is a chore in your personal To Do List and you don't feel at all bad for leaving your kids to play in the backyard and going off to prep supper, right? So why can't you apply this way of thinking to updating your welcome sequence or which offers you've got on your website menus? Hey kids, I'm going to be working on the laptop in here for a bit till lunch. 

08:05
No yelling because I'm not in the same room or I will send all of you to your rooms and no one gets trampoline time today. Then off you go to the website. You open up WordPress or Squarespace. You start editing all those menus. Ok, easy peasy, right? And then at lunchtime you can come back, shut the computer down, get out the specific leftovers you want your kids to be eating, and switch to your routine of supervising lunch and cleaning up the kitchen. What's the harm in that? Now, how about myth number two you most certainly can't upend your kids schedule so that you can work, because it needs to be the leftover hours for you because that's what a good mom does, right? No, if it doesn't matter to your kids whether they play outside before or after launch, but it really matters to your recording brain or on camera energy, then you sure as heck get to go rearrange the recess schedule to make it suit your recording needs. 

08:58
That's just basic CEO thinking, right? All right, the kids need an outside break for 20 minutes i need to turn out five reels for next week. My brain is freshest at this time oK, that's what I'm hopping in trampling games for all time today. It does not have to be this huge angsty. What if I'm disrupting my precious kiddos preferred lunchtime and art time and they never forgive me and go to therapy kind of thing. So go right ahead. Swap your own day, ask the grandparents to FaceTime 90 minutes later. Quit bathroom cleaning on Tuesdays, do Saturdays after supper. 

09:29
Do whatever you need and believe me, you will know what doesn't fit needs to be moved because it never sits right in your schedule in the first place. So why don't you going to shift in your work from home schedule? Maybe it's your meal planning so that you're giving the bulk of your brain time hours that the actual heavy lifting tasks on the business side. Go make those changes today. Your legion and client retention and content creation routines will be way easier for it. 

09:56
You've got this, you just needed permission to tweak it. While we're at it, you constantly have that mommy you're out for what's going on with your kids while you're trying to knock out some work on the laptop. This is going to majorly bog down your daily productivity rhythms because it is shooting your ability to focus on today's work task list. Since you're a working mom, you need to set up the work time rhythms and boundaries that are going to support you for the long haul, IE protect your work life balance and no matter what's going on in your business because you're in this till 6 figures and beyond, right? I mean, we're talking consistent client response times, regular content creation hours, no notifications going to my phone boundaries and reliable marketing plus lead Gen time blocks going in your schedule every week for starters. 

10:44
Because that kind of income at satisfaction level isn't going to come when you're half distracted typing your phone trying to work while still being around your kids. So reframe. If you have big hits like 9 or 10 year olds, maybe even preteens or teenagers, you do not need to be hovering over them every second it is perfectly OK if you leave them to their own devices in the morning with standing instructions to make the bed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, get started on their first 3 homeschooling subjects, or get themselves to the bus stop. 

11:17
Meanwhile, you are planning that launch email series where you're writing the copy for it, or you're scripting your next podcast episodes for the month, or perhaps you're on a meeting with your VA knocking out who's doing what for everything for your next quarter. And that's not ignoring your older kids. That is empowering them to take responsibility for themselves. And then since you're working from home, you get to come along in a couple hours after you're done with your first time walk, take a long lunch break and say, well, how's it going with the sides did you need any help with that? And then you just talk and share and spend time with them. 

11:55
Meanwhile, you're shoveling food down your gullet and the comfy ones are glued to your side because we're moms and this is what high-powered work at home motherhood looks like. This is how you get to those high earning annual revenue totals while still keeping your work life balance intact. Now if I see this at the end of your day though, you are off track for being a great mom and a thriving business owner. So have you bought into this? Are you constantly fighting against that pole of I've got to tire myself out today, Listen now steals the joy of sitting down and you need a break 'cause you're never done yet. 

12:31
It takes the end goal of I did my work, now I get to rest away from you because the only rest you're giving yourself is bed. And it robs you of every single ounce of enjoyment of your family because hey, you're supposed to serve until you drop as a mom remembered. And it's hard not to resent them for that. But that is not how you were designed to live. 

12:53
That is not what God wants for you. He rested, right? Remember that from the creation story. So why won't you allow yourself to kick back? Take time off every quarter. Enjoy mini breaks every few hours I think. I bet it's because you feel like you're not being a good mom or a good entrepreneur by resting it's this insidious voice in your head that's guilting you into getting back up and dipping into your energy reserves. And the false cultural narrative of the only good mom is an overworked 1. So for today, I want you to get out your journal and bring this to the surface. 

13:25
What triggers you when I say you need to rest? What do you automatically push back on? When I suggested exhaustion does not equal a good mom, what did you find out? What aha moments made their way to you via the pen and paper? Or what closely held beliefs, guilt trips, maybe even unconscious modelling did you just discover about the intersection of work and being a good mom? Oh, and by the way, here is the real reason why it's hard to set and keep new habits for your next level in your everyday mom working from home life. 

14:03
Because your brain keeps wanting you to pull back into those name. Same negative thinking patterns of self scolding each and every time you slip up. Which means you're automatically self sabotaging every week that you're building that new habit because your body is just trying to get the status quo, even if your higher self knows better. But you know how you're going to overcome this? It's by crafting that picture of your new life, new body, new habit. And this picture is so compelling you return to over and over, no matter how many times you fall down along the way. We know it's not going to be easy, quote unquote to up level yourself enough to delegate 85 % of your chores or take breaks whenever your recycle needs you to or even limit yourself to a three item To Do List. 

14:49
But that's what your multi 6 figure dream requires. And more than anything else, you want that dream. It's the dream of sitting at your desk, coffee mug in hand, looking over your To Do List and being excited to get started what's on there. Or the dream of pausing work to kiss your babies in the morning during you just put in a good two hours before they get up and now you can switch to housewife mode for the rest of the morning with 0 resentment. Or the dream of not having to be the toilet scrubber or dishwasher or whatever your top most hated chore is and getting to outsource that to someone else, like your kids, for the rest of their time at home because empty nester is too long a time away to wait. 

15:26
It's the dream of flopping down for a break whenever you feel your energy bottoming out then without Guild scrolling on your phone or picking up the next library you just got for yourself. And it's the dream of knocking out that work To Do List day in and day out, which directly translates into more clients, more course students and then that lights you up because you're thinking of the transformation they're going to experience through your work. And most importantly, it's the dream of pulling in your own paycheck on part time hours, getting to make money by doing what you love when you are put here in this world to do by. 

15:59
That is the dream. So is it worth this? Is it worth the uncomfortableness of admitting you want to earn an income and stay home with your babies, even if you're supposed to be fulfilled with just your family? Is it worth the mental discomfort of not doing every single thing around the house when you were raised to believe that that was your job as a mother? Is it worse the squirmy feeling of can't believe I'm sitting down I still have stuff on my To Do List to cross off because you knew that you needed an energy break right now to fill your own cup. 

16:30
It isn't worth giving up much of what a typical mom does and believes about herself in order to make an extraordinary impact on the world around you. When you are convinced to your core this is worth it, you will find it easy to commit to change for that new level because the mental work of shifting your identity is always the most uncomfortable part. But only until you decide that there is something on the other side that you need isn't that is when you will push through to get it. 

17:00
Yeah, it's time for you to take action on this so I'm going to give you a super easy option here. You and I both know that they need to build a business cruise. I told you the wrong hacks are scaling out for us because it hasn't been working. Because the secret to fitting more into your day as a mom is to get more ruthless about about what belongs in your day. And the secret to getting more time for yourself and your family is to delicate and super streamline what's on your plate. And the secret to avoiding hustle mode as a high achieving mom? It's a truly prioritize self-care even if it sounds like slowing down. 

17:34
So in this exclusive podcast series you've got a link for I'm going to breakdown why adjust right for you work life balance is not about how productive you can force yourself to be is actually about showing up daily while still leaving yourself room for kids and husband and workouts and hobbies. So if you're ready to steal my time back secrets of worker home moms no five AM strategy is required. 

17:56
Just download this on the go audio feed called time back secrets of worker home moms. How to get that elusive work like balance and actually keep it and watch how fast you right size everything about your work from home schedule.