Friday, November 1, 2013

Prioritizing my life for me :)

Even though I stay home with Kenzie, I still find myself wanting, urning, needing MORE time! I can only imagine what my house would look like if I was still working full time and Ben working as many hours as he does every day. (Maybe I shouldn't... its kind of a nightmare just thinking about it...)

Recently, I have been struggling to get a lot of things done, or I quite frankly have half-assed most of the things around the house, and I have even noticed that when I am playing or hanging out with Kenzie, I am probably only half there mentally. All this frustration got me thinking "can I have my cake and eat it too?" (in this case a cake made of protein powder and applesauce to fit my new lifestyle, but you get the picture). Can I have QUALITY time with Kenzie every day and still run my bow business, while checking in with the important people who have started a nutrition plan, while making sure there is food on the table every night, while making sure the house doesn't look like a bomb exploded in it, etc.? 
I decided to go back to Time Management 101 (oddly something I used to give presentations on when I was working... hmmm) and get down to the nitty gritty. I decided to break down the areas of my life that were important so I knew how to prioritize them:
  • Family
  • Home 
  • Nutrition
  • Business 
  • Health Coaching
  • Personal Development 
Then I took it a step further and made sub-categories of what each group was made up of
  • Family
    • Mackenzie 
    • Ben
    • Parents
  • Home 
    • Laundry 
    • House cleaning 
  • Nutrition
    • Meal prep 
    • Following nutrition plan (tabs, shakes, teas, pbs)
    • Exercise 
  • Business 
    • Bows 
  • Health Coaching 
    • DMO
    • Client Follow up 
    • Client Resources 
  • Personal Development 
    • "Tiffy Time"
    • Reading 
    • Blogging
After breaking those areas down, I identified what each of them would require in order for me to feel successful at each (or things I have neglected and wanted to do a better job at). You could say these are my "goals" because without goals, where are we going, right??? So here we go:
  • Family
    • Mackenzie 
      • Setting uninterrupted time aside to engage in play with Kenzie. Take her to gymnastics at least 3 times a week. Work on speech and language development through games and activities. 
    • Ben
      • Setting uninterrupted time aside to eat lunch/ dinner together and talk about our day. Taking advantage of days off to go on dates or spend family time together outside of the house. 
    • Parents
      • Have more family meals together. Create more opportunities for family outings. 
  • Home 
    • Laundry 
      • Doing laundry every other day. Sheets every Saturday. 
    • House cleaning 
      • Sweep mopping the floor every other day (with animals it gets a little "fuzzy")
      • Clean bathrooms, dust, and mop at least once a week.
  • Nutrition
    • Meal prep 
      • Shopping and prepping foods on Sunday afternoon 
    • Following nutrition plan (tabs, shakes, teas, bps)
      • Setting reminders to take vitamins
      • Having my shake first thing in the AM, no excuses. 
    • Exercise 
      • Taking Kenzie for stroller walks or doing Blogilates videos at least 4 times a week. 
  • Business 
    • Bows 
      • Getting new/ holiday items posted
      • Being more consistent with Facebook updates and specials 
  • Health Coaching 
    • DMO
      • Reading my DMO every morning to remind me of how to help inspire and help others be healthier 
    • Client Follow up 
      • Checking in every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday 
    • Client Resources 
      • Begin a Motivational Monday email for all clients with helpful resources to help them stick to their nutrition plan 
  • Personal Development 
    • "Tiffy Time"
      • Take 30 minutes of uninterrupted time to read, take a bubble bath, exercise, catch up with friends, etc. 
    • Reading 
      • Read books about topics I enjoy: personal development, leadership, health, etc. 
    • Blogging
      • Ensure that I have a blog post about something each week for all of you to enjoy (or laugh at me... whichever you feel appropriate)
I believe that when your time is properly managed, you have less stress, more freedom, and more structure so that your anxiety levels aren't through the roof! Just by taking the time to write out my "life priorities" I feel more confident about what things need to get done first in order for me to feel like a successful mom. Will all of these things always happen? I can confidently say "no, not always." But will having some sort of direction of what I want and where I am going in life help me? "HECK YES!" 


Now that I have everything mapped out, the tricky part is finding time during the day or week to accomplish them, but we all have to start somewhere, right? I don't expect to transform into super mom/ wife/ bow maker/ health coach/ house cleaner/ awesome person overnight, and neither should you :) Little steps in the direction you desire are what's important :)

The darling heartbeat continues...

Tiffany 

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