Effective time management starts in the head and in the home. It should come as no surprise that if you're looking to get a hold on how you utilize time the best place to start is to think of how you can do things more effectively in the home. This is especially true for Moms because we could find so many ways to shave time off things that we have to do every day. We could probably take less headache medicine along the way too.
One reason it's best to start at home is because when you're starting out trying to take control and create effective time management strategies, you might be a little wobbly-you know, as we often are with new things we try. By beginning at home, you are automatically in a more (hopefully) accepting atmosphere. Hey, if you make mistakes here-well that's nothing new, right? It's a good lesson for the kids to see that parents make mistakes too and a good lesson for the spouse to see that he's not the only one who goofs up.
Another reason to start at home is because as you make small incremental changes your confidence grows by leaps and bounds. You'll soon discover that as your confidence grows so does your feeling of control over circumstances. As you gain more control, your confidence grows. How cool is that? Pretty soon you will feel that you can accomplish anything. And you know what...you can!
Both control and confidence are imperative and are prerequisites for any and all change. How can you contemplate changing anything over which you feel no control? Also, how can you feel control over things which you're not confident about? Fortunately, by taking small steps in the safety of a comfortable environment you can become confident in your ability to be effective at time management.
A first and foremost step would be to get a handle on your daily to-do list. How effective can you feel if you're always running behind and trying to catch up? By gaining control over the infamous to-do list, we automatically increase confidence which can lead to a snowball effect, as demonstrated above. This, in turn, can provide the equivalent to rocket fuel on our efforts to become effective time management experts.
As you do gain more control over your to-do list you will automatically free up time. What you choose to spend this extra time on will be your motivation to keep you moving in a positive manner. For instance, if you know that you'll be able to spend more time reading if you were spending less time watching TV, then (assuming you want to read more than watch TV) you will be motivated to make the change. Also, if you make sure the kids clothes are put up in the drawers (they can and should help) then less time will be spent looking for clothes during the week which equates to somewhat smoother mornings. See what motivation that would be.
