I have a confession to make –

I'm very (very) poor at time managment.

I think as I'm getting older – coupled with still having mom brain even though my twins are almost six years old – the days are getting shorter and hours slip by.

It could also be from the fact that I work from home as a writer and blogger and at times work can consume me.

But, I'm a work in progress.

I have a powerful time management hack that is helping me see what's really important! And if you are the same as me – where busy rules you – then now is the time to stake your claim and take time back.

Children grow up too fast, time slips away and before you know it, what you worked on last month that stole your time away from your family really wasn't that important in the whole scheme of things.

For more help and ideas, here's the full guide to time managment as a work at home mom (or mom blogger).

Your To-Do List is Failing You

Do you live by your to-do list? I don't know about you, but I thought if I create a to-do list every day, things would get done.

But, that never happened for me.

My list would get longer and all those tasks staring at me would just paralyze me.

I have two blogs and the tasks I had to do for each of my businesses + the tasks I had to do for my home and family, just wasn't getting done.

I made a big mistake with my to-do list and I feel other moms are doing it as well.

We are forgetting to prioritize each task.

So, instead of just jotting down what comes to mind – pick up b-day present, grab milk, finish my sales page copy, book dentist appointment, hire a VA – I needed to sit and think about each task and prioritize them.

The Eisenhower Matrix

Author Stephen Covey developed a way to prioritize our tasks based on urgency. This allowed people to see the big picture and discover what is the most essential or important task to do.

You pit your task against a quadrant of choices:

In my list of todos I would mark them as:

• Pick up b-day present – Important + Urgent
• Grab milk – Important + Not Urgent
• Finish sales page copy – Important + Urgent
• Book dentist appointment – Important + Not Urgent
• Hire VA – Not important + Not Urgent

From there you can see what tasks need to be done TODAY or this week.

A Bonus Hack

One thing I try to do with my tasks is to also set a deadline.

For example, I need to do some video lessons for one of my courses. Just having that task and saying that it's urgent, doesn't give me direction on the best time or when to do this.

I can do one video lesson a day or do all in one day or I can do them at night or on the weekends.

So, I have to mark on my calendar the time for this task (btw it's next week Wednesday-Friday).

Having this timeline or deadline solidified helps me manage my time better as a work at home mom.

Juggling and Balancing

As moms, it's our thang to be the star juggler and balancer.

But – we aren't workin' in a circus mama!

Instead of juggling all you have to accomplish in day prioritize and categorize!

By applying the Eisenhower Matrix to your daily tasks, you may find that you're less stressed out (and less angry too).

I know I am!

And the great thing is – I have more time for my family. I'm not running errands an hour before dinner or I'm not putting a load of laundry when my twins come home from school.

I create a daily plan around the urgent and not so urgent tasks and set deadlines.

Plus having some efficient tools like my Instant Pot for quick meals and social media automation to make growing my blog and business easy comes in handy too!