5 Time Management Tips to Achieve Your Dream Life
One of the best productivity tips for moms is to manage and guard your time well. Get more done in less time with these 5 Time Management Tips to Achieve Your Dream Life.
Where did the time go? These days so many of us struggle with “finding” time. We know there are always 24 hours in a day, but somehow, we don’t have time for hobbies or meeting friends. We don’t have time to take on a new project. We don’t have time to exercise. We don’t have time to read or learn something new. I’ve read my share of productivity books and taken lots of time management courses so thought I’d share the top 5 Time Management Tips I’ve learned to Achieve Your Dream Life.
But really is it that we don’t have the time? Or is it that we don’t find it a priority enough to make the time? Or is it that we feel guilty about doing these things because we feel we SHOULD be doing something else? Is your to-do list help empty or half full?
Whatever our work situation is, we all covet work-life balance. We don’t want to feel like time just slipped through our fingers with nothing to show for it. We want to feel good about how we spent our time, that we used it productively, that we used it to work towards our dreams of the life we want.
Now the 5Â Time Management Tips to Achieve Your Dream Life cause you know that…
 
1. You Have to Spend Time to Make Time
Successful entrepreneurs tell us “you have to spend money to make money”. You have to invest money in your blog or business, if you want to have the tools you need to produce the highest quality service or product you can for your customer.
Similarly, you need to spend time in figuring out your goals and priorities in order to make time to reach them. Spend some quiet time reflecting on what you really want. What are your immediate goals for yourself, your family, your blog/business? What are your goals for a year from now? Five years from now? What are the goals you have that you dare to dream? Unlock them from your head and write them down. Investing the time to figure out what your dream life looks like is the only way you can possibly get there. I recommend doing the prep work in the Powersheets intentional goal planner if you really want to pinpoint the goals that are most important to you and your family.
2. You Have to Simplify Your Roles
Life pulls us in so many directions, sometimes it’s hard to see straight. Each of these directions represents a different role we play in our lives. Mom. Wife. Chronic Illness Patient. Blogger. Business Owner. Volunteer. Decorator. Chauffeur. Laundry Climber. Housekeeper. Gourmet Chef. Organic Gardener. We have a lot of roles to juggle and it can be overwhelming. It is important to simplify your roles and focus on the ones that will help you make steps towards achieving your dream life here and now.
For me right now, that means saying no to being a PTA and room mom for my kids. Every time I’d go to school, I’d come home with a virus because of the medicine I take to suppress my immune system from attacking my joints. So not only would I spend my time preparing for kids classroom parties and in the classrooms, it also cost me more time recovering every time I got sick. As sad as it made me, I had to say no to being a PTA and room mom this year. It’s ok to cut yourself some slack, say no and relieve yourself of one less distraction from achieving the goals that are most important to you.
While I cannot give up cooking for my family, I can simplify the meals I cook. Planning simpler meals means less time shopping in the grocery store. Less time in the kitchen preparing and cleaning up. Less time on my painful feet. And more energy for the things that matter to me.
What directions are you being pulled in? Which of these directions will help you towards achieving your dream life? Which roles can you let go of to make room for your dream life? How can you simplify your current roles to make more time for your most important goals? Eliminating and simplifying the roles and demands you place on yourself will move you closer to achieving your dream life. I recommend reading A Simplified Life* by Emily Ley if you need help simplifying different aspects of your life so you can focus on what truly matters (you can get it for FREE with an Audible audiobook trial which is a great way to listen to great, motivating books while you are cleaning or folding mountains of laundry).
3. You Have to Craft Your Ideal Day
Now that you have your goals and roles defined, it’s time to think about what your ideal day looks like. We don’t have a choice that we have to work. We have to earn money and we have to take care of our families. But most of us crave a better balance between work, life and fun. We want to work hard and play harder. We want to say “That was the best day ever!”
For me, my ideal day includes a balance of taking care of my family, our home and yes, myself. I love having a happy, well-fed family. I love having a tidy and peaceful space to live in. I love spending a little time each day reading, writing or blogging. In my ideal day, I want to be able to do all those things everyday.
Because I have autoimmune Rheumatoid Arthritis, my pain and energy depends on things I can control (diet and stress) and things I can’t control (hormones and weather). So I crafted for myself two different ideal day scenarios. One for when my pain level is less than a 4 (tolerable) and when my pain level is more than a 4 (take it slow). I’ve got notes too for when my pain is more than a 7, it’s when the to do list goes out the window and I rest, read and recharge. I know I cannot push my body past it’s limits or the RA pain will only get worse.
Here’s what my ideal weekdays look like:
Figure out how much time you need to spend in each of your roles to have your ideal day. I created this workbook to help you create your ideal day and track progress. Do you do best working the same routine each day? Or do you need a variety in your days? What hinders you from having your ideal day everyday? How can you accept the things you can’t change and make the best of your days anyway?
Note: This post contains affiliate links as indicated by an asterisk. Purchases from these links provides a small commission to me at no extra cost to you.Â
4. You Have to Plan in Order to Execute
Now it’s time to turn that ideal day into a reality. Grab the planner that works for you and execute your most important priorities. Finding out the best planning system takes time so give yourself the grace to adjust your system to suit your needs and season in life. I have a free planner comparison chart of 28 popular planners that can help you pick the best planner for your lifestyle and budget.
In a nutshell,
- I put all the family’s appointments into Google Calendar so that me, my husband and my oldest son can access it and add events as necessary.
- For my home and family routines and projects, I was using a Daily Simplified Planner and bullet journal in a separate notebook for lists.
Because I love to review planners, I’m currently trying out:
- the Erin Condren LifePlanner Binder* for my weekly home and life planning and
- Erin Condren Petite Journals* for recording my Getting Things Done captures and lists.
- For my blog, I use my Erin Condren Petite Goalsetting Journal* and Daily Planners for my 12 Week Year* goals and tasks to achieve them.
What kind of planners do you use? How do you keep your goals and priorities front and center in your mind? Â You have to be flexible with your planning system and find what suits your needs so you can plan and execute your to dos to achieve your goals and get closer to living your dream life.
5. You Have to Celebrate Small Victories and Express Gratitude
Rome wasn’t created in a day and your dreams won’t become a reality overnight. Achieving your dream life will require hard work, lots of it. Change your mindset and make yourself notice the little things you accomplished along the way. Celebrate the small victories every moment in every day. Mark them with gold stars, check them off your checklist, highlight the done items. Whatever it is that draws your attention to the done items on your to-do list and away from the undone items.
For me, nothing is more motivating than checking off a box or highlighting items  that are completed and half color the boxes for to-dos in process. I like writing down keeping my tasks small and manageable so that I can really got a good picture of what I accomplished in the day. For example, instead of just writing down “laundry”, I put checkboxes for each of the loads I do. Laundry is a daily mountain to climb so it’s almost always in process! At the end of the day, I write in my Daily Gratitude or happy memories I want to remember.
What do you see when you look at your to-do list? Do you see all the incomplete items or do you see the completed items? Is your to-do list half-empty or half-full? Change the way you perceive your to-do list and celebrate the small victories and daily gratitude to put a positive end to your productive days.
If you want to achieve your dream life there are 5 things you must do. You must spend the time figuring out your goals in order to make time to reach them. You have to simplify your roles wherever and whenever you can so you have more time to focus on your priorities. You have to craft your ideal day to help you visualize what you need to do to turn your dreams into reality. You have to develop a planning system to be able to execute your plan. You have to celebrate your small victories and express gratitude, it will help you keep a positive attitude and motivation to continue taking steps to achieve your dream life.
More Time Management Tips
20+ Tips and Tricks to Get More Done in Less Time
Simple Time Management Tips to Gain More Time
How to Use Time Tracking to Boost Your Productivity in Less than 15 Minutes a WeekÂ
How to Squeeze More Reading Time Into Your Day
More Planning and Productivity Tips Just for You!
Subscribe now and get exclusive planners, printables and tips just for subscribers to help you achieve the life you’ve always wanted, with or without chronic illness. New goodies added to the library all the time so stay tuned!
How do you manage your time and set your goals? What does your dream life look like? How do you evaluate your week and celebrate your small victories? Let’s share and encourage each other to achieve our goals!
A good practical post with something for all of us. Our Julie chose your post to be featured in the next Blogger’s Pit Stop. Well done.
Kathleen
Thanks so much Kathleen and my thanks to Julie too for featuring my post. Thanks for hosting!
I feel motivated to get on track!!!
Happy Summer,
Kippi
These are all great tips. I was glad to see gratitude on the list. It’s been said, “Never let the things you want make you forget about the things you have.” Have a blessed day Tanya. You’ve giving me some tasty food for thought.
I love that quote Nicole, thanks for sharing. Gratitude really helps my mind and soul when it’s so easy to be overwhelmed with everything we have going on.
You really are a great organizer. I have no talent in this area. It’s very hard for me.
Thank you,it’s a lot of trial and error to find what works for me so all I can do is share what I’ve learned in case something helps someone else too. Thanks for your encouragement Leigh.
Great tips! I really enjoyed reading this!
#SITSSharefest
Sarah Bell
Trendy & Tidy
Thank you Sarah, I love to plan and help others celebrate their small victories too!
This is great, so comprehensive! Thanks for sharing x #smallvictoriessundaylinkup
These are amazing tips, especially for those with chronic pain (migraineur here). Adding number three to my daily routine can make my to-do list more realistic. 🙂 Great tips, Tanya. -Elle
I love your tips, Tanya.
I think a lot of people imagine that time management just happens. No, it indeed takes time. But it’s not time wasted. It’s time invested in getting more done.
Great post!
I’m definitely a big planner.. I write EVERYTHING down 24/7, but I definitely feel overwhelmed constantly and feel like I need to step it up a little more! This post is perfect!
I hear you Caroline, I have to write down everything too or I forget it. I try hard not to get overwhelmed, it’s a constant battle and some days are better than others. What kind of planner do you have and do you love it?
Wow!! You are super organized! I work from home, so that’s really the only thing I have planned/that is set in stone (I teach). I have no kids, just two dogs and a husband. Other things I plan are blogging, but everything else, I just wing it. Definitely for moms though… I think planning is something that you have to do, especially if you work from home!
I’m always looking for ways to simplify my time. Thanks for sharing these wonderful tips!
These are all such great tips! So true that you have to spend time to make time…this is something I struggle with…
This is the BEST planning post I’ve read in a long time! I love how you have different pre-set lists already written to match your daily pain level. Perfect!
I really love how you talk about each thing. As a full time student AND a full time blogger….I don’t have a lot of spare time. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Taylor, my planning needs and system are always evolving but as long as I remember each of these, I feel like I can get to where I want to be. Good luck with juggling your 2 full time roles, I imagine you don’t have much spare time at all!
Yes!! You are spot on!!! I’m obsessed with planning and scheduling. I would be lost without my planner!
Thanks so much, always love to hear from fellow planner addicts. What type of planner(s) do you have? I would be lost without mine too!!
These are awesome tips. I love self-improvement tips to help me work on living a better, more focused life.
Thank you Theresa, I’m so happy you find it helpful. I’m a productivity tip and book junkie, they help me stay motivated to go for my goals.
These are great tips! I’m the worst planner in history! I always want to just jump in and get things started without thinking things through! Ill definitely try these out!
Thank you, it’s always tempting to jump inthings. I tend to jump into a project whenever someone need help without thinking through how much time it will cost me. I’m a recovering people pleaser who is learning, it is ok to make time for me and the things I love to do. Thanks for stopping by and good luck with planning and being intentional with your time and energy!
I love to be organized. That way I can plan every little detail about my day. That makes the day go so much better.
What kind of planner(s) do you use Dawn? I’m always interested to hear what works for others. Planning really does help your day go smoother but we have to flexible to when the unexpected arises and remember it’s ok to move things to the next day.
Great tips! Love that planner you used, the day designer. I’m definitely checking that out as it looks like everything I need in a planner!
The Day Designer is wonderful and I hear that the goalsetting pages in the 2017 version are even better!
Loving this, I think setting your goals and outlining your day is so important. Even a simple to-do list. There’s nothing I love more than crossing things off of a list
I really like this post! I thought I wasn’t pretty organized and efficient before, but taking on my PhD is teaching me a whole new level! (Hence my lack of interaction here on the blogs…limited time.)
Oops…I thought I WAS organized…auto correct hates me. I think it’s gotten worse with the update I didn’t recently. Lol
Lol, autocorrect hates me too and I’m TERRIBLE at typing on my phone. I should not be allowed to do it. *sigh*
Thanks so much Jennine! I bet you have got to have to have a great system in place to manage your Phd program. What kind of planner(s) do you use? I really need to treat Elite Blog Academy like it’s a college degree so I stay focused on it, I put it on the back burner more than I should. I have to remind myself often to chase the goals to achieve my dream life and get a good balance. Thanks for stopping by, honored you took the time to comment when I know you’re so busy.
Great post! I tend to put myself last too much and then get resentful that I’m neglecting my own goals. My planner is a life saver though and it helps me get some balance. I like the way you celebrate accomplishments, I need to start making a system to do that too. I enjoyed your tips!
Planning is so important if you want to save time and be more productive. On the days I don’t have a to-do list I feel like I just wonder aimlessly, doing things that aren’t as important and won’t help me reach my goals.
Planning and scheduling is very important when you are a work at home mom. Too often, we get so many distractions that it’s so hard to get many things done.
Planning and scheduling my day is the only way I get anything done. Seriously. If I didn’t, I would never get anything done with my kiddos around here. haha
I defiantly like the tip to simplify, I think that is one of my greatest problems. I like to be elaborate and go crazy on everything I do but I kind find so much time for other things when I try to simplify!
Time management is so important when you are a work from home mom, I’m starting to think of my goals for 2017 already!
As new WAHM, this was wonderful for me to read. I need to plan and create my ideal day and then stick to it!!
Oh thank you Jena, I’m glad my post helped you. I’ve been trying to reach my ideal day but even when I don’t, i still celebrate the small victories I have accomplished and it helps.
I think, for me, right now I need to just celebrate those small victories – and be grateful. I am super over-loaded at the moment, so no “ideal” day exists at the moment. So – this sounds like a good fit for the time being! 🙂
Oh I’m glad to hear you can focus on your small victories and gratitude. I hope someday you can feel like everyday is an ideal day where you aren’t overwhelmed and you’re just the right amount of productive to reach your goals. Glad you found something that is a good fit for you right now, thanks for stopping by.
I appreciate how you reflect on each tip, elaborating why it is important and how you can put it to work in your own life. Your examples are so helpful and still leave plenty of room to adapt to one’s own situauion. I especially admired your crafting of different ideal days depending on pain level–a recipe for having a sense of fulfillment each day, reaching reasonable goals regularly, rather than “failing” some days b/c of inflexible goals. Thanks also for tips on tools to help.
Aw thanks Lucy. RA has made me figure out how to look at my life and my to do list differently, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, I think its the silver lining that comes with RA, it forces me to appreciate the smaller things and not get caught up in being a perfect supermom. Its ok to just be me.