When The Universe Throws A Curve Ball

I have been to plenty of time management classes.

Listened to countless professional organizers.

Read a number of blogs.

They all tout the same thing.

You need a schedule.

Especially if you juggle as many balls in the air as most of us mom entrepreneurs do – taking the kids here and there, adhering to client requests, chasing and following up with new business….actually working.  And no, I’m not talking about responding to comments on my friend’s Facebook page, which by the way, is a total time sucker if you don’t get it under control and limit your social media intake.  I’m certainly guilty of it.

Life would have been so much easier had I just listened the first time around.

Don’t we all say that though?  And finally, we throw our hands in the air because time tick tocks past us so quickly that we wonder where the day went when we thought we just dropped the kids off and are now back in the car picking them up.

We finally take the advice of the professional organizers and time management consultants and we go out and buy the one thing that can help us get it all straight!

Are you ready for this?

You’re probably thinking by now the way I’ve hyped it up that it’s some fancy, expensive tool or software program you need to learn.

Truthfully, it’s not expensive.  It’s not fancy.  My 2-yr old Caleb figured it out.  Heck, you could even buy it at the dollar store, but what it’ll save you in time and money is absolutely PRICELESS!

Okay, here it is.  My one gift to  you that has saved me hours each day (well, since firing up this bad boy last week.)

The ultimate time saver. The kitchen timer. A gift thanks to my friend, Kris Kohlmann, who knew I desperately needed this!

Surprised?  Don’t believe me?  Try it.  I guarantee you are going to love it and if you don’t, I’m sure you’ll find other uses for it, like taking the cookies out of the oven.

Now, here’s the key.  You need to make sure you USE it.  It won’t do any good sitting in the package.

It has to constantly tick and tock at you that time keeps on slipping into the future.  (Seal video to follow to emphasize my point. )

What I’ve found to be most effective is setting it in conjunction with my daily to-do list.  I assign increments of time to each task now and when I set it, it’s almost as if I’m racing to the finish line where the prize is a little “me” time until my next go round.  Sure you can set your oven timer or your phone, but it’s not the same.  Well, not for me anyway.  I need to hear the annoying tick tock so that I stay 100% focused on the task at hand, or I give into distractions, like Facebook and checking my email every time my BB dings, which can most definitely wait.

I’ve found that I’m crossing things off  of my list left and right.  Getting it all done, staying organized and clear-headed.  My office is super organized, the house isn’t a complete disaster, and Caleb’s not the last one waiting at childcare for me anymore.

I’m PRODUCTIVE!

I’m MORE EFFICIENT!

And as moms, don’t we all want that?

Here’s that Seal video I promised to get you going in the right direction and to start your Monday off with some cool lyrics.

Because just as Seal says in his video, “Time keeps on slipping into the future.”

What are you doing to get more of your time back?

Comments welcome!  Have a productive week, everyone!