Episode 37 #2: Why You're Always Running Out of Time (and How to Fix it!)

running out of time working mom

ITUNES | SPOTIFY

This episode is the second in a four-part mini-series all about Why You're Always Running Out of Time and How to Fix It! If you’ve ever felt like there’s never enough time in the day, especially as a busy working mom, this series is for you.

Are you constantly overwhelmed by your never-ending to-do list? In this episode, I want to show you how your list might actually be holding you back from getting things done—and how to fix it. A list alone isn't enough, but you can turn it into a powerful tool that works alongside your calendar to help you get your priorities done. Plus, don't miss details on my live class coming up on April 10th, where I'll teach you the four steps to create more space in your schedule.

Plus, don't miss all the details on the live class I'm teaching April 10th on the 4 steps to create more space in your working mom schedule. So, if you like this series, be sure to save your seat at themothernurture.com/class!

links & resources mentioned in this episode:

  • You are listening to the Life Coach for Working Moms podcast, the show where we are talking about what it actually takes to make life work as a working mom. I'm your host, Katelyn Denning, a full time working mom of three and a certified life and executive coach. I'm so glad you're here and I hope you enjoy this week's episode.

     Welcome back to the podcast and to this special mini series that we're doing on why you are always running out of time and how to fix it. It before I get into reason number two. Remember that I am teaching a live class on Thursday, April 10th about the four steps you need to know and to follow to create more space in your working mom schedule.

    I'm so excited and would love to see you there. Head to the themothernurture.com/class to register and be sure to add it to your calendar. All right. Reason number two for why you're always running out of time is that your to-do list is holding you back. It is getting in the way of you actually doing the things that are on your list.

    All right. Let me ask you a question and be honest. How long is your to-do list? How extensive is it or how many lists do you have right now? I see so many working moms who don't have a system for keeping track of all of the things. There are some things over here and a little over there, just sort of scattered around.

    They started maybe keeping one consolidated list for a while, but then life got busy and they abandoned it and went back to just whatever was most convenient. They jot things down. In whatever app or notebook or scrap piece of paper is on hand. They have things in emails and in text messages in notebooks at home and at the office on post-it notes and in your notes app on the phone.

    And so when you go to find something, you spend time looking for it. You spend time serving all of the potential places for what maybe is coming up or what you're forgetting to do, and that costs you time, or you spend time rewriting things that you've already written somewhere else, but because you can't find it, that thing is still taking up space in your brain.

    And so you write it again, hoping to finally clear your mind or you waste time doing something that isn't the top priority today because the top priority thing slipped your mind and it didn't happen to be on the list that you looked at. That's a really sneaky one because you feel like you are being productive and you are, you are taking care of tasks.

    You're pulling something off of your to-do list, you're crossing it off. And so it feels good and it feels productive, but because you weren't looking at the full picture, it wasn't necessarily the thing that would've moved you forward, the thing that would've helped you make progress on that upcoming deadline or meet that deadline.

    Or maybe some of you're listening and you're like, I have a list. I'm good. I've got all of the things in one place, but when you look at a list, that's as long as many of the lists that I see when women come to me and show me what they've got going on. I wanna know how that feels to look at that long list.

    How does it feel? Are you like, yes, I have plenty of time to do all of that. Or do you look at that list and think, how in the world am I going to get it all done? I'm never going to get it all done. I don't know about you, but when I see a long list, I definitely fall into that ladder camp.

    And when I feel overwhelmed, I find myself doing the most unproductive things. Maybe you feel this too. I will scroll through Instagram. I will Google search random ideas and topics. I will shop online. I will text all of my friends that I haven't been texting lately. I will check on my library holds to see what books are coming up soon for me to be able to read.

    I will do anything to avoid looking at that list. That feels so overwhelming. Now, sometimes I will look at the list and be productive, and maybe this is you too, you might be productive. But even then, so many of us tend to grab the easy things from the list. Right. It looks long, so let me cross off lots of things as fast as I can, and I tackle the easy things, not necessarily the most important things, anything to get a quick hit of dopamine , and just cross off a few things to feel better, and yet.

    In either scenario, you still find yourself scrambling to make progress toward those bigger things, toward those important but not urgent things. Or you still find yourself rushing to finish something before a deadline, or you still have things that fall through the cracks because a list is not a plan.

    A list is just a list. Lists are amazing. I love lists. They are so much more reliable than holding everything in your head, relying on your brain to remember. But a list isn't a decision about what you're actually going to do. A list doesn't care how much time you actually have. A list hasn't considered your priorities, and it's certainly not thinking about what your energy is or your capacity, what that's like today.

    It's just a collection of all of the things, big, small, urgent, not urgent, ideas, goals, all of the things that you could do. Now you could really organize your to-do list, and I have seen some really beautiful lists in my time. You could color code or separate things by category. You could spend time to put things into priority order on your list.

    You could add deadlines there and time estimates, how long you think these tasks might take. And I see so many working moms do this and call it planning. But here's the thing, unless you are using that beautifully organized list in conjunction with your calendar to make realistic decisions about how you're going to use your time, your list is just a list.

    And on its own, if that's all you're using, it is holding you back from making the most of your time because it's not working in conjunction with your schedule and your time. It ends up being a distraction, a reminder of all that you're not doing

    or all that you have to do. It's a visual indicator of how you're always running out of time to be able to do more or to do enough.

    You need a list. If you don't have one, you need a list, a place that you can go to that houses all of your ideas. Talking everything. Again, the big, the small, the urgent, the not urgent, the important, the not important, the near term in the long term. And you need a process for making sure that everything is ultimately getting onto that list.

    Even if you're capturing items or receiving items in other places, that's okay. I would expect that to happen. But how will you get those items onto your main list? What is your plan for that? What is your process for that?

    But then you need to take that list, that up-to-date list of all of your options. Along with your calendar and how you spend your time, and you need to create a plan using all of those tools, create a plan for what you're going to do. You're going to use the list to decide what's most important to work on this week or today, or in the next hour.

    Putting these pieces together is what takes you from having scattered ideas and tasks or an overwhelmingly long list that makes you wanna put your head in the sand to having a plan that has you feeling like you have enough time.

    To learn these four steps of which. Your to-do list is a part of one of those steps. But to learn these four repeatable steps that will help you create more space in your working mom schedule, join me on April 10th for my live class. Plenty of time. You can save your spot at themothernurture.com/class.

    I hope to see you there.

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ProductivityKatelyn DenningWorking Mom, time management, productivity