You might remember a couple of my previous posts from earlier in the year where I waffled on about my inability to keep on top of the housework and how I’d lost my motivation to work out after getting off to a good start with yoganuary in January. I’m here to update you on how I’m getting on and guys, I have cracked the secret to getting my mojo back. Changing focus. Scrapping multi-tasking. Giving everything it’s own time.

I’d had a bit of a rough couple of weeks. Sleep deprivation getting on top of me and generally feeling a bit useless that I wasn’t getting anywhere with well, anything and feeling stressed that my workload was really starting to pile up and I couldn’t focus on anything. I have a couple of businesses and I was constantly checking email… Constantly. And I’d be reading one email whilst working on another project and then stressing over the email I’d read and not able to put it to the back of my mind until I’d actioned it. It was all a big mess.

So I decided to make a plan. Why was I trying to do a million things at once and being super unproductive? Meaning I was having to work more (and later) evenings to be on top of everything and meanwhile, the housework still wasn’t getting done and my energy was plummeting.

So one Sunday I decided to make a change. I sat down with a pad and paper and I made a plan. It would consist of me figuring out what I needed to do each day and setting a time for each of those activities. I’m very lucky being self-employed in that I can write my own schedule. And it has made such a huge difference. I am three weeks into my new routine now and I feel so much better. I have become way more productive and although the sleep deprivation is still killer, I am starting to feel glimmers of having more energy and my usual 3 o’clock slump isn’t as savage as it was.

So what does it look like? A little something like this:

Monday
8:30am – 9am – Drop boys at school/nursery
9:15am – Gym
10:30am – Housework (bathrooms)
11:00am – Work (business 1)
3:30pm – Work (business 2)
5:00pm – Collect boys
8:00pm – Work (whichever business needs more time)

Tuesday
8:30 – 9am – Drop boys at school/nursery
9:15am – Gym
10:30am – Housework (bedrooms)
11:00am – Work (business 1)
3:00pm – Break
3:15pm – Collect Leo
8:00pm – Work (business 2)

I have a day off on a Wednesday which I spend with my little one and then Thursday looks very similar to Tuesday (although in terms of working out I swim when Leo has his swimming lesson. I figured I was sat there for half an hour twiddling my thumbs when now I’m getting a good 20 minute workout and more importantly a lovely ten minutes in the sauna) and then Friday is a day off. I’m picking up the odd few hours of work at the weekends as I’m now dedicating some work time to, wait for it… Myself! But I’m happy with that to be feeling better and less stressed. I’ve also left myself the option to go to the gym over the weekend too if I need a little ‘time out’.

This simple act of giving everything it’s own time allocation has really changed everything. Lots of you recommended that I look at The Organised Mum Method when it came to housework and so I have adopted her half an hour a day rule. It is working so well. So thank you so much for bringing it to my attention.

How are you getting on with your work life balance? Do you tend to try and multi-task too often and then end up getting nothing done? Or do you have a routine that works for you?