Real Happy Mom

Practical tips and encouragement for moms

Time Management Strategies for Busy Working Moms. Time to Get it Together, Mama

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Doesn’t always seem like there is so much to do, but so little time? With work, the kids, and managing the home, it seems like there is never enough time.

What if I told you there is a way to improve your time management so that you have more time to do the things that you enjoy?

It’s true. There are strategies that you can implement to improve the way that you manage your time. That is why I brought my guest Kristina to help with this.

In this episode we talk about:

  • What the biggest struggle working moms have with time management
  • One of the first things to analyze when trying to improve how time is spent
  • Kristina’s process of going from self-aware to taking action in improving time management

About

Kristina Berrios is a corporate working mom in the apparel industry. I

n addition to leading a global sales team, she also has her own coaching business where she helps other working moms create work-life balance on their terms.

Her coaching key areas of focus are time, money, and relationship management.

Connect

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Transcript of this episode

Real Happy Mom 0:02
Hey there, Mom, are you juggling all the things and motherhood from managing your time getting healthy meals on the table, to being a present wife, all while making yourself a priority without feeling guilty? I get it. It’s overwhelming. And guess what? The fact that you need support doesn’t make you a bad mom. And that’s why I created the Real Happy Mom podcast. I’m toniann, a wife and a mom of two little boys as well as a general dentist and reservists in the Navy. And I get it when it comes to being a busy working mom. On the Real Happy Mom podcast. Interview row moms to chat about real life experiences. These guests and experts will help you to navigate the motherhood journey by providing answers to your questions and concerns surrounding raising children, self care time management, and so much more. So if you’re ready to get rid of the overwhelm, and start being a Real Happy Mom, join me inside the Real Happy Mom podcast. Welcome back to another episode of the Real Happy Mom podcast, I am super pumped to have you back again. So thank you for tuning in and listening. And if this is your first time you are in for a treat, because I have a really awesome guest that is going to help us out with our time because let’s just be honest, as busy working moms, we have a lot to do in a little bit of time. That’s why I’m excited to have my guest Christina on to help us when it comes to time management. Now Christina is a corporate working mom in the apparel industry. In addition to leading a global sales team, she also has her own coaching business, where she helps other working moms create work life balance on their own terms, her key areas where she coaches is on time, money and relationship management. And those are some of the things that she is going to touch on today. In particular when it comes to time. Now, I want you to know that she is going to help us when it comes to our biggest struggles when it comes to time because let’s be honest, like is kind of a common theme with as busy working moms. In addition, she shares one of the first things that we need to ask ourselves or analyze when we’re trying to improve our time. And plus she goes through the process that she walks through with her clients from going from self awareness to actually take an action so that we can get the most value for our time. Now I wanted to let you know if you haven’t heard already, your girl is doing some coaching, yes, me, I can help you out when it comes to time as well, in addition to just juggling all the things when it comes to motherhood, because I understand that it is hard and it can be lonely too. But you do not have to do it alone. So that’s why I want to hold your hand, give you some accountability, we’ll give you some strategies and some practical ways that you can improve your life so that you can actually enjoy motherhood and not be overwhelmed and stressed out. So I am focusing in particular on some time management productivity and routines so that I can help you with maximizing your time. Now this is something that you’re interested in and want more information, send me an email at Hello at Real Happy Mom or send me a DM on Instagram. And we can go back and forth there and I can get you the information you need so that we can get started with some coaching. Because like I said, You’re not meant to do this alone. I want to help you. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s go ahead and jump into this week’s episode with Christina.

Kristina 3:18
Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to do this today. Yes, so I am a work life balance coach for working moms. So I help working moms create work life balance on their terms. So I help them with their time management, their money management, so their personal finances, finances, as well as their relationships. So we take a deep dive on their professional landscape as well as their personal landscape. And then in addition to that, I myself am a career mom. So I am a global account director for the apparel industry. So in addition to having my business I also have this other role in my life. So I definitely know all about the juggle, and I’m here to just share some tips.

Kristina 4:42
Yeah, preach on it. I entirely agree. I entirely agree. So I feel that everyone has work life balance that is like a fundamental mental part of each of our lives because we work and we live like we have a personal life and this professional life as well. So I think it’s a part of everyone’s life, what balance looks like, on an individual basis is very personalized, right? It’s personalized to that person, their lifestyle, their values, all of that is something that is unique to the person. So that’s like a big part of what I do is a personalized coaching to really understand what are your key drivers like what is important to you? And how would you measure success in balance? Yeah.

Kristina 5:55
Yeah, yes. So I mean, you’re exactly right. Time management is the foundation of the program. Because how we spend our time, who we spend our time with, and what we spend our time doing directly correlates in terms of how we spend our money, how we feel how we feel fulfilled within our jobs within our within our families, as well. So Time management is truly the foundation of it all. And for me, it starts with, you know, how do you want to spend your time like that is something that is very important to really understand, as I said, those values, those key drivers. So what does success look like for you? Right, so what success looks like for you at work, because I think they’re all working. So there’s parts of our jobs that are high value impact. So let’s have a conversation about those. Let’s have a conversation about how much time we spend toward those activities each week. But then also on the personal side of it as well. What How do you measure success? what is important to you to make sure that we are building our time blocks, I do follow a block schedule, our time blocks around those key things, the things that deliver value personally and professionally.

Unknown Speaker 7:25
Exactly.

Unknown Speaker 7:36
Yeah. Yeah.

Kristina 7:40
And I think the other side of it, too, and I also saw it, especially during COVID. And, you know, people transitioning from working in a traditional office setting to working from home, there was a big struggle, of course, on top of that, also having the children at home as well. So I think one of the key challenges I’ve seen over the past few months is people feeling like a sense of obligation, right? A sense of like, this is how I’m supposed to spend my time because if I was in an office, I would get to work by nine, I would be there until five, I would have all my meetings around that. And for me, as I was helping, helping my clients get through these months, it’s been like, Okay, first of all, that’s not gonna happen, like you’re working from home, nine to five, doesn’t have to exist while you’re working for home. And quite honestly, it’s not conducive, right? Because at the end of the day, while we’re working from home, we are pulled in other directions, especially when we’re caring for our children, or their remote learning at the same time. So really understanding again, what are the key factors of success in the role? What do you have to do for me, I have to do a weekly report every single week, it’s due on Thursday. It’s for my team. And so I make sure that that’s something I prioritize earlier in the week, because I know it has to get done. So those are the types of things that we break down.

Kristina 9:16
Absolutely. So the first step is gaining clarity, really understanding how is your time currently spent. So I have had my clients do a audit, a time audit. And I’ve done it. I’ve even done it from like an executive coaching standpoint at work. And I’ve seen tremendous value for it. So I have our clients go through 30 minute segments of their day. So from the second they wake up, they can even do it in their phone. So ladies, you could easily do this. This is something that you could do today, every 30 minutes, right, what you’re doing, what you’re doing, and what is the value of that activity. So, for example, this morning, I woke up at 630. And then I’ll just put it in Wake up and what I did from 630 to 730, and then in parentheses, high, medium or low impact. And what you’ll see is you’ll start seeing these activities, these low impact activities that are not really delivering you value or have an impact, whether it’s like aimlessly scrolling on Instagram, which at times I know is soothing, but like, those are that you start finding these pockets of time or the fact that, you know, my alarm went off at 530. And I didn’t get up to work out like, I just laid there in bed and was like on emails, like what was what was the value of that? So that’s the first step really understanding your where you work currently at and gaining clarity around that. And then the next step, as I said, is like, what are those key levers of success? What is how do you measure success, personally and professionally. And then from there, once you have those activities, then we start creating a time block. So as I did mention, I do follow a block schedule, both personally and professionally. Just an easy way for me to be flexible. Because at the end of the day, I don’t have two days that are the same I have some days I have calls I have some days I have clients I have, you know, we’re all we’re all doing all the things. So I use a block schedule, I create three hour blocks, in terms of how I want to spend the day. So in the morning, I do all my projects before my daughter even wakes up quite honestly. So anything that requires high brainpower, clear focus, I’ll start that’ll be my first three hour block of the day, anything that’s more admin related, again, emails, a hate email. So I will do that towards the end of the day, because at the end of the day, it doesn’t require like the creative use of my you know, of my time and my energy. So that’s what that’s the next step is really making sure that your block schedule is aligned to your goals. So where where you want to see the success in your life, that you’re really prioritizing that in your block schedule. And then also understanding as I said, like each day doesn’t have to be the same. So some days, when I have early morning calls, I move the blocks around to adjust to the schedule.

Unknown Speaker 12:30
Exactly.

Kristina 12:33
Yeah, no, it’s important because especially when you’re thinking about if you were to approach it from like, okay, all the things I have to get done, are you really fulfilled? And is it really going to have like a positive impact for the long term effect?

Unknown Speaker 13:07
Yeah.

Kristina 13:27
I’m telling you even like, I’ve learned it, I’ve seen it in my own behavior sometimes, too, when I’m like, okay, I can’t get started because I have to clean my space. Like it has to be organized first. I’m like, why am I doing that, but that’s, I could easily wait until I’m done. Let me just do it first. And I think the other thing too, is like once you start, and that’s why I think the time audit is so important, because once you start seeing those low impact and medium impact activities, you can really once you understand what those is, maybe you can delegate them, maybe you could give them to someone else, whether it’s someone else you work with or even someone else in your household that can help you with other things. That was another that always comes up in terms of because at the end of the day, we can’t be everyone to everyone, right? It’s just impossible. So where can you delegate in the time audit does, it highlights that as well?

Kristina 14:53
Absolutely, it is breaking them down, that it’s breaking them down to task. So when When we come up with goes actually did a video on this on my YouTube channel at the beginning of the year. And it was all about setting goals for the year, right because of course, he said, beginning of the year, January, everyone’s feeling all types of inspired. So take advantage of that, right? Take advantage of that and have that vision, then break it down by quarter, by month, by week, and by day. And so that each day, you’re tackling that. And that’s something that, especially in my I do have a segment as I talk about money with my clients, right in terms of their personal finance goals. And whether it’s debt repayment or saving up money for a house or investments. The goals are always huge. I want to buy a house. And it’s like, how do we do that? Well, of course, we can do that very simply when we divided by the year in the month, but how do we do on a day, it’s just the behavior part of it. And that’s where when you break down your goals to actual behavioral task, tasks that you can put into your block schedule, you’re going to you’re going to make progress. So the key is just breaking it down.

Kristina 16:48
I think the first is just number one, give yourself grace, right? Give Be gentle with your with yourself, and acknowledge all the other things that you are also doing not as an excuse, but also as an element of kindness, like self love, really with yourself, because we tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves. So I would say that’s number one. And then in terms of getting back on track, take the smallest step first. So even if it’s like, let’s say it’s a health and wellness goal, like oh, I really want it I told myself this year, I was gonna get rid of the baby weight once and for all. It’s like, Okay, well, maybe we’re not gonna lose 20 pounds by the end of the year. But what can we do immediately today? What type of action can we take today? You know, we can go on a walk with our kids. We could drink more water, we could be more aware of what you know, of our water intake. So give yourself number one, give yourself grace. Give yourself love and honor that we are doing a lot, especially in this in this crazy year. That is 2020. But on top of that, take the smallest step you can today. Don’t wait until Monday. Don’t wait until the next new month, new month. Who’s this? No. Do it today? What can you do today?

Unknown Speaker 18:39
Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 18:44
All of them. Yeah.

Kristina 18:46
The key is taking in order to reach your goals is breaking it down, but also making sure that you have those behaviors at each day. So even in the financial, you know, if it’s a financial goal, what are you doing today in terms of your spending? do you have? Do you have a cash envelope system like those? There’s little things that you could do each day? Even with careers? Are you networking? Are you on LinkedIn? Like those are? Those are the little things that have the biggest impact?

Kristina 19:32
Yes, I mean, for each pillars of the pillars or time, money and then relationships and the relationships are both like I said that personal landscape as well as that professional landscape. So naturally that lends itself to like career planning. Regardless of the pillar, it’s still the same three step process, you’re going to gain clarity first, like really understanding having that self awareness, being able to really identify where is the area of opportunity, the area of success, and then also aligning your interests in your goals and then taking action. So it’s each three we follow the same format for each three.

Kristina 20:17
Yes, well, as I said, I’ve already give you a little tips along the way, which was, you know, give yourself grace, but also be flexible. That is something that I think I struggled with the most. When I first became a mom was, I felt the need to be that woman, that career woman that I was before I became a mom, and I was trying to do all the things and I burnt out very easily, which is where I took another pivot in my life. But I, I think it’s most important to be flexible, be graceful in terms of yourself, and also have a strong community, right? I think that is like never feel alone with being a mom in this particular you know, and everyone’s going through the same thing. And we are here to learn and share with each other and really encourage each other along the way.

Kristina 21:15
Yes, you can find me on Instagram. So that is Christina barrios as well on YouTube. So I do have a YouTube channel as well. Christina barrios. Thank you so much for having me.

Real Happy Mom 21:37
Now, that does it for this episode of the Real Happy Mom podcast to find the links in the show notes. Make sure you head over to Real Happy Mom comm slash 113. That’s the number 113. And there you’ll find all the links that were mentioned in this episode, as well as the information about the coaching that I talked to you about in the beginning. Now I know Christina, she does some coaching with clients as well. But don’t forget that I can do that for you too, as well. If you are overwhelmed need some help with time management as well as productivity when it comes to juggling mom life. So do me a favor. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, I want you to take a screenshot of you listening to this podcast episode and put it in your Insta stories or Facebook stories and let me know what you’re doing while you’re listening. I’m really curious to see what you’re up to. So do that for me and I will be super, super grateful. And I will be back again next week for another full episode. Take care and with thoughts about

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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