How to Start being a More Productive Mom Today

To those who know me, you are already aware of the fact that I constantly have 500 things going on at once. Kids, activities, trips, crafts, direct sales, exercise, daily household activities, writing a mom blog; I do them all.

The one question I am often asked, is where I find the time to do it all. How do I manage to be a productive mom?

And then I laugh.

I have three kids across a scheme of age groups. I constantly feel as if I am on the go, and often I do not let my brain slow down long enough to make my head stop spinning.

Most days I feel the opposite of productive.

When I look back on my accomplishments throughout the week, however, I realize, I do manage to somehow get everything done, and done well if I might add. This made me sit down and ponder.

What causes me to be a productive mom?

To be completely honest with you, I never saw myself as a stay-at-home mom.

You see, I have always been business-minded. Looking back through my work career, I can count multiple instances where I was working two, sometimes three jobs, all while juggling life.

Yeah, staying at home with my three amazing, yet rambunctious kiddos? Not something I envisioned for myself.

Yet when the opportunity presented itself, I was all about it. But with this change, came a change in the way I did things. I knew I had so many things I wanted to accomplish with the time I had out of the workforce, and I was determined to accomplish them all.

So, for the big question. How did I become such a productive mom, all while staying at home?

Start your Day as Soon as you Open your Eyes

Yes, I know it is hard. Your bed is just so warm and inviting, and 5 extra minutes of sleep would be great.

On my most productive days, however, I find myself rolling my happy butt out of bed and heading for coffee as soon as I wake up. The longer I lay there, the harder it is going to be for me to get up.

No one said being a productive mom is always fun. I miss my bed some days. (Most days. Well, all days)

Conquer a Task on your List in the First 20 Minutes of the Day

Ok, momma’s, this sounds harder than it is.

So you know you have 50+ things to accomplish today, and sometimes that list just looks to daunting to even know where to start. Before you let that list get to you, make it a habit to conquer something on the list quickly.

For me, this is often starting a load of laundry first thing, or loading the dishwasher to get it started. Once I have accomplished my first task, I seriously feel like I raced a marathon or climbed a mountain because I managed to do a thing before 10 am.

Guess what? That builds momentum.

Once I have accomplished one task, I find myself moving around to see what else I can get done in a short period of time. Before I know it, half of my to-do list is accomplished and I look like I did a great job momming.

Yes, I would like a sticker and a cookie on these days.

Learn to Multitask and Make it Count

So if you walk into my house at any given time during the day, you will often find me multitasking.

If I am working out on the treadmill, you will often catch my phone in my hand at the same time. Guess what momma? Nine times out of ten, I am not scrolling Facebook. (Of course, there is that tenth time when I am totally checking out cat memes.)

Nope, I am walking and working on my social media engagement for my blog followers. I have been known to do any kind of blogging activity that can be accomplished with my phone while walking.

Why?

Killing two birds with one stone.

I also do my best to try to get in some self-care while I am doing my household chores. Thanks to modern technology and all of its advances, I can now carry my phone or tablet around and listen to books with Audible. Audible is available through Amazon, and has a FREE trial that you can get by clicking here!

(Because being a productive mom means being able to juggle reading, laundry, and diaper changing. Right?)

Prioritize your Day/Week/Month

Since I became a stay-at-home mom, I have found that prioritizing has become the key to everything.

Organizing my mom life was one of the first things I found myself doing because, honestly, I was going crazy.

In order for me to function, I now have an amazing planner, as well as multiple “to-do” lists that float around my house during the week. Not only this, but I am notorious for having everything on paper. Meal Plans, budgets, and kids’ schedules, all have a place in my home, and all of them help make me a more productive mom.

Allow for Downtime

No matter how much you plan, or how many to-do lists you make, realize that two things are always going to happen.

#1. Something will always go crazy at some point in the day, disrupting your plan.

You are a mom, not a genie. You are working with tiny humans who need food, sleep, 10 cups of juice, and someone to wipe their butt.  Something is always going to pull you away from your list, and that is ok. Just learn to jump back into that list when you are done, and not jump onto the couch instead.

#2. Mom time starts at bedtime, regardless of how much you accomplished. 

Yes, you get time to yourself. Honestly, I am generally still accomplishing my to-do list items once the kids are in bed. These items however are centered around the activities I want to complete. Crafting and blogging are generally mom-time activities in my world, and I live for them. Find something you love, and make sure you prioritize it onto your to-do list each day. You would me amazed at how accomplished you will feel being able to check something off the list that you actually looked forward to doing!

How do you find yourself being a productive mom?

Do you do all of these things in your home? A couple of them? Or are you planning to implement some of these ideas in your life this year to make things run smoother? Let me know in the comments!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you check out my post on how to organize your mom life! It is a game-changer if you do not know where to start!