Lists, Planning, & Mom Life

Hi Friends!

Welcome back to another blog. I hope you had an amazing weekend. 

A good friend of mine asked me how I balance work and home life and it got me thinking. So I decided to post about how I manage it. 

Let me paint a picture of what my daily life looks like... I have a big girl job in which I manage a business and an entire team of people. It can be very stressful at times. So the boss babe card is full. I have a family, which consists of Mr. Adela Told Me and two school aged children. One of which is in sports, sometimes two at a time. So the mom card is full. To add to the fun, we have animals, property, a garden. Homemaker card is full. Oh yeah, then I decide to add in blogging again along with all of the social media platforms I use to promote myself. We live a very busy life between practices, games, school drop offs, dinners, home chores, lake days, etc. You get it, we're BUSY! I would love to tell you that life doesn't stress me out but that couldn't be farther from the truth. 

Pause for a moment, Adela a few years ago would never guess I would be a mom or have a family. Remember in the last post when I swore up and down I would be single forever?? Well, God had other plans and He blessed me with this wild and crazy life I live now. I wouldn't have it any other way. I have learned rather than thinking "I have to_____." I think "I get to____." and that really changes your mindset and mental state of all the tasks you have to do in your day. 

So let's get back to how I handle it. Planning is key. Ever hear that saying "Failing to plan, is planning to fail"?  TRUE, TRUE, TRUE!  My life revolves around schedules, calendars, and planners: I have one for work, I have one for home, I have one for BOTH!  I have found over the years, that keeping a paper planner is very helpful for me. It gives me a snapshot of what needs to be done that day and what is coming in hot on the next. 

My second favorite tool, lists! Specifically a to do list. I have one daily. Some of you may think YIKES! That sounds like a nightmare but in fact, it is quite the opposite. A to list is a way for me to brain dump, no trying to remember this and that when I am on my way to baseball. I write it all down and check it off as I go. I also keep lists in my phone notes for various stores. If I run out of something, I immediately add it to the list so I don't forget it next time I am in said store. Side note: Mr and I usually have a general idea of what we would like for dinners during out weekly grocery trip. So we will make sure we have those things on hand for the week ahead. Planning meals is a big time saver too!

My third and most crucial tool is boundaries! Yes, boundaries. With my position at work, I am needed A LOT when I am not in the office. Often times before operating hours and occasionally after. I use this neat little tool called "personal focus" on my iPhone that allows me to only receive notifications I want to receive. You can set it to allow different apps, different people, set a time frame. So during a specific time frame you will only be notified from your selected apps and people. It's a game changer!  With that being said, I am a do-er type of person. Something comes up, I want it dealt with like right now. So this took a lot of stress off of me replying to work related issues early in the morning or late at night.

Fourth, time to decompress. My drive to work now is much shorter than it was before I moved. Years ago, I had an hour long commute each way, if I was lucky! Now it takes me about 20 mins to get to my office and that is rain, snow, construction and all. I make a point to turn on good music or sit in silence on my drive as much as possible. This gives me time to process all the craziness that happened that day and prepare for my next round of activities. 

My biggest piece of advice is this, whether you are a stay at home mom (God bless your soul!), a working mom like me (get it girl!), or a single lady (live your best life!). Being organized in what your daily tasks are is a big part of setting yourself up for success. In my planner, I line out the "Must do's" and the "To do's" that way I can focus on the must do's and if I don't get to a to do, I can move it to the next day. There are days I feel like a whirlwind and to add to this I was recently informed I am in Perimenopause (YAYYYY! Not. I will do a post on that soon.) So this majorly affected my ability to focus or not feel like I am in a fog. So I heavily rely on my lists and planners.   

I am going to end this here. I hope this helped give you some tips and tricks on how to better manage your day.  Please leave your suggestions in the comment box. I love hearing from you!  Don't forget to follow me on InstaGram and TikTok. Username for both is Adela Told Me.  I love for you to join me over there. Thank you for spending some of you day with me. 

Until next time...

Xoxo, 
Adela