Mastering Productivity as a Mother
Updated: Nov 23, 2020
Firstly What are Mum Duties?
So first and foremost being a mother will always be the hardest but also the most rewarding job any woman can take on and a mothers role to love and nurture her children is the epitome of productivity. There are a million things that continually go into this duty and as a mother you are productive just for carrying out your purpose alone of mothering. Never forget that, even if you want more even if you don’t feel productive, you are.
The fact little people depend on you and in order for that to happen you have to look after yourself, a home, finances and them is testament to the fact that even if you feel behind, not doing enough, creating enough, whatever it may be, you are already doing ALOT.
Mums and Bedtime
So we become mothers and all of a sudden bed time stops becoming a straight forward existence. Bed time starts to equate to doing a once over of the kitchen, picking up the left over items on the stairs, checking windows, signing of permission slips, maybe sewing a button, being hit with a last minute project or costume... can you relate? Yes those ten tasks you do before you touch down on your pillow! Because you just don’t get to go to bed when you say you are or if you do it isn’t without thinking of the million things you didn’t do or have to do.
How Mums Get Organised for Increased Productivity
Isn’t true we have to learn to use every second of every day to accomplish our never ending to do lists? I would have to say that organisation can become a mothers top skill, but she often doesn’t realise it. Busy people are also people who get things done.
But that is not to say that there also many mothers who although may be getting stuff done, aren’t getting everything they want out of life and everything they would truly desire done.
And one of those reasons is not having mastered productivity in her own life. Working with mothers everyday I can definitely say there is not a one size fits all approach and parents often are not always able to do the same things or work productivity the way childless women can. Hence why when time management and productivity hacks grace magazine pages and internet headlines I know most mums read them think they sound great but never actually are able to implement them sustainably in their own lives.
So it begs the question…
How do we Produce More and Get More Done as a Mother?
How do we effectively run households and juggle demanding careers? How do we cultivate nurturing relationships with each of our children and nourish our marriages? How do we stay mentally and physically fit and make time for friends and family? In this content obsessed world, how do we create more? How do we generate more clients in such noisy markets and niches if we run online businesses? How do we overall produce more of what we would like in our personal lives as well as in the trajectory of our careers?
The World’s Highest Performers and Productivity
The world’s highest performers are meticulous about the intention they bring to their days.
Often times the most successful people are only giving themselves one or two tasks of which to complete a day and once they get those done these are considered as a win. We have also learnt from high performance studies that those that celebrate small wins daily or weekly are much more likely to sustain happiness and fulfilment and enjoy the success they accomplish. Otherwise you could have daily or weekly goals and still feel disappointed with what you achieve as you are just letting life pass you by and not recognising what you are doing well.
How Can Mums Become High Performers at Home?
High performers have mastered the ability to identify what activity is their most needle turning activity, the one activity that will move them the furthest forward that day in the grand scheme of the overall project or business plan. Whereas as mothers we are trying to radically cross off as much as possible in the hopes of feeling better. But we don't need to put that much pressure on ourselves in order to achieve. The amount of tasks crossed of is not of importance, but rather the outcome of the tasks we complete.
“It is hard to acknowledge your wins if you set yourself up to fail by overloading your schedule and multitasking.”
Multi tasking has been proven to reduce productivity significantly. The time taken moving from one task to the next and the time taken to refocus on the task at hand can lose you anywhere from 20% to 75% of productivity according to SCRUM research.
How Can A Mum Become a High Performer at Work?
Start boosting your productivity habits by dedicating days to certain tasks and don’t overwhelm your brain with a million and one completely different things. Completing five tasks a week is better than twenty unfinished.
If we are conscious of where we spend our time and where it is getting lost we can maximise it.
Can you reduce TV time or have no TV days? Can you have digital device free hours to keep you focused on a particular task? What about just an earlier 20 minutes rise than usual but get to bed 20 minutes earlier so you don’t lose sleep? All these things can and will improve your effectiveness in producing the outcomes you need to.
As ambitious mothers bustling through the day just won’t cut it. The only thing it will cut is your productivity.
The Secret to Getting More Done as a Mother
How to Be More Productive and Confident
With confidence being the first attribute many mothers lose after children, being able to express yourself confidently and step up is at the heart of everything we have to do if we want to live a more energised and passionate life.
1) You want to be the best in each role you have to play as a mother so you need to have everything in your life reflect that.
2) Never do anything that is not in the best interest of you, your children or husband
When you have confidence you are able to be more expressive with your hearts true
desires, wishes and feelings, which helps you to be bolder. This role modelling is in the best
interests of both your husband and children because they get to see their mum/wife/partner
step up as her true authentic self and this reflects onto them.
Now I know that sounds obvious but you will be surprised how many mums are literally not doing just this on a daily basis. And that is because they are playing it safe in life and playing at a much smaller level than they should be and this is what I call the scarcity approach.
Now let’s look at what the scarcity approach looks like?...
Staying in a job that makes you miserable
You don’t execute the action steps you could take to propel you to the next level professionally
Maybe you fantasize on starting what it would be like to do something that would really ignite you but you push it to the back of mind and let your risk averse nature take precedence.
Maybe you have even read a few books, bought a few that are still on the shelf or researched on line about what you could do to actually make you feel happier but you never get a full picture to feel fully confident enough to go ahead and pursue a passion filled life, with immense vitality in yourself and your most important relationships.
How Confidence Leads to Greater Productivity for Mothers
Now, How do you know if you are approaching life in scarcity firstly as we discussed above?
Well if you are doing all or one of those things I bulleted pointed and you are an unhappy mum, wife, cleaner, cook, career professional trying to prove to yourself and others that you can do it all but really you are struggling, somewhere along the line you are taking the scarcity approach.
Now why is this important because...
1) This is a small way to think about your life, and if you want an incredibly productive life for you and your family which starts with you, you need to have a life you are passionate about which means you can not inject it with playing small. Your family needs the best of you and that only happens when you expand yourself and play a bigger game of life.
2) Your life is like a mirror - Whatever you see happening on the outside is a direct reflection of what is going on, on the inside and likewise whatever is happening in your professional life is also a direct reflection of what is going in your personal life.
In order to have a passionate life you will need to have some courage to make decisions and choices for the better. This will mean saying goodbye to old things, ways and relationships that no longer serve you and welcoming new wAys of doing things into your life. However if you are scared to make changes then your life is going to keep reflecting back to you how scary those changes are and you will stay living and operating as only a part of who you could become. And that for mothers often means lacking energy, lacking confidence, lacking productivity and thus lacking a passionate life which ultimately is the first decision that needs to be made and then defined in order to increase how much a mum can get done. Yes it is simple but I will also say it is hard when a mother tries to do this alone, because in the same way, everybody else needs support in their life from time to time, mothers need a particular sort of help to make these life changes possible. And that is why what I get to do on a daily basis is so rewarding. Having been in hot pursuit of attaining goals for my own life with my four children took me on a great growth journey and led me to all the tools and method needed that other mothers can follow easily and enjoyably.
However is you choose to not step into your higher self and instead choose to play small and stay as you are, there is no escaping how your life will continue to pan out.
As a coach I can’t mollycoddle you and support you to a higher version of yourself at the same time. And right now I choose to give you the truth
The Bottom Line is….
(Now I have said it before but I will say it again because until it sinks in to the point you want to get up and refuse to continue living as you are even if you are unhappy, you still need to hear this)
“The most expensive cost you will ever have in your life is not taking action."
You are paying a hefty price living in scarcity. You may be averse to spending money on yourself but the scarcity approach is actually costing you more.
Because choosing a life that you aren’t happy with, a life you aren’t getting as much done as you would like, not as productive as you could be means that you aren’t living a life that is as passionate or energised as you or it could be ans that is the real problem, And this problem right here actually costs you your time, your fulfilment and your future.
So if you want a much more productive life as a mother then you need to make an affirmative decision towards the bigger picture of your life. This is how you will actually get more done as a mother and sustainably.
If you want some help to actually define what this would look like and how to implement in your life so you experience some of the success of my clients who have said things like;
“When you've seen your life go from a 4 to an 8 (and it's still climbing) in overall productivity, passion, fruitfulness, and contentment you have to thank God for the blessing that made that all possible...after three weeks squashed some of my biggest goals and challenges”
Mum of 3 under 5
“I achieved more in 12 weeks with Ri than the whole year before! I never thought that the term high-performance applied to me before; I thought it was only for high-level athletes and professionals.”
Mum of 2 under 5
“Working with Ri, through her high-performance training, has had such a big and positive impact on myself, my business and our family life. I can’t thank her enough! Starting off from a point of exhaustion and lack of focus, Ri was able to guide me to places I never thought I’d get to.”
Mum of 2 boys
This is possible for every mum, I know this to be 100% true. I have had mums come to me and against all seemingly impossible odds get magnificent results for themselves and their lives because of enhanced productivity whilst being a mother and being able to encompass all her roles without the overwhelm and stress.
If you need some support which I wholeheartedly believe all mothers deserve then book a free call and we can map out what enhanced productivity could do for you, your life and your family and how to make it happen today.
Talk Soon,
Ri
Ri Justin CHPC is a Certified High Performance Coach and the Founder of Mums Ri-Wired. She is known as the ‘secret weapon’ for mums and takes professional and business mums from overwhelmed and frazzled to balanced, focus and thriving with her signature coaching program.