Hi everyone, I'm Melissa.
Welcome back to CloudMom.com.
This video is part one in a little series I'm doing this week about priorities and prioritizing,
which is something I've really struggled with as my life has gotten busier and busier.
And I know it's a big issue for a lot of other moms as well.
So today I'm going to talk about prioritizing your time, and in my other video I'm going
to talk about friendships and prioritizing friendships.
So, okay, so, one of the things I think is so tricky for us moms, is that we don't have
often the big chunks of time that we used to have in the past.
Because we're always getting hit with these sort of out-of-the-blue things that happen,
you know.
You think you're going to have all this time to work on something, and all of a sudden,
"No!"
Your kid gets sick, or you know, the school calls or there's this or there's that.
And there's so many little details that you have to handle every day, and it can be very,
very overwhelming.
So, one of the things I'm trying to do and it sort of ties into my New Year's resolutions,
is to try to save the big chunks of time for the big projects that I need to get done,
and the smaller chunks of time that I have for the smaller things.
So, it kind of works like this, you know if I have like two hours in the morning when
I think I can work, I have a list of the bigger priorities I'm trying to accomplish then.
And during that time I try really, really hard not to look at my email, not to go on
Facebook and not to answer the phone unless it's an emergency.
Because I know, like, my mom calls.
Sorry Mom!
And I pick it up and I'm talking for 45 minutes, like boom!
There goes all my work time.
Okay, not that I don't love to talk to my mom, but you guys get the idea.
Then I have all these tiny little things I need to do, you know, email this person back,
respond to this, da da da da da.
I try to do that, like on the bus, when I'm waiting for my kid, when I have the smaller
pieces of time.
And I try to just keep like a big list of all the things that are going on.
Okay?
Now, what's nice about this is that when you do the small things, you're crossing those
off your list as well, and you feel like you're being productive.
And even if you don't get to everything, at least you feel good that you're sort of "on
your way," which is really all any of us can do.
Because we never get everything accomplished in one day that we want to.
Here's another very funny idea that my mother does, I think it's hilarious.
She's a huge character.
She writes down on her list things she's already done.
She's like, "Call Betty," you know, "Have a dinner party," cross it off.
She starts off feeling really good, because she's already accomplished these things.
So, if you want, try that trick too, because it might make you feel better which is of
course the point.
Okay, so, now I've got to check my notes.
I always do this.
Okay, big chunks of time, small chunks of time.
Okay, number three, and I talk about this all the self, all the time.
I'm like [garble] today.
Don't be so hard on yourself!
You know that so many things are going to come up that you can't anticipate, and you
might think, "Oh today's the day I'm going to finish all the, you know, invitations for
my kid's birthday party," and it's just not going to happen.
And you can't worry about it so much.
Just keep plugging along.
And if things come up, out of the blue, that you have to deal with, you'll deal with them
because you will know those are the priorities.
And they're really time consuming.
So do not beat yourself up or ever think, you know, "I don't get anything done.
I'm not productive."
It's not true.
It's just that your time is not your own.
And you have limited time, and you're only one person.
And you can't do everything.
Okay?
And if something goes wrong, let it go.
You know, I had a big disappointment last week, because my girls have been taking this
gymnastics that they love.
And guess who forgot to sign them up for the spring?
And of course I'd gotten the email, and it had slipped by me.
So they show up, and the guy's like, "Sorry.
Sold out.
Sold out."
It was really upsetting, but I was like, "You know what?
Okay.
I'm only human."
I'm annoyed, I'm going to try to find something else for them, but these kind of things happen
when you're doing so many other things.
And it's just part of life, and we can't worry about them too much, because they're not that,
that huge at the end of the day.
Right?
So anyway, those are my tips on prioritizing time.
They're the little things that are starting to help me.
And, um, I hope that you guys are doing better than I am with prioritizing your time and
feeling productive.
Please weigh in and let me know what you do, what helps you feel productive, you know,
and what helps you sort of make, make your way through all the different things you have
to do in a day.
And I'd love to hear about it, because I learn so much from all the comments I get.
So anyway, thank you so much for watching my videos.
Hope you have a really productive day, and I will see you next time.