This post is about how to get things done, without giving up family time, your me-time, and without getting overwhelmed.

First of all, make sure you get enough sleep, rest, food, and water. Then you have to stop multi-tasking, and remember to take breaks.

Stop multitasking

Focusing on one task at a time is hard, especially for women. We’re very good at multi-tasking, it seems to be the natural way we do everything, but it takes longer.

By avoiding multitasking, it actually gets a lot easier to get back on track if you get distracted by a call, your kids, or something else. You’re more in control of what you’re doing at any given time, and it’s easier to remember where you left off. You also finish what you start a lot sooner.

Start the habit of doing one thing at a time, and put a time limit on the task. If you decide to use 10 minutes to check your email, stop after 10 minutes. Nobody will get upset if they don’t get an immediate reply. If it was that important, they’d call you. The first action you can take is to turn off your notifications, set Skype to busy, close facebook and your email. If you have problems getting off Facebook (or similar websites), there’s a website called Keep Me Out. It keeps you off any site you set it to, for the amount of time you need. After the time is up, you’re let back in again. Split your tasks for the day into smaller chunks, and then do them one by one but with some variety. Try not to set more than three major tasks to finish each day, and add some fun in between. Add your quality time to your schedule before you add anything else.

Take breaks

A lot of us, when we sit in front of the computer, we just keep going without stopping, until she suddenly discovers it’s way past bedtime. We forget to eat, drink and take breaks. And we stay up too late, which messes up the next day. According to product research, frequent breaks keep your mind fresh and more focused. A way to remember to take breaks is to use the Pomodoro technique or a variation of it.

The Pomodoro technique

The Pomodoro technique is a technique where you work on something for 25 minutes, and then take a 5-minute break, after you’ve done four 25 minute sessions, you take a 20-minute break. I’d probably recommend 90 minutes and a 20-minute break instead, with an even longer break for meals after two, since you’re supposed to eat something every 3-4 hours. You can’t really do much with 5 minutes anyway. It’s also very easy to use those 5 minutes to check social media or email, which defeats the purpose of a break. You don’t have to finish the task in the time you set between breaks. Nobody will die if your floor isn’t washed that day. If you split it up and focus on one thing. It’ll get done faster than it otherwise would, and you’ll have more energy and time left for other things.

Pomodoro actually means Tomato in Italian, and comes from the Tomato shaped egg timer. It was created in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo and is one of the more popular time management techniques today. It isn’t for everyone, but it’s worth a try. Most of us have an egg timer or a timer on our phone. There’s also software like Pomodairo, Cool Timer and many others things for your computer. This technique works just as well when it comes to web design as it does for housework. How are you at taking breaks?

A coloring page aweek

Start bringing your creativity back to health in an easy and relaxing way. Get a colouring page every week for a 12 weeks.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This