I don’t know a single woman who hasn’t felt like she’s losing her grip on time: time with her babies, time for herself, time to just get anything done!
Robyn Pearce is known around the world as the Time Queen. She’s the auuthor of nine books, including Getting a Grip on Time, Getting a Grip on Parenting Time, and Getting a Grip on the Paper War.
Robyn learned about time management the hard way. Through the years of raising six kids, single parenthood and then a highly successful real estate career, time management was her biggest challenge. The good news is – she won, and now shares those lessons with clients, readers and listeners all over the world. And – with 17 grandchildren, she needs them all to keep on track!
We’re going to hear about her four techniques to master your time in only 90 seconds, how we can change our perspective of time, and how we can be more present in this crazy busy mom life of ours. Tune on in above to hear all the juicy details!
After Robyn became a single mother, managing her time became an issue. She felt fragmented and exhausted all of the time. She struggled with time and constantly being late for things. She started taking a journal of her time and began to see where she was spending it, and then began helping others.
Essentially, her life was lived out in Wannabe Confessions! When she was pregnant with baby #4, two of her children painted her car while she was taking a nap, and when last minute company came over, she had been known to hide dirty dishes in her oven AND her washing machine.
Her advice? Don’t try to do it all. We need to plan and prioritize
Robyn suggests four key elements if we want to have good time management…
KNOW THE BIG PICTURE
If we know what our goals are, it gives us clarity and focus. We need to learn to say ‘no’ in a non limiting way!
PLAN AND PRIORITIZE
Understand the difference between urgent and important, and develop a proactive focus. Is there a repetitious task that needs to be redone? What system can you improve to make that task easier? We also need to have weekly planning and daily planning.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
How can we be more efficient?
SANITY GAPS
Visit gettingagrip.com for free resources on all of these tips!
So, how do we need to change our perspective of time?
Our mindset is triggered by the words we speak! If we keep saying “I don’t have enough time,” it develops our mindset. The words we speak have a great impact on our outcome.
How can we be more present? When we’re at work, we feel like we should be at home, when we’re at home we feel like we should be at work, and so on? How do we stop this?
Develop a mindfulness habit (sound familiar?) Practice gratitude: when you’re doing the dishes, think about how lucky you are to have hot water. Be grateful that you have food for the meal you’re preparing. Remember that you can’t do everything! Stay grateful for the fact that you can do SOMETHING. Don’t compete with other people.
CONTEXTUAL MARKERS
Use something to help you compartmentalize and signal you when a task is done; such as the drive home, or wiping the counter clean. You need those signals to help you finalize a task so you can move on.
When cleaning a room, keep a pile of the things that don’t belong there, and take those things the next time you leave the room.
What do we do when EVERYTHING feels like it’s a priority, pulling us in so many different directions?
Ask for help! Put all of those things in a visual place, where you and everyone else can see what needs to happen and what needs to be done. WRITE THINGS DOWN.
Tune in to hear Robyn’s strategy on organizing your to do list. It’s GOLD!
How do we spend quality time with our family?
As a mom of 6 children, life was crowded for Robyn. She developed something with her kids called special time, and the impact was amazing. She made a chart with each child’s name, and each day of the week. The kids made 30 minute appointments each week with the parent of their choice, and the child got to choose the activity. Her daughter is doing this tradition with her own children now.
“Do Nothing” Weekends
Plan a weekend about every 6 weeks where you do nothing: no commitments, no fancy meals, no activities. Just “veg!”
The power of NAPS
When we talk about time management, what we’re really talking about is energy management. We have rhythms throughout our day. We have “up” energy for about 45 minutes, and then we go toward the downward cycle. We need a reset. We aren’t effective when we “plow through.” We need to stop and rest and reboot! Rest is NOT a negative term. It’s a rebuilding and growth time. When you push through, that’s when we stop being productive and start getting sick.
My biggest takeaways here were prioritize, don’t try to do it all, and WE ARE NOT EFFECTIVE WHEN WE JUST TRY TO PLOW THROUGH! I’m thankful for Robyn and her advice, and I hope you check out her resources. There’s so much free stuff on her site that we can all benefit from!
CONNECT WITH ROBYN:
gettingagrip.com (everything time-related)
robynpearce.com (focusing on my books)
effectiveworkspaces.com (how to survive in open plan offices )
Blog: gettingagrip.com/blog
Facebook:facebook.com/timequeen – check out the Facebook Live library of weekly short tips.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/robynpearce/
Twitter:twitter.com/robynpearce