How To Find More Time In Your Busy Morning For Your Business

Mornings are busy and they can be quite chaotic- especially if you have toddlers. Like I mentioned in my last post, even before kids, I wasn’t a morning person. 

But I’ve quickly learned that if I want to save any hope of running an online business from home while chasing toddlers and babies, getting up early is a necessary evil. 

The key is to find more time in your busy morning for your business, and if you're ready to do that then keep on reading!

But my mornings are always a hot mess…

The good news is that mornings don't have to be a horrible chaotic mess 24/7, no matter how busy you are at dawn’s first light. We’ve already talked about how the first few hours in the morning set the tone for the entire rest of the day- so just to recap:

1. Do you want that to be rushed, frantic, and feeling like you’re constantly running and trying to catch up? 
2. Or do you want it to be calm, collected, productive, and with a feeling that you’re in control? 

I know, I know, it’s an obvious choice. And you can make the shift from #1 to #2 by embracing two simple concepts. 

1. Get Up Early Enough 

It’s tempting to hit the snooze button and catch a few more minutes of sleep, isn’t it? I know, because I still do it more often than I’d care to admit, no matter how many things I’m planning to do before my kids wake up. 

If you’re not a morning person, moving up the alarm by 30 minutes to carve out a little extra time can be tough. But I do have to admit, after the first few mornings it’s not nearly as hard as you think and something you’ll quickly get used to. 

If your kids are anything like mine, you also have to get up early enough to account for the fact that they will somehow magically sense that you’re awake without them and intuitively also wake up early… 

There’s nothing worse than pressing snooze on your alarm only to finally wake up and be interrupted before you even complete one task. #AskMeHowIKnow.

Getting up early enough and without pressing snooze (or only pressing it once, let's be honest) puts you ahead of the game. You’re in control. You can take care of everything that needs doing in a calm manner and still have time for the important things you want to work on. In short, getting up early enough sets you up for an amazing, productive day. 

2. Restructure Your Routine 

Wanna know why you’ve failed at prior attempts to start a morning routine? It’s because you keep trying to do the same things that aren’t working. 

Instead, spend a little time thinking about your current morning routine and where you’re spending time. Look for things you can change and tweak to find more time for the things you really want to do. 

For example, if you want an extra hour in the morning to work on important business tasks, look at what you could take care of ahead of time, eliminate, or delegate to make that time. If you spend a lot of time getting breakfast for everyone, get in the habit of setting the breakfast table the night before. 

Set your coffee maker to auto-brew so all you have to do in the morning is fill your cup. Make sure clothes are set out the night before (including yours), and that backpacks, purses, and car keys have a designated spot and that they are where they need to be before you turn in for the night. 

Small changes like this to your morning routine can save precious minutes that will add up to more work time, or time to do whatever else you want to in the morning (like pray, meditate, exercise, etc.)  I challenge you to come up with a few small tweaks that will save you at least 30 minutes in the morning. 

How To Find Even More Time In Your Busy Morning For Your Business

As a busy mom responsible for #AllTheThings, our work truly is never done. And this may be an unpopular opinion, but I’d argue that it’s ok to let some things stay un-done. 

Now, I’m not saying you should stop taking care of your house and let it turn into something out of an episode of hoarders. But what I am saying is that whether you do those dishes now or in an hour, the sink will still be full again later- so it’s ok to give yourself some grace and not do every household task the moment it can be done.

If you want to work on your business from home but you don’t have much (or any) help, you’re going to have to let some things slide.

The key is to decide which things you’re going to let slide, when, and how often. That way your brain is prepared to walk past the sink full of dishes and NOT wash them immediately, but instead, spend that precious little time getting something done for your business.

Because let’s be honest- when is the housework ever actually all done? If you’re doing it all yourself, my guess is somewhere near never. So if you don’t allow yourself some work time when there are still things to be done around the house, you’re not going to be getting much work done.

I actually like to plan cleaning times throughout the day and make them part of my routine. So for example, every night before I go to bed, I run the dishwasher. Then, after my hour of work time in the morning, I unload the dishes while the kids eat breakfast. 

It then feels like I did something productive for the household but not at the expense of my protected work time.

You CAN find more time in your busy morning

If you’re trying to find more time in your busy morning to either work or take care of another personal need like exercise or meditation, it can be done with a little bit of sacrifice and creativity. And trust me, it’s worth it.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when well-intentioned people tell me that I should just wait for a different season of life to follow my dreams. Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather switch things up and do them differently for now than not at all. And it’s not because I’m a workaholic. It’s because I love what I do and it helps me reheat my own cup, therefore helping me be a better mom for my kids!

Now, all the restructuring in the world isn’t going to help you get more done if you don’t even know what you should be doing in the first place. So make sure to keep on reading the next post in this series to find out more about how to do that!