How to Successfully Do It All

I’m sure you all would agree with me that time is one of our most precious commodities and when it’s gone, it’s gone. So with only 24 hours in a day how do we do it all? The answer is simple, you plan and prepare.

Yes, I work a corporate job as well as run my own business, I am also a wife to a brilliant entrepreneur (translation – I assist in keeping him organized), I’m also a mom to 3 little ones. Yes, my life is busy. I had someone ask me how I do it all. I laughed. My life is full of time-related challenges. Juggling work, being a mom, and managing the tasks at home can be quite the task at times.  Trust me there are times feel like I very well can’t do it all. What I have learned over time is to strategize and prioritize in order to be more productive during the week and stay on task.

Here are 3 things that have helped me “do it all” in my week:

• Walmart’s Grocery Pick-up:  If you have not tried this yet, you need to start! It is seriously a life-changer. You order fresh groceries online and arrange for a particular pick up time slot, Walmart does the shopping for you and then when you arrive, they load it into your car for FREE. How easy is that? I get almost everything from grocery pick-up.  Honestly, the last thing I want to do is spend 2 hours of my time grocery shopping. I typically order my groceries on Friday and then early Saturday morning I grab my Starbucks coffee and head to Walmart to pick up my groceries. Secret bonus is my family has no idea about this service. So before I pick up the groceries, I sit in the parking lot for about an hour enjoying my coffee, mediating and checking social media, while they think I’m shopping. I get to have just a little “me time”.It’s also a money saver. And if you have ever taken the entire family with you to the grocery store, I don’t need to tell you how this saves you money. My kids are good for grabbing things they want in every aisle and then I end up with a ton of impulse purchases in the cart. Here’s $10 to try it. You can thank me later.
• Meal Planning: This one goes hand in hand with the Walmart grocery pick up. I plan each meal out for the next week and then order the groceries from Walmart. Meal planning saves me time and money. Nothing is worse than working a full day then coming home and trying to figure out what is for dinner on the fly. Usually, if that happens it means that I haven’t thawed anything and we end up eating out. That leads to us overspending and usually eating an unhealthy meal. So to streamline this process I plan out our meals in advance &  grocery shop accordingly.  Another time saver is my Instant Pot pressure cooker.  On Sundays, I use my instant pot to make 2 meals at one time so I have a jump on Monday’s dinner as well. Mondays are incredibly busy for me so anything I can take off my plate is helpful.
  
• Teamwork: So this one is major. You don’t do it all by yourself. Spead the load. I can’t tell how many times I get stuck in superwoman mode and convince myself that I have to do it all. And only after doing that for an extended period of time and becoming drained, do I take a step back and remind myself – [bctt tweet=”Even Superman didn’t don a cape all the time, he spent most of his time as Clark Kent. It’s ok to be human. ” username=”ShalieceFelder”] Ask for help. Delegate tasks to other members of your family. No Keeshon does not do the laundry the way I like if done but guess what? It’s getting done. Counts as a win on my scorecard.  We even get the kids involved. We give them age appropriate chores to lead up. Is it done perfectly? No, but it’s a start. I do often have to remind myself to not go behind them and do over myself. My house doesn’t look perfect but I’m also not drained from doing it alone. Remember: “Many hands make light work.”- John Heywood.

These are 3 small yet effective changed I have made that help me do it all and save time.  Hopefully, some of these will help you as well. Let me know some tips on how you “do it all”.