Goal Setting for Busy Mamas

What does a busy mama do when she has things she would like to improve upon, but doesn’t see any way to fit them into her already busy schedule? I think I have found the solution. It’s called small-goal-setting. Very small goal setting.
I am a list maker, but I find that often my lists are longer than they need to be. I may have 4 or 5 things marked off by the end of the day. I overestimate my time. Always.
I am a very busy mama. I’m talking super busy. With that said, you may come to my home at any given time of the day (esp. mornings) and think that all I do is lay on the couch and sleep or stay on the computer. My house will not reflect a busy woman. The things I do are behind-the-scenes, I suppose. Most of the time, to be frank, I’m just chasing my tail.
The key to keeping my sanity during this time is for me to keep in mind that these days won’t last forever. I can already see such a difference in the amount of (high) maintenance my 2 year old requires as compared to my 7 year old. I’d say in about 7 or 8 years from now, my load will get a little bit lighter. Hopefully, the smallest baby (assuming we have 1 more in about 1 yr. & ½) will be 4 or so and the older children can be helping with the chores. Also, the training will be established in the older children, for the most part. My 7 year old is finally well behaved and obedient, for the most part. He does his chores cheerfully and knows how to perform small jobs. Things start to decline from the 4 year old down, but we are daily working on this. Hence, the chasing of the tail.
Don’t you feel tired already? I love my life, but things are a bit manic at times.
Back to my blog topic. There are a few things I want to do during my day (other than child training and dishes), but if I don’t write these things down and keep the list short then I won’t stick to them. The key to success for me, is setting small goals. I have found that making a list of three goals is doable. Anyone can stick to three goals.
In the morning when you have your quiet time, provided that you do indeed have a quiet time, (and don’t do like me and sleep until 7 or 8 am because you were up 3 times during the night and went to bed at 1 and etc….) write 3 things down that you want to do that day. This week, I have been focusing on personal goals, but you can focus spiritual goals (which is what I did last week) or housekeeping goals.
Examples of personal goals could be: 1. Exercise for 5 minutes (hey you have to start small), 2. Make healthy eating choices and say no to junk snacks. 3. No computer until my Bible reading is completed. (have you noticed my lack of FBing?)
The key to successful goal setting is to Plan Small, Plan for DAILY maintenance (each day renew your goals..it’s easier to stick with them if you think of them as daily and not weekly), Try again tomorrow if you don’t get to it or stick with it. So many times I’ve been guilty of foregoing my whole strategy because I ate one candy bar, etc.
Lastly, one has to assess where do these goals fit in regards to priorities? It is best to complete your goals first thing in the morning (if it’s something like exercise or Bible reading) or you might not get it done. I like my housework to be done worse than I want to exercise, so prioritizing is something that constantly plagues me.
Do you set goals for yourself? Or, maybe you just try to make it through the day like I do mostly. Start small. Maybe you can start with one goal. Something like, Wash, blowdry, and roll my hair (for once). That was actually a goal of mine a couple weeks ago. And I got comments on my hair. Really.
See, goal setting works!