Before I got married and had kids, I was a career woman through and through. I planned large-scale programs and initiatives for Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations, and even NASA! These days, I’m a business owner and consultant, helping others get more done with less sacrifice.

Planning and organization have always been my superpowers, and I pride myself on being a productivity expert. But once I had kids, everything shifted. Suddenly, the skills I’d honed for years were tested in ways I never imagined. There were days when just getting a shower felt like a major win.

Motherhood has certainly stretched me, but it’s also shown me that the same strategies I used professionally can be just as effective at home. If you’re finding it tough to juggle it all, check out these productivity tips—I’ve been there, and I’m here to help!

Three Steps to Productivity

In the most basic sense, productivity is comprised of 3 main parts, Planning, Doing, and Refocusing.   We’ll unpack these in the next few posts. This post is going to focus on the art of planning for moms.

1. Planning

Planning is all about gathering your thoughts and intentions before diving into action. It’s the step where you organize, prioritize, and decide what needs to be done, why it’s important, and when to tackle it.

As a professional organizer, I live by my spreadsheets—complete with milestones, action steps, task owners, and deadlines. But as a mom, my “planning” often looks like scribbled lists on the back of a receipt or an empty envelope. I get it; motherhood can make planning feel like a luxury. We often jump straight into “doing,” leaving little time for thoughtful preparation.

But here’s the thing: a little planning can go a long way, even in the busiest of weeks. Below are some simple, seriously doable steps that can easily fit into your routine. Take a moment to see how you can weave them into your week. It’s all about finding that balance between planning and doing, so you can stay on top of things without feeling overwhelmed.

Set Goals

Annual goals are fantastic, but let’s be realistic: as a mom on the go, you likely don’t have big chunks of time to give that much advance thought. Instead, think about 12-week goals. What’s important to you, your family, this Fall? This school year? Make only 2-3 goals that are a top priority and actually doable!

Make Lists

Lists are helpful in directing your energy day-to-day and helping you not forget your must-dos. They also enable you to organize and group like tasks. For example, if you need to email several people, you can put them in one bucket instead of 3 different places on the list then tackle that task at one time vs. multiple.

Know Your Timelines and Constraints

It’s important to know what commitments you have, the free-space in your day, and the windows of opportunities in a month. A few things that can help with this…

• A block schedule
• An integrated family calendar
• Hardwiring important dates like credit card due dates on your calendar

2. Establish Systems and Routines

My husband used to have a challenge with finding his phone, wallet, and keys when he was ready to walk out the door. He was given a gift of a wooden box where he could store all of these items overnight and he wouldn’t have to do the great hunt the next morning. It seriously has saved time.

Create systems or routines for the things that you find you’re doing on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Things like filing papers, bill payments, even bedtime for the kids. Routines create less friction and more ease, enabling you to be more productive.

3. Get Prepared for the Week during the Weekend

Use a Saturday or Sunday to think about the week ahead. What out-of-the-ordinary commitments does your family have? Do you have a book club, will one of you be going out of town, maybe a kid has a birthday party. How will you navigate these commitments and what do you need to do to compensate? For example, when my husband has to go out of town and I’m soloing it, I find it helpful to cook meals in advance so that all I have to do is heat them up instead of cook from scratch.

4. Prioritize

We can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do everything under the sun. If you’re like me, you don’t just want to do everything, but you want to do it all with excellence. I have come to realize, though, that there are “seasons of grace”. Times when I have the motivation, determination, and energy necessary to tackle certain things. Things can fall out of grace as well and it’s ok to move them to the back burner. For example, we value time with family, so we chose not to enroll Little Miss E in summer activities that last more than one week. This allows us to have the flexibility to travel and spend time together and with extended family. I encourage you to accept right now that not all tasks/responsibilities are equal and it’s ok to do something at 50% or not at all!

5. Beginning with the End in Mind

The above tips are helpful in getting to execution. They enable you to be productive and make the most of your time. But to really optimize your productivity, it’s helpful to know your focus in advance.

“There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency, something that should not be done at all.” – Peter Drucker

6. Know your Focus

In closing, I’ll share a few tips about defining your focus. It’s important to recognize your priorities in a season. Merriam-Webster defines season as “a time characterized by a particular circumstance or feature.”

You may have a time when your kids are your number 1 focus and other times when you’re focused on health or perhaps a spiritual or community focus is important to you for a period. There are endless possibilities of what is important to you, but whatever it is, it will likely demand sacrifices and trade-offs. The clearer we get on those priorities, the more comfortable we become with the trade-offs. Ultimately, clarifying your focus will serve as a guide to daily, weekly, and monthly decisions you’ll need to make.

Action Steps

• Take some time to reflect and think about what’s most important to you / your family right now, in the next 12 weeks.
• Consider writing down your thoughts about your areas of focus. It can be in a sentence, paragraph, or bullets.
• If your list is long, sort it into groups…1) Must Haves 2) Nice To Haves 3) Could Do Withouts…The Must Haves become your priority focus

Before kids, I had major bandwidth! There seemed to be all of the time in the world to Plan, Do, and Refocus. But since kids, most of my available bandwidth goes to “Doing” and very little to planning or reflecting. By being clear on your focus, setting goals, and making lists, you can ensure you’re dedicating time to the most important activities. Hardwiring time commitments, establishing systems and routines, and preparing over the weekend allows you to use your time efficiently and effectively. Even if only have a little time to plan, make the most of it with these six steps to boost your productivity.