I currently work 3 part-time jobs. I am a Mary Kay beauty consultant, an in-home Special Instructor (working with children birth-3 with developmental delays), and I am now making my blog into my third part-time job!
When I first made this transition, I was like a fish out of water. Seriously. My mind was in a million different places at once, I would work on “everything and nothing” during a day. By the time my husband got home, I hadn’t showered, exercised, or really felt like I had gotten anything actually finished. But I had been working all day!
After a few weeks of this, I realized that I needed more structure. My classroom ran on a strict schedule, and I knew that I needed to make myself a schedule so I could actually accomplish tasks throughout my day. My friends may have laughed at me when I told them that I made a color-coded schedule for myself, but it worked.
I have had to re-work and change my schedule about 3945283 times since I originally made it a few months ago, but here’s what it looks like right now:
**not scheduled: Mary Kay parties/facials. I use the “unscheduled” times to leave open as options for women to schedule skin care classes/facials with me!**
For me, this schedule is not overwhelming. It is actually incredibly freeing, because I am now able to be intentional about how I spend my time every day. I am able to schedule in the tasks that are important for my businesses, but also for my life and my family.
The only reason this works is because I have:
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Made it personal
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Thought it through
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Been realistic
I also have to work hard at using my time wisely, and being flexible. That’s the only way this works! I’ve broken everything down to show you how to make your own schedule:
Think it through
Plan out how much time you want to designate to your different jobs/responsibilities before you try to work out a schedule. I also put in my other priorities – like how many times I want to exercise per week, and time for meal planning/food shopping. I struggle with cleaning, but I know it’s important to my very clean hubby, so I worked on adding a little bit of time in my schedule for cleaning as well. I also am really working at being consistent about times I wake up and go to sleep.
Just jot these things down on a piece of paper like this:
Make it personal
Everyone has different priorities – and that’s OK! It’s important for me to make a home-cooked dinner every night, go to bed at a certain time every day, and try to build exercise into my daily routine. But your priorities are likely different than mine! Maybe you need to schedule time for financial planning, kids’ schedules, volunteering, manicures time, Bible study time at church, etc. This will only work if you can make it work with what’s most important in your life.
Use your time wisely
In this world of technology, it’s so easy to get distracted. Hello, Pinterest? It’s important to make the most of the time you’re scheduled to work, so you can have all of that extra time to spend with your family or work on your hobbies. So if you can, work on getting certain tasks done before you get onto Facebook or Pinterest. Reward yourself with time for all of that when you finish your work early.
Something that also helps to maximize your time is called “batching”. I had never heard about that term until my Mary Kay director explained it to me, but it’s exactly how I’ve found you need to work to fully use your time wisely. Batching means that you do similar activities at the same time. So, I save all of my follow-up phone calls for a specific hour every week, instead of doing one a day. It helps to get “in the zone” and it really helps you be most efficient with your time.
I make lists in my planner that coincide with the blocks I have scheduled for that day. Example – if I have to work on a blog project, I’ll write down a shopping list, and attach it with a paper clip to the day that I will work on my next blog project. Then I’ll know I have to go shopping for materials that day, and then I can actually work on the project once I’m done with the shopping. I cross off what I get accomplished, so I can transfer anything that didn’t get accomplished to the top of my list for the next time I work on that activity. Here’s an example of what one of my weeks looks like:
Be realistic
This is really important when you’re setting up your schedule. If you haven’t exercised a day in your life, don’t schedule exercising in for 5 times a week! Don’t plan on going to bed at 9:00 if you can’t currently get in bed before midnight right now. It’s OK to work on making improvements on certain areas of your life, but take it in moderation. If you do that, you’re much more likely to stick with it than if you make so many big changes all at once.
Be flexible
This is the beauty of working from home and making your own schedule. You need to be OK with letting life happen! Schedule doctors appointments, coffee with friends, hair appointments, etc., without getting bent out of shape. If you want, you can keep track of what you miss with these appointments, and find ways to work that into your schedule in the next few days or weeks.
It’s also good to keep revising your schedule. Keep track of the times that just aren’t working during your schedule. Figure out if you need to add or take away time in your schedule for certain activities. I purposefully keep my schedule on my desktop to reference daily – but I don’t print it out. I think I must change it at least once a week!
Do you currently work from home? I’d love to hear about how you organize and schedule your time! Do you think this system might work for you?
Would you like more information about HOW to work from home? Leave questions in the comments, or e-mail me!
Linking up to:
Shabby Nest, Tatertots and Jello, Stories of A-Z, The 36th Avenue, Someday Crafts, Today’s Creative Blog, CRAFT, Young and Crafty, A Glimpse Inside, My Girlish Whims, Serenity Now, Not JUST a Housewife, Whipperberry
Thank you so much for this blog post. I feel like I am all over the place during the day. This has helped me want to sit down and see what is really important to me. You are awesome and so capable!
Giiiirrrrllllll I LOVE this!! Love this. Seriously all day today I was thinking about how I need to manage my time better and feeling so discouraged because 1. I’m just bad at it and 2. I have no direction! I have two kids and I want to spend time with them, but I also think it is okay to work on my blog and other things and have them understand that mommy needs time too, you know? So this is SO helpful, so helpful, I love it. It really feels like something I could manage. I am now trying to treat my blog as a job, but if I don’t manage my time well, I’ll never be able to do it! So thanks for this, I might be e-mailing you for some advice as I try to make it work! 🙂
Christina, this is so awesome! I love how you’ve sectioned off specific times in each day to work on things for your jobs…I should do that too instead of being all over the place. And, I love that you’ve also scheduled your shower, as well as cleaning! Very inspiring, thanks!!!
Great post! So awesome that you are doing work you love – doesn’t really seem like work that way huh?!
Christina,
The posts that you’ve been writing about working from home have really hit … well, home … for me. I’m currently working as an Admin Assistant for a company and I *hate* it. I’m not doing what I want to be doing, which is writing, designing (specifically invitations and cards, etc.) and diy-ing. I’d love to be able to make all of this happen, but I’m so scared. My husband and I just bought our first house, so we have monthly financial obligations to meet (half of which I’m responsible for). How do you suggest I go about getting on a path that makes me happy? I see so many young people (just like you) making huge lifestyle changes and I see the enormously positive effect it can have. I want that same thing in my life … to feel at the end of everyday like I’ve accomplished so much and that my work is worthwhile. Any advice you can provide so I can do the same is SO greatly appreciated!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Jen
I also work from home and now have a blog to squeeze into my schedule, and it can be a real juggling act to balance my time. Being organised about it definitely helps, yet I still don’t have enough hours in the day. But it is amazing how many people hear “working from home” and think “sitting in your PJs watching TV”, even though I have to work harder now than I did in an office job!
I am totally going to do this! I, too, am a former teacher (sometimes I call myself a “recovering teacher” lol). I think scheduling my day like I used to schedule my classroom would really be beneficial.
What planner is that you’re using??? It looks like something I’d really be able to use!
I would also like to know what you used to make your schedule – that’s something I need to do. Thank you.
I just made up my own to do schedule, and it looks very much like yours, without the colors.:) I don’t have the jobs that you do, but I have a 2 yr old and a 3 month old, so a schedule helps us all out.:)
Great article. A schedule can definitely make things better! When I homeschooled my kids (they’re grown and moved out now), my daughter was really bad about taking all day to get her work done. But when we made her a schedule, she was SO productive and then had lots of time left over for other things she wanted to do. A schedule really works.
Hi Christina
Great post, full of wisdom – thank you.
As someone who writes, blogs and speaks on time management on a regular basis, I appreciate the wisdom you have shared here. I used to have a colour-coded weekly schedule, just as you have, and it *really* worked for me. Also, although (like you) I designed this in MS Excel, I defy anyone to make electronic gadgetry more effective than good old-fashioned pen and paper (in fact I always use pencil in my diary). Even now, when my ‘normal’ week is so varied as to make a fixed schedule impossible, I do my weekly review and clarify my schedule for the following week every Friday without fail.
Anyone working from home should read this very carefully, in my opinion, and then act….reading about it isn’t doing it, only doing it is doing it!
Thanks again
Hi – this is a grest post – and really similar to how I manage my own time – although I spend FAR too much time working out how best to plan it! Its so fun! I like to have a 4 week plan though – so I can change slightly what the focus for each week of the month is – such as my monthly shop only appears on one week, as do some meetings and events – that way I can balance each week so that I don’t spend one week being manic and the next week not having so much to do. Hope this extra tips helps people!
Hi, Christina! I’m so glad to find your site, I’m another Mary Kay Beauty Consultant! 🙂 I struggle with trying to keep the house clean and still focus on work-I’m organizationally-challenged 🙂 Any ideas will be extremely useful, subscribing now.
I love this idea. I started working from home in June. I always feel like I need to be doing “something else” I am going to try to organize this next week this way and see how it goes. If everything has a time, nothing will go undone. Thanks so much.
Ann-Margaret Morrissey
Thank you for this! This is definitely something I need to do. I just need to find time to schedule it! Ha ha. 🙂
I love this. I’m a freelancer…with a blog…and a life, so trying to keep everything scheduled and moving is one of my biggest obstacles. Lots of great tips!
I love this! I am not staying at home yet, but hope to soon. I will definitely be implementing this for myself at that point.
Great post!! I used to teach, too. Now I homeschool. My daughter is now in college and my son is in high school. Scheduling is definitely important to keep me on track.
Ruth
Thank you for these wonderful time saving tips!
Im a new bloglovin follower!
Hello Christina. Thanks so much for the great tips! One question….what’s CTS?
Hi, please tell me what exactly you used to make the above schedule. Was it a template? If so, which one? Thanks.