Goal-Setting Sounds Exhausting
Boss Lady Mom Tip #2:
SET DAILY GOALS – I’ve recently adopted this practice, and it has really helped me find that sense of accomplishment that was missing for so long after I had my daughter. Once I had a tiny human depending on me and taking up a significant portion of my time, I found myself constantly feeling like I was drowning in to-do lists. Having daily goals that are actually achievable helps me to realize how much I really can get done each day and keeps my Boss Lady Mom spirit alive.
The key is finding the "magic number" of goals that works best for you. Remember, we want to set goals we can accomplish, so don’t get over zealous! When I first started doing this, I tried to have 7 – 10 goals a day. Big mistake; for me, that was wayyyy too many. It kept taking me up to a week to actually meet my “daily” goals. Eventually I found that my sweet spot is 3 – 5 daily goals, depending on how time intensive each one is.
I also stopped separating my business goals from my personal goals because ultimately I’m wearing my Boss Lady Mom hat all day and am balancing the execution of both, sometimes in tandem. Some days I may have more business goals on the list, and other days I may have more personal goals. There has to be give and take because again, we can’t do it all!! (Even though we’d like to think we can. #burnout #meltdown).
Here’s an example of one of my Daily Goals lists:
Call about tax over payment.
Do 2 loads of laundry.
Finalize summer programs.
Run payroll.
Book rental car.
As you may be able to guess, tasks 3 and 4 will likely take more time than the other tasks. I can also be completing task 2, while I’m working on other tasks. By the end of this day, I was able to check all 5 tasks off my list and wholeheartedly felt like I had a productive day. Of course these weren’t the only important things I did in one day, but these were the 5 things I held myself accountable for and made sure I accomplished.
After coming up with your daily goals, another helpful thing to do is organize them in order of importance/priority or by how task-intensive each one is. This will help you decide when to set aside time to complete each goal. For example, I would definitely have done tasks 1, 3, and 4 while my daughter was napping or being looked after by my husband because they required more focused attention without disruption. I could have started task 2 with my daughter and turned it into “a game” that she could help me with, so I wouldn’t feel like it was taking away my time or attention from her.
For the moms out there who don’t quite feel like Boss Ladies yet and are still struggling to get through a day without crying, you can still set goals! Maybe your list would look something like this:
Prepare a healthy lunch for my child (and myself).
Pay the utility bill.
Take a shower.
Hooray! You are still accomplishing something, and over time these baby steps will turn into bigger daily goals, and your list will grow. You’ll be surprised at how much your confidence will grow along with it.
Do you set daily goals? Share below what yours are today or what they will be for tomorrow. Sometimes just writing it down helps us stick to them and push a little harder to check them off the list!