If you’re a mother, you know the responsibilities you take upon yourself most willingly. You take care of your child and work on a job too. With the economy in doldrums, things must have gotten worse for you.

Do you have to work longer hours because of all the layoffs in your company? Are you working two jobs to make ends meet? Are you feeling burned out due to financial problems, family needs and busy schedules?

I wouldn’t be surprised if you say yes to all of the above. Who said a mother’s role in the current day was easy?

With most companies being affected by the economic gloom, working mothers are feeling the pressure of having to do the jobs left behind by their laid off colleagues, of having to complete their own jobs to perfection and of having to take care of their family. A mother’s heart never compromises on the time spent at home with the family, but the fear of losing their jobs is making them take on more than they can handle.

But a survey found that there are a large percentage of women who manage to do everything with great aplomb. They manage their time so well, that it could be a great lesson in time management. It makes you wonder how they do it all with days not getting any longer.

These women consider time as the most precious gift and they make best use of it, to be able to balance their home and work responsibilities.

Although, there are no fixed things one needs to do to maintain a balance between work and family, there are a few things these time experts follow, to manage all aspects of their lives perfectly.

If you are a mother who’s having a hard time managing time, look at what others suggest you do:

Relieving stress

Many working women who are able to keep up with the pressures of work and home, and stay happy even with all the running around say they take time out for themselves and indulge in their favorite activities to relieve stress. They block off some time as an appointment on a calendar weekly and follow through on that without fail. You can do this as it helps you take on whatever comes your way during the week and stay motivated.

Maintaining timings and flexible working hours

Manage time by completing tasks by the appointed hour so that you can leave for home. Women must be assertive with their bosses so that your boss does not get used to making demands just when you are above to leave. Tell your boss politely but firmly that the day’s work is over and you would be pleased to complete the remaining tasks the next morning. Once in a while, an exception can be made in case of an emergency, but never make it a habit. Many working women say they manage to get flexible work hours by talking to their bosses and impressing upon them the importance of balancing work and personal life, so that they can give the best to the company. For example, you may ask for flexible hours to arrive a little earlier than the usual working hours and leave earlier).

Sharing responsibilities at home

It is important to divide household responsibilities; such as bill paying, chores, dinner preparation and other work between you and your family members so that every member of the household is involved. You can share responsibilities with your partner so that none of you is over-burdened with all the chores and doing things together will also let you enjoy quality time together, which otherwise may not be possible. Good communication between couples helps each spouse understand the other partner’s feelings and roles. There are not hard and fast rules in a loving environment, just the respect to lessen the other’s responsibilities. Seeing their parents share everything with mutual respect motivates children to do their bit.

Separating personal life from professional

It is not easy for mothers to shift from the role of a professional to that of a mother each and every day. Whatever your work situation and worries, do not bring them home to the kids. Your family needs your undivided attention at least during the few hours you spend with them. It is important to learn to compartmentalize your roles and get completely involved with the kids and your partner when at home. Similarly, be professional enough not to carry your personal life to work. Many women use commuting to their advantage. During the time it takes to get back home from work, they shift gears and make plans for their responsibilities at home. This helps in being in a better frame of mind by the time they reach home. There are others who use this time to relax by reading a book or doing something that takes them away from their demands at home or work.

Lightening the work load

Many working women feel they are capable of doing a lot and take on more than they can handle. If you have staff under you, then learn to delegate and get them used to the fact that you may not be available for every meeting. Once your staff learns to do their jobs perfectly, your stress will be reduced.

The modern educated working woman things she can multitask and do everything for everybody, but this is not the case. No woman can be a super being, she is human after all. In order to provide the best to loved ones and to do justice at work, management of time is extremely crucial. When thousands of working moms all over the world are managing their time most efficiently and leading balanced lives, there is no reason why you as a mom, cannot.

Starting your own business is tough. You have to think about so many things at a time that you can easily get lost. Apart from your usual professional assignments, you need to hand the whole bunch of other tasks from managing (new) co-workers to building new business connections.

The world starts going crazy… So how not to get lost? Get organized!

First, define what things keep you busy every day

Day by day, you watch your time spent nowhere and you feel you no more have any control over it. Now, sit down, grab a notebook and a pen and create a list of things you do every day. Mine is going to look something like this:

• Checking email box, killing spam, replying to some messages and sorting other for later references;
• Checking all your active social media accounts (Twitter replies, Facebook inbox, StumbleUpon shares…);
• Checking all recent blog posts (are there any comments outside the site itself? on Twitter, Digg, Reddit, etc);
• Checking morning business news, Digg and Reddit front page, etc
• Looking for some material for new blog posts, brainstorming for new post idea (lots of coffee here!)
• Doing some client work, creating daily reports for clients;
• Talking to online friends and partners;
• Checking my feed reader (especially those blogs which are updated daily).

Ok, going through this list, it seems I definitely need more than 24 hours a day… Ok, now let’s figure how to manage all those things and to get everything done.

Track your time

Time is much more important than money to me because time has limits while money doesn’t. Therefore I need to economize. The first step is to identify how much time each task takes me. There are plenty of paid and free tools for that (including your own watch) but I just use the simplest one:

Time Tracker is quick to register. Its most useful feature is the ability to set time tracking fir each task – for you to know how much time each task takes.

Start using time-management tools

TaDaList

TaDaList is quick and easy to register and offers sleek minimalistic interface. The best features include:

• Publish your lists for everyone to see them;
• Invite collaborators to create and edit lists together.

Remember The Milk

RememberTheMilk is a much more advanced than the above one productivity tool for those who are more serious about their time tracking. Its best (free) features include:

• Use advanced search to look for your tasks;
• Create notes to stick to any task;
• Add more users to manage or watch your to-do lists;
• Set time you plan to spend on any task;
• Set email notifications;
• Integrate it with Gmail or Google calendar.

Todoist

Todoist looks much simpler it really is. There are plenty of hidden features that really make it my favorite time-management tool:

• Handy FireFox sidebar for easier and quicker access;
• Multi-color projects for to-do lists visualization;
• Cool format syntax;
• Create labels ross referencing all your projects.

So:

• Identify your task;
• Measure time;
• Plan your day.

And you will succeed!

Good luck!

Post image by Michel Filion