Imagine if you could reclaim up to 35 percent of your workweek from the trap of inefficiency. For mompreneurs striving to juggle both motherhood and business, every minute counts. Especially when statistics reveal that distractions and multitasking can lead to a productivity loss of over a third of your time.

That’s a significant chunk of valuable time that could otherwise be used to fuel your business.

Episode 182 uncovers those hidden time wasters from endless notifications, hijacking your focus to the myth of multitasking that promises more than it delivers.

It also tackles how adapting strategies like batching your tasks can revolutionize your workflow, turning those potential time sucks into optimal productivity.

Hidden Time Wasters

#1: Skipping Your CEO Date

This is also known as not having a plan.

It is so important as moms and business owners that we set aside regular time to strategize our business.

When we neglect to be the leader in our business, we become extremely reactive rather than proactive. Meaning we are making decisions based on fear or stress, or lack of time, and we are not making wise, proactive decisions where we’re able to forecast problems.

It’s really important that we begin to not only prioritize what’s on our schedule, but we need to actually schedule our priorities.

On average, it’s estimated that every minute spent planning can save you 10 minutes in execution. So this means that if you spend an hour planning your week, you could potentially save up to 10 hours that would otherwise be lost to inefficiency.

#2: Indecision

In addition to wasting time, it also takes up a lot of your energy, which feeds into so many areas of your life.

If you are full of decision fatigue and you lack energy, then it’s going to make you more irritable at home. And it’s a compounding effect. And so we must start practicing how to make prompt decisions in order to combat this.

#3: Open-Ended Deadlines/Not Setting Firm Deadlines

When you give yourself an open-ended deadline, it is going to take a a lot longer than it would if you set a deadline.

#4: Unclear Social Media Boundaries

It’s really important that you have established clear usage limits with your social media habits. They can be such time suckers and wasters!

So just like you’re going to create boundaries for your children around social media and around technology usage, we need to have our own boundaries as adults.

Because yes, we’re adults, but that doesn’t mean that we should be using technology and specifically social media for unlimited amounts of time.

Whenever our mind wanders or decides it wants to do that, we need to practice self-control as adults as well.

#5: Having Notifications Turned on For Email & Social Media

It can be so annoying to be interrupted constantly with notifications.

It can draw your attention away instantly. And not only can it draw attention away from when you’re in a work block and you’re dedicated to working on something, but it 100% will take away the time with your family and your kiddos, too.

I’m going to challenge you to turn off these notifications.

I know it might be hard because you likely pride yourself on being available. I also want to have a quick response time.

But here’s the thing, when we are available 24/7 we are showing our clients that we have no boundaries. We are showing our children and teaching our children that it’s okay to have no boundaries, that whenever somebody needs us, they can call upon us. And there needs to be clear distinctions between when I am checking notifications and when I’m not.

So my recommendation for you is to set an alarm on your phone to check email and social media once in the morning and once in the evening. Have it be a time where you sit down and you are dedicated to actually going through the emails and taking care of them.

#6: Trying To Replicate Someone Else’s Systems

Oftentimes we get sucked into doing something the way that someone else is doing it that we see on Youtube, hear on a podcast, see on social media, etc. and it can be so hard when we are trying to do something exactly like someone else.

We need to be able to make our own decisions as the CEOs of our businesses and know what we need to work on.

#7: Using AI Inefficiently

There are parts of it that are really helpful. But what I’ve noticed is a lot of people are using AI to help generate a lot of their content instead of having AI help tweak your content.

I love using Claude AI for this! I’ve linked it below!

#8: Spending Too Much Time Trying to Find Tech Answers

What I have found is that I am not going to chase immediate solutions anymore. I’m going to set myself a timer and if I cannot find the answer in 10 minutes, then I am going to email someone on the support team for assistance.

#9: Underestimating How Long a Task Will Take You to Complete

This is a time waster because when you underestimate how long something takes, you’ve got to fit it in later which just adds to your stress load.

The number one way to understand this is to time track. Having a historical task analysis of what you do on a regular basis and how long it takes you is so valuable. Toggl is a great tool for this!

#10: Working in Small Pockets of Time

Working in small pockets of time creates fragmented work sessions, meaning there’s never enough time for you really to get into that deep work. It gives you just enough time to get started with something and then you’re interrupted.

Sure. They add up to a lot of time in the day, but they’re not deep. So I would rather have one three-hour focused work block than five hours with massive interruptions in between.

As an action step, pick 2 things that you are going to work on.

• What are you going to do in order to move forward with avoiding these distractions in the future
• Which one of these do you feel like you can implement right away?

Complimentary Episodes:

1. Ep 112. Creative Ways to Get Work Done with Kids at Home
2. Ep 12. 5 Tips for Working with Kids at Home
3. Ep 177. Navigating Projects That Take Longer Than Expected
4. Ep 134. How to Batch Your Tasks for Increased Efficiency
5. Browse All Productivity Related Episodes

Mentioned:

1. The AI Tool I Use: Claude AI
2. Ep 181. How Voxer is Revolutionizing Communication for Busy Mompreneurs

Resources:

1. Looking for tips and strategies for making motherhood and business easier? Join Our Free Community – The Organized Mompreneur
2. Need support managing your time well and creating systems to streamline your Photography Business? Join the Efficient Mompreneur (12 Week Group Coaching Program)
3. Message me on Voxer (My username is afreehan)
4. Join the Waitlist for my Free Masterclass, The Profit Shift: 3 Strategies to Optimize Your Limited Time and Maximize Your Revenue as a Mom
5. Have a question for me? Or a specific struggle you’re dealing with? I’ll address your question on the podcast. Submit your ‘Ask Ashley’ question here
6. Local to Gilbert/Mesa Arizona (For Mom Business Owners) Join our in person membership community