SCS32-W3 || Real Life Problem Solving Challenge: Time Management

I hope you all are good and doing well. Today I'm here to be a part of this amazing contest "SCS32-W3 || Real Life Problem Solving Challenge: Time Management" organized by @ahsansharif .

I'm a stay-at-home mom with four kids and write my content on Steemit. Due to my children's varying ages from school to university, keeping my house quiet can be an issue when I am struggling to manage my time between cooking, school runs, university assignments, and blogging. If i couldn't nanage time every thing collapsed. This challenge is organized at the perfect moment for me.

01. What is your approach to managing your time?

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I implement a basic plan: “Paper + Phone + Brain”.”.

I start my day with my old notebook after Fajr. The page is segregated into three sections: Children's, Kitchen, and Keyboard/Steemit. My writing style is limited to 3 main tasks per part. If I were to write down 10 things, I would become panicked. If I write 3, they are finished.' Without any regrets. Sometimes you do more work when you achieve your daily activities it really motivated you.

I set off my phone with different alarms, one of which is 5 :10AM for fajar two of the other being GMT+7. AM for school drop, I will have a 9:00 pm alarm for university lunch for my son and write post during my free time... I'm putting together a Steemit post. Another alarm for picking kids from school.

Here is the first picture of my notebook page that contains my 3x3 tasks for today.

02. Which activity demands the highest amount of time in your day?

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Most of my time is used in Cooking school and university coordination. That takes 4-5 hours daily. Sometimes it takes 6 hours of my day.

In the morning, husband and two school children will have breakfast and lunch boxes each.
A university going son receives a full meal for lunch , he feeling tired in the afternoon so need full meal , he returns after 5:30PM. Dinner and the morning tiffins are planned for the day during these hours. In writing it looks simple but it's not and it requires most of the hectic time of my day. All things must be at time then all collapsed. So i mostly organized my time making food so my kitchen work will be done smoothly.

Kitchen work must be completed before the blogging can take place. I prioritize family over Steemit. I'm contest organiser so I have to make two posts on time so its very important gor me to manage my time for it. Similarly as curator days are scheduled for my duty and I have to do my Steemit work. In all this condition i have to manage my time precisely so my all work could be on time without any mistake.

03-What technique saves you time?

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“Batch cooking + Batch blogging”.

Every weekend , I do my groceries, chop onions and make a ginger-garlic paste , wash meat or chicken and marinate chicken for 3 days. That saves 1 hour daily. Sometimes I make such dinner that is perfect for lunch boxes. That also keep my time save.

From my current writing habits, I refrain from starting every day for Steemit. On Friday night or when i get free time, I compose 2 drafts so I could complete my Steemit task on time. Why? Mon/Tue or Wednesday are the days when I can only review posts and do curationduty on time.On week days I do review of posts and curation. While Friday, Saturday and Sunday for post.

As I'm contest organiser of cooking challenge so I made dinner or lunch of the recipe that I'm going to publish, it's save my time, my contest recipe ready on time with family dinner.

4-Have you ever struggled with poor time management? How have you improved it?

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Of course many times , I struggled with poor time, when I started my Steemit I was ill and it was good option for me to pass my time at bed, Alhamdulillah when I recovered my health and backed to my normal life then I couldn't manage my daily activities with Steemit. My husband got angry and said leave Steemit.

Meanwhile we move to new house that is more distant from kids school so another issue of dropping kids to school and picking them back . That was hard time when I couldn't manage my time for all day activities and get depressed.

What helped me: The “25-5 rule”. 25 min full focus on one task, then 5 min break for kids. Timer on phone. When kids see the timer, they know “Mama is busy 25 min, then I’m all yours”. It reduced fights and guilt. Now I can manage all my activities by these timers. I'm used too of it and without alarm and timer can also manage it.

05. What advice would I give others?

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1. Plan Only Important Task: Follow the rule
Small wins = less stress
Write only 3 must-do tasks daily , if i write many tasks then i get panicked and could not manage it. So I daily write most important task of the day and achieve the target without any guilt.

2. Tie tasks together: Do your tasks together that can be easily handled for example I help my kids in their studies while I'm cooking . While rice cooks, reply to Steemit comments. While kids do homework, I draft posts etc. I manage different tasks and sometimes I do extra work of next day too.

3. Protect 1 hour for yourself: Everyone needs time to himself. Mostly mine is 2-3 PM after lunch. No cooking, no calls. Only me + Steemit or sometimes I sleep to recharge myself. That hour keeps me sane.
Now I could manage my day tasks actively.

4. Train your kids to help in manage: It's very important to train your family members to help you in management of all task . I do all tasks by myself but when I ill or guests arriving at home or at festivals it becomes very difficult to manage all ,if your kids are trained they understand how to manage yoyr task and in future they will be more manageable too.

Time is like money for moms. If we waste it, we feel guilty. If we use it wisely, we get both happy kids , family AND happy blog.

Thank you @ahsansharif for this challenge. It made me reflect on my own routine.

Engagement links:
Comment 1: link
Comment 2: link

Inviting 3 friends: @sualeha @bdwomen @roohiasif99 for joining this contest.

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Best regards
@suboohi