Stewarding Our Productivity and Prioritizing What Matters Most

We’re approaching 10 a.m. and the signs are growing in frequency. He crawls up into my lap and plops down, sitting calmly, rather than struggling to get away. He rolls onto his back lying staring at the ceiling. The most telling cue of all that we’re approaching his nap time and my work time: the eye rub, a signal that may not make an appearance until we’re back in his bedroom.

Sitting calmly, lying motionless, blank staring, or rubbing his eyes are my cues that it’s almost time to get to work. Unlike my husband, Ryan, who has clear and distinct work hours, my work hours vary daily. On good days, I’ll get two entire sessions, each a full two hours. On not-so-good days, I squeeze in an hour of work between naps and passing by my desk while walking Owen around the house.

I really thought I knew what I was getting myself into, as far as time went, when we had our baby, but what I had to learn along the way was how to best manage what little time I was given throughout the day. Throwing a baby into the mix adds a lot of time constraints, which is one reason why theme days work so well for me. Theme days give me a plan of action ahead of time to know exactly what I’m sitting down to work on when I get a chance.

In my pre-baby life, I had a lot more time to check off my to-dos during the day, and yet, even with all that extra time on my hands I never seemed to get much done.

It was a gold mine of time, if you will, but I wasn’t seeing the results of that in what I accomplished. You could say this was a lack of discipline, structure, or routine, and you’d most likely be right.

What I thought would suck up every ounce of my time actually created more productivity than ever before. Gone are the days when I have the luxury to push a work project back later. If I don’t jump on it when I have a spare moment, I may not get another chance that day.

Right alongside learning new skills as a mom, I learned the art of prioritization, of doing my next right thing. I quickly figured out that my work simply would not happen if I didn’t learn a new system to prioritize my time.

Please note here, my goal is not now, and never has been, to get my work done at the expense of spending time with my son. I’ll share more about this in a moment.

One of the best tools in my productivity arsenal is a good planner. I use two, yes, two planners. The first planner is for daily task management. This is where I list any appointments, meetings, deadlines, or other things which really need to be done that specific day. The second planner helps me keep my big picture goals in mind as I take small, actionable steps toward smaller goals.

This planner is a 2021 Powersheets Goal Planner by Cultivate What Matters, and it helps me keep my priorities straight as I plan for the month ahead. My powersheets goal planner gives me space to brainstorm goal ideas and choose goals for the whole month, for each week, and for each day. This system let’s me make progress toward those big picture goals by choosing one small goal and taking real, small steps toward it.

Besides the joy of creating a list and checking off tasks, a planner helps me clear the clutter out of my mind. I don’t have to continually think about all the things I need to do in the day because I’ve already written them down as a reminder. Creating a list of to-dos also helps me move into a work session without the nagging feeling I’m forgetting something.

When I’m forced into a smaller block of work time, I have to be more choosey about what takes priority in that session. If something doesn’t end up on as a top three on my list of priorities, it doesn’t make the cut for that work time.

To manage my work time well, I must be ruthless with what I choose to do or not do, and I must be relentless about choosing to sit down and do the work.

Productivity is a good thing when it isn’t the only thing we’re pursuing. When I begin my day with being productive as my only goal, I’m missing the mark even if I do check everything off my to-do list. The goal isn’t to push so hard for productivity that I’m falling over exhausted by dinner time, although, that very well may be what your day looks like. In this, as in all things, the goal is good stewardship of my time.

When I have a moment and a certain task is on my heart to do, I have an obligation to that task. But running myself ragged trying to keep the house clean, toys picked up, dishes washed, blog posts written, graphics created, book chapters written, a notebook journaled, a Bible read, a quick prayer sent up, the dog walked, and everyone fed means I’m not focusing on the things God is pressing on my heart.

Where is God pointing you today to steward your time well? Is there something you could do, but you know it’s not your next right thing? I’d love to hear how you’re struggling in this or how you’re thriving. Comment below to tell me!

Photo by Mathilde Langevin on Unsplash