A Good Habits List for Overwhelmed WAHMs

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Ready to find better work and life balance and reduce your overwhelm? Take time to cultivate the 10 habits on this good habits list. They’ll improve your life and help you get more done with less stress!

Life as a work at home mom can be stressful. There’s always so much to do. Sometimes I feel a bit like Cinderella when the Stepmother and Step-sisters are yelling at her in The Work Song:

• Make the fire
• Fix the breakfast
• Wash the dishes
• Do the mopping
• And the sweeping
• And the dusting

Phew! And that’s just the house stuff. You could add your own additional verses about spending time with the kids and growing your business with tasks like:

• Research keywords
• Play with dolls
• Make an image
• Push the swing

You get the picture…life is full. There’s always so much to think about and sometimes it seems just too overwhelming. You get the sense that there’s too much to do and you don’t even know where to start.

Do you ever feel that way?

I’ve discovered that cultivating good habits help me juggle everything as a work at home mom. When something is a habit, you no longer have to think about it. You just do it.

And when you do things without thinking, you free up brain power to think about other things. Its’ a wonderful thing to build good habits!

Here are 10 of the habits that have helped me be a better WAHM.

Good Habits List #1: Create a Plan for Your Time

You can’t just wing your way into productivity or balance. You must do it intentionally.

Successful work at home moms are intentional with their time. They create to-do lists and create schedules or routines. These tasks help WAHMs get the most out of each day.

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit

Good Habits List #2: Start the Day with Purpose

Successful mopmreneurs don’t lounge in bed or hit snooze when the alarm clock rings. Instead, they get up and get going.

Your morning routine is key to starting the day well. What do you want your morning to look like?

Take time to think through your ideal morning, and write it down. Start small – just one or two things you want to do purposefully each morning.

It could be drinking a cup of coffee while reading a few verses of scripture. Or participating in a Pinterest repin thread on Facebook.

There is not a cookie cutter recipe for what a “perfect” morning looks like, so make sure you do what works for you and your family.

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit:

The Dawn and Dusk Rituals printable planning sheet is a great resource to use for this. You can find it in the Purposeful Printables pack here.

5 Days to a Better Morning Challenge

Good Habits List #3: End the Day Well

Good habits don’t go to bed until you do. They’re still with you at night, helping you to end each day well.

In the evenings you can do things like:

• Review your to-do list for the next day
• Set your priorities for tomorrow
• Ensure the dishwasher and washing machine are on delay
• Focus on self-care
• Listen to a podcast
• Spend some time with your spouse
• Drink a glass of water
• Finish client work
• Count your blessings

No matter how you decide to spend your evening hours, do it with purpose. Make a list of things you want to accomplish, and let your evening routine become a habit.

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit

Make Over Your Evenings Course

Good Habits List #4: Write Down Your Goals

If you don’t write them down, they’re way less likely to come to fruition. Successful WAHMs are goal setters, and they track their progress towards their goals intentionally.

What do you want to accomplish? What dreams seem so far away right now?

Are you planning on starting a blog? Or growing a freelance writing business? Do you want to spend quality time with each of your kids every week?

No matter what your goals are, you need to write them down. Otherwise you risk forgetting them. Or losing motivation to keep going when times get tough.

There’s truly something to be said about writing things down. So, grab some paper and spend a few minutes getting your goals in writing.

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit

The Thriving Business Journal

Good Habits List #5: Make Family Time a Priority

Your housework can keep for a while, but your kids are growing daily. Don’t look back and regret not spending more time with them while you could.

Dedicated some time each day as Family Playtime, and stick to it. Let your kids take turns picking what you do, and just enjoy the time.

In my family, I give each of my kids a day. Then on their day, they get to pick what we do for family playtime. Here are some favorites:

• Family cooking contest
• Playing a board or card game (like Ticket to Ride or There’s a Moose in the House)
• Playing outside
• Doing a drawing lesson from Art for Kids Hub
• Dressing up in costumes
• Play some levels on a Mario game on the Nintendo

You don’t have to go anywhere or spend any money. Just spend time together. Let your kids pick what you do sometimes. Then just enjoyed my together.

If you don’t put family playtime into your schedule, it’s easy to push it to the back of your mind. Use an alarm on your phone, or an entry in your planner to help remind you that your family needs to enjoy time with YOU.

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit

Good Habits List #6: Set Limits on Social Media

If you aren’t careful, social media can take over your life. It can cause you to compare yourself to everyone else and feel worse about your situation.

But, social media is a carefully curated show and tell session. It’s not reality. Or at least it’s not all of reality.

Because of the addicting nature of getting likes and comments, social media can draw you in. But, when you’re a busy mompreneur, you don’t have time to waste scrolling mindlessly through Facebook.

Additionally, you need to set good boundaries for yourself because your children are watching. If you are addicted to social feedback, they will be too. And that’s not what you want for your kiddos.

The iPhone has some built in timers now so you can see how much time you’re spending on social networks. I really have been working hard to minimize that this year by making it a goal to not check social feeds when my kids are awake.

I did much better on this earlier in the year, but sort of fell back into the bad habit recently. It’s time to make it a priority again to set (and keep) limits on social media.

Setting timers also helps me keep social media from taking too much of my time. It’s easy to lose track of time when I’m using my phone to check feeds, so a visual timer really helps me pay attention to how long I’ve been engaged.

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit

How to Limit Social Media Use on iPhone & iPad with Screen Time

Visual Timer

Good Habits List #7: Desire to Learn

It’ so important to keep learning! There will always be things you don’t know, or areas you want to improve in.

Just because you’re no longer officially a student, don’t shut your brain down from learning. Figure out how you learn best:

• Visual – Read a book, watch a video, or take an online course
• Auditory- Listen to a podcast or audio book
• Kinesthetic- Try something new, explore a new tool

Make learning a priority in your home. Not only will you better yourself, but you will also inspire your kids to keep on learning. You don’t want them to think that learning only occurs in the classroom…

What are you going to learn this year? Write down some new skills, hobbies, or work-related topics you can study. Then find the best resources to help you learn.

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit

30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success

Ready Set Blog for Traffic

Good Habits List #8: Recognize What You Can’t Do

You can’t do it all! Whenever you add a home business, you must cut something else from your day. What will it be?

By proactively deciding what to cut, you choose to not be a victim of circumstance. You are saying, “I know I can’t do it all, so I am not going to do this…” And just like that, you are being intentional.

You are weighing the options and making a choice. That choice empowers you instead of enslaves you.

When you have too much on your to-do list, look it over and decide. What can you cut? What can you delegate?

The book Finish by Jon Acuff helped me so much in this area!

But, there’s also another part to this habit. It’s recognizing what you can do, but you choose not to because it’s not a good use of your time.

For me in my business, it’s tasks I’ve hired other people to do. For instance, I recently paid for help with SEO.

I could learn SEO. I’ve tried to commit myself to learning SEO. But, it takes me SO LONG. It doesn’t come naturally to me.

So I decided that I wasn’t going to sweat it. Instead, I was going to hire someone else to do it for me. It was such a freeing feeling!

What can you outsource? It’s a good way to support other WAHMs.

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit

Autumn Lane Paperie SEO Services

Good Habits List #9: Have Your Children Help

As a mom, you have built in helpers. When you teach your children to help you around the house and in your business, you are teaching them:

• A good work ethic
• Skills they will use in the future
• How to work as a team
• That they are valuable and needed

Age-appropriate work is good for children! It gives them the opportunity to rise to meet expectations and value a job well done.

So find ways for your kids to help you. Give them chores. Teach them to cook. Integrate them into your business.

Work together towards a common goal.

The more you do it, the less you will have to think about it – just like all these other habits. And, it will also become a habit for them, which is awesome.

My teen has started using a planner to keep track of everything she has to do. It’s where she writes down her housework assignments, what she’s planning on cooking, and her school tasks. I love that it helps her take control of her own time a bit.

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit

The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle 2019 has a Complete Chore Board Printable Pack, and a Student Planner Bundle. It’s a great deal, full of valuable resources!

How to Inspire an Entrepreneurial Spirit in Your Kids

6 Amazing Reasons Your Business Is Good for Your Kids

Good Habits List #10: Unplug and Get Some Fresh Air

It’s so easy to let your business consume your life. It’s always accessible.

When you can access your work email on your phone when you’re nursing the baby at 2 a.m. or from your computer at the dining room table in the middle of the morning, it’s easy to lose your boundaries.

That’s why this habit is so important. Your brain and body need a reset. Your kids need to spend time with you when you aren’t tethered to your business.

So everyday, make it a priority to spend time unplugged. I plug my phone in during family play time and sibling play time (when I have my special time with one of the kids.)

Those are two chunks of time when I purposefully put my business aside and focus on being present with my family.

Also, get outside. While unplugged.

Don’t try and walk while reading your email or anything. Just put your phone down and head outside every day.

The fresh air will stimulate your creativity and your focus. You’ll be ready to work when you come back in.

If possible, get some exercise while you’re outside. My kids got a big trampoline for Christmas, and it’s been an amazing addition to our outdoor play. It’s really calming!

And you children will have enjoyed time with you – without your phone!

Resources to Help You Cultivate This Good Habit

How to Fit More Outside Time into Your Schedule as a Busy Mom

How to Cultivate Good Habits as a Busy Mom Boss

Wondering how to add a habit to your routines? Here are five tips for cultivating good habits:

• Write things down – it really helps you remember
• Be intentional
• Tell your kids about the new routine/changes so they can help you remember
• Don’t demand perfection – when you learn a new habit you will fail. Give yourself grace and try again.
• Only add one new habit at a time – work at it until it feels natural. Then pick another one.

Also, take time to track your progress on your habits. Use stickers, tally marks, or dots. You want a visual representation of how often you meet your habit so you can look back and see progress over time. It’s not about perfection, just progress.

What’s your best habit as a mompreneur? I’d love for you to share in the comments!

And please…pin this for later!