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The illusion of time as a new parent & to do lists

Before I had Arlo, I remember thinking that maternity leave would allow me some nice little pockets of time to work on my own personal projects in between being Mum and keeping up with general housework etc.

Boy was I wrong! Some days the internal pull between what I ‘want’ to get done in my head vs the reality of what is actually achievable is really hard to swallow. (At least without completely burning the candle at both ends!)

I’m a ‘to-do list’, ‘get stuff done’ & ‘have lots of personal projects on the go’ kinda girl.

In my working life, I would have my weekly plan and I would divide it out into daily to-do lists. Every time I crossed something off my list, it gave me a little sense of satisfaction. In fact, the feeling of crossing something off was a huge motivator in itself.

Now that I’m home with Arlo at nearly 7 months old, I still like to create to-do lists but the truth is, little actually gets crossed off.
Even when my list seems verrrrrry basic on paper and ‘do-able’ in my head, the reality is, unless it takes 2 to 3 minutes, it’s probably not going to get done… or at least not without 10+ attempts (Like this post!)

I could feel myself becoming quite deflated at times and questioning what I had done with the day.

I then heard a tip on a mummy podcast for other ‘to-do listers’ that mentioned the idea of including even the most basic things you will do in the day on your list, even if it’s something you do daily on autopilot.
Once I started incorporating this approach, I was on reflection, achieving ‘x, y, z’ not to mention ‘t, u, v, w.’ In fact, I was doing a LOT in the day!

So for the sake of my need to be organised mind, I’m now taking note of the little things I would like to get done each day as well as the odd big task. This is helping to give me both a sense of achievement and the satisfaction of crossing tasks off and it is also helping me to keep my head clear and less scattered.

Then there are also days that I am completely blocking out as a ‘home day’ with nothing planned outside of being Mum, which is allowing me a chance to stop for a moment and do ‘SFA’ in the very small pockets of time that Arlo is actually asleep! 🙌🧡

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