In the second of this summer holiday chaos series (take a look back at the first here), we’ll look at one of my all time favourite topics – time management. It’s silly because “time management” sounds so boring and mundane, and yet without it, we fall into the age old trap of “not enough hours in the day” and our entire lives become about fire fighting and looking wistfully into the past at what could have been if we’d strategised properly.
All my clients are driven, ambitious people. You are too. You have a family and you recognise the value and importance of hanging out with them, but you also recognise that the way to get more time and freedom with and for them, is making sure you’re bringing home the bacon. That’s where summer holidays makes this even tougher…you’re trying to stay on your A-game personally and professionally AND trying to juggle some ankle biters too.
So, let’s take a look at what we can do to get the basics right and keep the summer holidays running smoothly while you’re trying to master this delicate balancing act… And if you want some extra pointers on how to build a better routine to help nail your nutrition, whatever your diet goals are, book your free consultation here!
1. Establish Your Priorities
Summer holiday time management begins by identifying what’s most important to you. Make a list of your priorities across your professional responsibilities, training goals, and family commitments. Then, allocate your time and energy accordingly. Remember, this is not set in stone, it will change and vary, not just from goal to goal, but you will need to flex around your various different roles. For example, it may well be, that during the summer holidays, you really want to maximise time spent with your kids. That’s great! If that’s the case, accept you’re going to have to offload a percentage of effort from somewhere else though – it could be work, the gym, or that peaceful solo morning coffee break you like. Whatever prioritisation looks like, I would make a point of doing this NOW and then again when the kids go back to school. It will change and you will feel much better about it if you recognise this and work to it accordingly.
2. Create a Schedule
We often see the holidays as a time to kick back and relax – and it may well be that that is the case. But for most of us, six to eight weeks is far too long to be taking total time off from our goals. And that means that we need to take a look at that priority list above and engage summer holiday time management, to work out how to structure the weeks to satisfy those priorities appropriately. My favourite way to do this is using a shared digital calendar – or even just a kitchen calendar as a starting point. You can plan with your family or significant other, week to week and block out specific time when you’ll be hanging out with eachother focusing on quality time, but also times when you’ll be spending time focusing on your own individual goals and headspace. This is a great habit to teach your kids – teaching them it’s healthy to ask for space alone, it’s healthy not to be reliant on others for entertainment all the time and that actually, we all need to help eachother achieve our own personal goals.
3. Involve Your Family in Training
We often think of working out or training for specific physical challenges, as something that can’t be fun and is only there to serve a purpose – to reach a goal or finish line. But this is the OPPOSITE of the mentality we should be adopting! Like anything worth doing, the process has to be enjoyable. And what better way to achieve that than find a way to workout that includes the whole family?? It could be as simple as games on the lawn or a big old twister mat for flexibility training! School’s out and any form of movement goes! While it won’t be as specific as your individual training sessions, it is a great way to get your kids to stay active, have fun, spend time away from screens as a family AND give you some exercise if you’re struggling for time some days.
4. Practice Meal Prep and Planning
Don’t be hating’ on meal preppin’. It doesn’t have to be gym bro style with billions of perfectly portioned tupperwares, but sitting down and making a plan for the week, acknowledging the days where you’re going to be short on time and might need to plan ahead with slow cookers or quick stir-fries, is THE WAY. It stops the emergency trolley dash round the local Tesco Express, which invariably ends up in a collection of highly processed instant meals that nobody particularly likes or doesn’t provide any nutrition value. Planning ahead will not only improve the nutritional profile of your diet by giving you time and space to think about the food that you’re eating, but it will also save you money, time and food waste in the long run! No brainer.
5. Delegate and Ask for Help
Stop trying to be a solo hero. ASK FOR HELP. Use summer camps, grandparents, partners and friends to work out childcare options that enable you to focus on work without the kids being there so you can really focus on time with them when they are at home. Too many people think that by working at home, childcare and work will sort themselves. What invariably happens is you don’t have a focused environment for work, because you get the mum-guilt of thinking you should be with them while they’re there and you then end up in that horrible world of “multi-tasking”, which, as we’ve discussed, IS NOT A THING. It’s just doing lots of things half-arsed.
6. Embrace Flexible Work Options
That said, working from home or taking flexible hours can be valuable. You can schedule work for before the kids get up or after they’ve gone to bed, or even by building in some boundaries when they’re home by asking for a few undisturbed hours in your office while they entertain themselves (depending on their age of course!). Commuting time can be a lot of wasted time, particularly if you’re driving so being able to employ flexible hours and locations if you can, is a godsend, as long as you put the right prep and boundaries in place first.
7. Prioritise Rest
Don’t feel this needs to be six to eight weeks of PURE ORGANISED FUN. Kids learn about themselves and the world around them by simply interacting with everyday life situations and exploring things alone! They need space and time as much as you do! Teaching them the value of time alone, the value of “being bored” and not having entertainment from screens or others, can be a really valuable life skill that helps them foster creativity and develop their own character. Don’t feel like your summer schedule needs to be jam packed with constant pre-organised family fun and take pride in allowing everyone some time and space to just be themselves and exist for a while!
The summer holidays will always be a challenging balancing act, but by following these simple seven steps, prepping, planning and chilling out a little, you can make things a heck of a lot less stressful for everyone and that can only be good for staying on track with your health goals! Summer holiday time management for the win…