Productivity Hacks As A New Mom

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Embracing a New Way of Life

Today’s episode is for all the new mamas out there, or any entrepreneur really navigating work life and business with new responsibilities and less free time. Raise your hand if that is you. This episode is especially close to my heart because as a first-time mom, I’ve had to completely rewire the way I approach productivity.

As you can imagine with a new baby, my priorities have completely shifted. But as I always say, you can find a way to make it work. You can have a new baby and still travel and have a social life, and have time for yourself and run a wildly successful business. You can have it all. So in today’s episode, I will be sharing the mindset shifts and hacks that have helped me stay so grounded.

Stay very present with my new baby and still get so much done.

Mindset Matters

I am going to start with mindset because productivity starts in the mind, and if you let yourself get bogged down by your new life, by your new responsibilities and you play victim, it’s not going to serve you. One of the biggest traps I see.

I have felt it myself even before becoming a mom, and I see it everywhere, not just with new moms. The biggest trap is the victim mentality of “I don’t have the time” or “time passes so fast and I can’t find the time.” How many times have you heard this? “I do not have time to go to the gym. I don’t have time to work on my business.”

You hear it from people of all walks of life, those without babies. Those without businesses, from students to professionals. I remember hearing this as a child from adults around me, and this concept of just not having the time—it’s thrown around so frequently and so carelessly.

Don’t get me wrong. As a new mother, it’s completely valid and it really, truly can feel like you just don’t have the time to do anything. Taking care of another human is a huge responsibility, and you do not need to focus on anything else other than caring for your child if that is what you want. However, if you are unhappy, if you feel like you need to get more done and you have that desire in you to be more productive, then I am here to tell you.

The truth is time doesn’t happen to you. Time comes from within you. This is a simple shift that changes everything, and I’m gonna give you an example. Have you ever gotten so lost in doing something so in the flow that an hour of your time feels like it just flew by? It felt like nothing, but you got so much done.

Think about a time when that has happened to you and compare it. Now, compare it to an hour sitting in traffic or an hour waiting for your turn in a line—an hour can feel like forever, but the time itself is still an hour. It’s what you do in the hour and how you approach it, your mindset going into this block of time that makes all the difference of whether you make it feel like forever or you make it feel like the blink of an eye where you get so much done.

This is the key—to manipulate time in a way where you feel always in flow, in control, in focus, and getting everything on your to-do list checked off instead of watching the clock go by and feeling like your to-do list is never-ending, that this baby or these new responsibilities are taking up all of your time. When you shift from the mentality of “I don’t have the time” to “I always have an abundance of time,” you stop feeling like a victim of your schedule and you start creating from a place of empowerment.

This mindset shift honestly changed everything for me. I don’t try to force eight hours of work into a day that I honestly simply don’t have anymore, but I work in harmony with what I have and the blocks of time that I do create from within, I am so productive. I make it count, and I don’t fall victim to the circumstances. So my challenge for you is going forward: Notice and bring to your attention when you are using time as an excuse and when you are defaulting to “I don’t have the time.” Instead, be honest with yourself.

Maybe you can say, instead, “I am prioritizing looking after my baby over working on my business right now,” or “I am prioritizing getting enough sleep instead of doing this task on my to-do list.” Because even stating things as is, you realize it’s a matter of priority rather than not having enough time in a day, which can make you feel so powerless. Let’s shift, let’s be honest with yourself and completely cut out all the excuses related to time.

Once you can do that, we can then expand on all the ways that we make every single minute, every single second count. You’re able to introduce new feelings of rest, of happiness, of satisfaction, of productivity in every minute. It doesn’t have to feel like this constant tug of, “Oh my God, there’s always something to do. I don’t have enough time.” But instead, take the next minute or two and try to get as many things done.

After this mindset shift, I want to move on to a few hacks that are simple, that are effective. (I also have a whole blog post with more time management strategies here.)

The Two Minute Rule

This brings me into my first one, which is the two-minute rule. I have been implementing this for the past three months and what I’ve been doing is if something takes less than two minutes, whether it’s replying to a DM, replying to an email, setting a reminder, taking out the trash, or sanitizing some bottles—if it takes less than two minutes, do it right away. As soon as it becomes front of mind for you, don’t let it sit in your brain or on your list until the next time because it’s just going to pile up.

Getting things done as soon as you have the inkling to get it done keeps mental clutter low and helps you avoid the snowball effect of tiny tasks turning into overwhelming to-do mountains. One of my least favorite feelings is remembering something that had crossed my mind last week to do, and I didn’t do it, and it’s still undone, and I’m like, “Oh my God, it’s been on my mind for forever.” And you just have that baggage with you. As a new mother, you do not have the mental capacity for that, and I am very intentional with getting rid of that feeling. I don’t want to feel like I’m constantly playing catch up.

So one of the best ways to combat that is to just do it right now, especially if it takes less than two minutes. It’s a great filter to help you decide if it’s worth your time or not because if you don’t do it now, you’re going to regret it later. And if you do, do it now, your future self will thank you. Make this a habit and just start doing things now.

Brain Dumps

Next, for things that take more than two minutes, whether it’s because it takes more research or more time, or you just don’t have the capacity, you truly do not have the two minutes right now, keep a running brain dump. I have a to-do list on my phone. It’s in my notes app. I pop it into my brain dump because let’s be honest—mother brain is real. I forget things. I get distracted easily, and I remember things weeks later after it’s just too late.

Not having a system to remember things is just setting myself up for failure. So I keep a running brain dump note on my phone—one place for every idea, task, grocery item, or business idea that pops into my mind. Ultimately, it’s not about doing all of it but about capturing it so it’s not just floating around, swimming around in your head while you’re trying to be in the moment. If you are not holding on using your mental capacity, your limited mental capacity to hold onto a task and just know it’s safely tucked away in your notes, you can breathe easy, and you can rest and focus on the present moment.

So now that we have covered mindset and brain dumping, let’s talk strategy, and this is where systems come into play.

Time Block with Naps

The first system that helped me stay productive is time blocking around baby’s nap schedule. As you may or may not know, babies take a lot of naps throughout the day. Right now, Levin is almost four months, and he is taking between three and four naps per day. I know this isn’t going to last forever. Toddler parents, they tell me, enjoy this stage while you can because once they stop dropping those naps, you have less and less time during the day.

So I know that this time is of utmost importance, and I also know that compared to them, I have an abundance of time right now. This is the system that I use because he takes three naps a day. For example, I will block out nap one for coffee and emails. I will sip on my coffee, step outside, feel the sunshine on my face, smile at the sky, be so grateful for my life. And that takes a few minutes and makes me feel on top of the world, and I’m able to do that with a newborn. I get to fully be in that present moment, soaking up how much I love my life, setting the foundation to then open up my laptop and reply to emails.

So that is so simple. That’s what I block out for the first nap. Of course, depending on your baby, these naps may last between 20 minutes to two hours. Whatever timeframe works for you, just have one or two to-do items for each nap time. Personally, right now, what my schedule looks like, nap two is then for admin and deeper work. This is when I communicate with my team if needed, if I need to assign some tasks or when I record podcasts, host coaching calls, or if I am working on a project, which I currently am, I know exactly what projects are on my plate, and this is the time that I block out for deeper work.

Next, during Levin’s third nap of the day, this is sacred time for me for movement or self-care. So whether that’s taking a walk outside, going to the beach, working out—I am also trying to lift three times a week, so that’s been going really well—or getting my nails done. This is the time I get to do so. There may or may not be a fourth nap. We are currently trying to drop the fourth nap, but previously with my fourth nap, it’s just to focus on any of the previous tasks that I may have missed, and that is, again, extra time in my day.

Of course, this changes. It’s not like every day this is my schedule. But the point is you want to work around those naps and assign one category for each block of time. You’re not trying to fit everything on your to-do list in one day. Go back to that brain dump and choose three items that you wanna get done. Even if a nap is just 30 minutes, I show up with full focus because I know exactly what I’m using that time for, and I know that it’s going to serve me, my life, my community, or my business in some way, shape, or form.

Once you have the intention set out for each block of time, how we expand on how much you get done within that block. One of my tips is batching, and I have an entire podcast episode about this, but even through motherhood, batching has served wonders for me. Batching is your best friend. Record all your podcast episodes for the month in one go, or write all of your captions in one sitting, or edit all of your photos at once. Respond to emails in one focused hour instead of scattered across the day.

When you can batch, you get so much more done because your mind isn’t shifting between one task and another. It’s in complete focus, and it’s multiplying how much you get done. When your context switches less, you also save energy and you feel it. You don’t feel overwhelmed. You instead are using the least amount of energy to get the most work done. With all of that extra energy, you can be present with your baby when it’s their time—when they wake up, and you just want to fully play with them and fully be present.

Focus On Needle Moving Work

Which brings me to my last productivity hack: recognize that not everything matters in life and in business, if it does matter, do it first. Get it crossed off your list first. But don’t let yourself get caught up in the busy work that doesn’t actually move the needle. Ask yourself, if I only had one hour today—not even a few hours because of the multiple naps—but if you only had one hour, what would truly grow my business? Focus on that for the day. You don’t need to get it all done. Just focus on the most important task that moves you forward. The rest, honestly, it can wait or it can be deleted altogether.

As a new mother, it’s also become so easy for me to filter out what’s important, what’s not important, and to say no to things that don’t serve you. If you don’t want to people-please, if you don’t want to bend over backwards to make something work, you don’t have to. You can just say no, and it takes that off your plate. It takes off that mental load, and you can focus on what’s actually important.

Productivity honestly doesn’t mean doing it all. It doesn’t mean doing it all in one day. It means doing what matters to you and giving yourself the peace, grace, and intention to be a better version and feel better about what you are doing with your time.

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a fellow mama or a multitasking entrepreneur. And remember, you are doing amazing. You’ve got this. I will see you guys in the next episode. Have an amazing week, my loves. Sending you so much love from New York.

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