I Know How She Does It summary

Working mothers all know the feeling of guilt. Whether we feel like we’re neglecting our families or our career responsibilities, we end up putting a huge amount of pressure on ourselves to fulfill other people’s needs.

But this pressure doesn’t have to be there at all. As we’ve seen, there’s enough time in the week to commit to work and enjoy free time. It’s just a case of planning time to ensure you make the most of both. But how?

The first step to enjoying free time is preventing yourself from working too much. Of course, you could limit your overtime hours by clocking off everyday at the same time, but if this means you stop working before completing certain tasks, you might begin to feel quite inefficient.

Your best option is to start the day with your toughest task. According to a study by Johnson & Johnson, a person’s energy level peaks at 8:00 a.m. So, save your gossiping with colleagues for lunch and spend the morning working on the most difficult item on your agenda – the one that is most urgent, and requires the most effort.

The tips provided in the previous blink are easy and practical ways to improve your time management at work. There are two more techniques that will help you cut down stress in your job, but these require a little more thinking.

One strategy to streamline your week is to plan it before it even begins. According to a 2013 survey by Accountemps, Tuesday is the most productive day of the week with Monday lagging behind at only 26 percent productivity! Why is this?

Planning is key to an efficient and flexible work life. But what about when it comes to your home life?  Ultimately, your approach should be quite similar.

Spending quality time with your family requires some planning and the same motivation as your work life does. But remember: being around your family and being with your family are two different things.

When asked by the author what they’d do with more free time, most women answered they’d like to spend more adults-only time with their husbands or partners. Between juggling the demands of work and family, our love lives inevitably get neglected. But it needn’t be this way!

The key to finding time for romantic moments in your busy schedule is making it a priority and being creative with timing.

There’s nothing worse than finishing work and coming home to a house full of pending chores. There’s no point in using time management to create free time for yourself if you just fill it up with housework. In times like these, it’s important to just let go.

Remember, you’re not participating in some game show that gives you extra points for empty clothes hampers or supremely well-adjusted children. So, how can you begin to let go of your perfectionism?

So you’ve made time for work, for your family and for your partner. Now it’s time to make time for yourself. If you still think it’s not possible, here’s a little experiment for you to try: get addicted to a TV show.

Think about it, when you are totally absorbed in House of Cards, free time almost magically seems to appear out of nowhere. You might find that you have half an hour after work and before dinner where you can squeeze in an episode. In fact, you’ll start to find free hours whenever you can.