Routines are one thing, but FOCUS? Now, that’s another.

Working mom, I see you over there spinning your wheels and wondering where to focus. You’ve decided that you can find pockets of time to do things, but as soon as you feel free to engage in a task, something (or someone) is drawing your attention.

I want to give you 3 tips to guide your daily/weekly/monthly focus, so that you feel more present in your tasks!

1. Prioritize

The hardest part about focus is really figuring out what to focus on. Once you clearly know what it is you want to focus on, you can constantly remind yourself.

Start with brain dumping for 5 minutes (yes I want you to set a timer!) all the things that take your focus throughout the day:

I.e. Family, work, social media, hobbies, cleaning, cooking

Then, take 1 minute to decide your top 3 things in order of importance.

This is going to be the foundation of your next 2 steps

2. Visualize

Take 10 minutes to sit and think. Write down your why. Why do you prioritize these things? What would be the outcome if you ignored them?

Do you pray or meditate? I just started taking some time to have 5 quiet minutes twice a day. In the morning and in the afternoon. All I do during those 5 minutes is focus on my breathing and pray, thanking God for my breath and my day.

It has helped me so much to relieve stress and get back to focusing on what I need!

3. Ignore

Now it’s time to take one minute to circle anything that will aid in your priority and cross through anything that won’t.

You may have listed family and laundry where family was your 2nd priority and laundry didn’t make it in the top 3. Well we all know that clean clothes make the family happy so feel free to circle it. But if laundry takes away from your family in a big way, consider how you can get it done without physically doing it yourself.

Did you write your cell phone on the list? I know I did and I crossed it out in this step. But you know I may need it for work, emergencies, etc. but now it’s time to clean it up. Turning off notifications that aren’t pointing to my priorities will help me focus on my family without wondering if that ping from Facebook should get my attention.

It’s as simple as that!

What is circled on your list are your priorities, so now it’s time to spend your time and energy on those things and delegate or get rid of the rest.

Comment below with your newfound priorities. Are you surprised by them?

Related: Check out How to Create perfect Routines as a Working Mom