How to Manage Tasks as an Overwhelmed Mom
For moms with and without ADHD
I’m going to keep this simple- I know you’re busy, stressed, and probably looking at a mountain of laundry that feels insurmountable.
I’ve found some key strategies that I recommend often for busy moms who don’t have a lot of time, especially when ADHD is a factor.
Does your life ever look like any of this?:
You look around your house and every chore feels too big and overwhelming, so you end up feeling like a squirrel running around pointlessly, and then nothing really gets done.
You try to manage tasks at work but things start to pile up and you find yourself needing to take work home with you more often.
Or maybe you’ve found some ways to mask at work and have your shit mostly together there, but eventually the mask comes off at the end of the day, and you still feel scatterbrained and can’t manage to get to the ever-growing stack of dishes in the sink.
You struggle with helping your kids with tasks too. You’re trying to teach them how to be responsible for their space and clean their room, but that takes forever and feels more exhausting than it’s worth.
If any of that sounds familiar, here are some strategies you can begin using now to take control of the systems and tasks in your life:
1. Narrow down your to-do list.
I know you probably have way too many things on your to-do list. Write them all down. Brain dump everything onto a piece of paper.
Once you’ve done that, get a separate small paper or sticky note. Every day, you’re only going to pick 1-3 things off your to-do list. Write those things on a sticky note. That’s your list for the day. Do them one at a time. If you get through those and want to do more, great. Get another sticky note and choose a couple more things.
Only look at your brain dump list when you need ideas of what you want to tackle.
For extra help, download my free simple daily planner HERE. It helps you structure your day while focusing your priority on only the most important tasks, instead of getting distracted by all the other things that pop in your brain.
2. Add something fun.
Our brains often see lists of chores and immediately get repulsed by it. It feels overwhelming so we don’t want to do any of it. You’re allowed to create a reward system for yourself. Brain dump ideas for fun things you like to do. Small bits of self-care. Maybe you want to be able to sit and read for 20 minutes, go on a walk, enjoy a cup of coffee while watching a show.
Now, when you make your sticky note list of 1-3 tasks you want to get done around the house, you’re going to also add something off your fun list. So before you move on to more things, you know you get to do something enjoyable or restful too.
3. Build time-awareness.
Decide to do a task, and time yourself doing the task. Better yet, if you can, run a stopwatch and a timer. Maybe you give yourself a 10-minute timer to unload and reload the dishwasher. Run a stopwatch to see how long it actually takes you. You’ll probably find you don’t need the full 10 minutes, and your brain will start to see that the task isn’t as big and overwhelming as it seems. Plus, you can always use the rest of that 10 minutes to sit before moving on to the next task on your sticky note.
You can build a system that works for you.
Customize these strategies to your work life. Maybe you can’t do the fun activities in the middle of your work day, and those are left more for home-life. And you might have meetings that you don’t get to decide the time limit on. That’s ok. Examine your work schedule and tasks, and decide what you can tweak to make it work better for you. Can you brain dump your work to-do list and start with a smaller list of 1-3 items to first handle? Break it into chunks. Set timers to take a brain break every 20 minutes. When your timer goes off, get away from your desk and move for 5 minutes. If you have the flexibility, incorporate these strategies into your work life and see how it impacts your productivity.
Use these strategies with your kids, too. Asking them to clean their room probably doesn’t get you anywhere. Try making it fun. Can they pick up all their dirty clothes before your 5-minute timer goes off? If so, maybe they get to pick a song to listen to, or a short fun activity to do before moving on to the next task.
Here’s the exciting thing: you get to do this now! You can start trying these strategies today. They’re meant to be simple and easy, to help you start tackling the things that your brain sees as overwhelming.
Also, a quick shoutout to a resource I love that helped me navigate tasks. My approach is shaped by the info in this book, and it’s where I learned some strategies like these for managing housework.
How to Keep House While Drowning: A gentle approach to cleaning and organizing
By: KC Davis
And if you use the audiobook, you can listen while handling some of the organizing and cleaning!
TL; DR:
You can break your mountain of tasks into more manageable steps.
Narrow down your to-do list. Only focus on a handful of things each day, and only one at a time.
Add something fun. Help your brain to see that the list isn’t bad. Put something enjoyable on your to-do list each day.
Build time-awareness. Using stopwatches and timers can help you to see that the task isn’t as big as you thought, and give you brain breaks along the way.