Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of coaching, tips and advice that exists in the world for how to do pretty much everything – especially being a mom and running a business?

There is so much to be consumed in our digital world – a lot of it good and helpful. In some ways, all of this information makes starting and running a business easier than it ever has been because the amount of resources are nearly endless. However, all of this goodness can also become a huge source of distraction and, if there is one thing I have found that can quickly halt just about any of our plans from moving forward, it’s allowing ourselves to become distracted. I get it though, it’s so easy to just scroll down the proverbial internet rabbit hole and come out a few hours later wondering what just happened and shocked that an hour (or three) has just passed by. It’s like time stops in the land of scroll and click.

As a #solopreneur and #mompreneur I don’t have the luxury of wandering through the rabbit hole and I can’t afford to visit the land of scroll and click (which doesn’t mean I don’t still try to go there).

One of the most frequently I asked question I see posted from new business owners with littles at home is some version of this:

How do you get any work done with the kids around all day?First of all, let me just acknowledge that it’s not easy. However, I assume that most of us who started a business with our kiddos at home want the life we have. We want or need to bring income into our household AND we want to spend more time with our kids. So, I am going to write the rest of the post based on the assumption that we all want to find a way to make this arrangement work.

Now that we’ve established that, I’m going to let you in on my secret sauce and the answer I give every time I see the above question posted by a fellow #mompreneur.

MY SECRET SAUCE IS ROUTINE!

When I go throughout my life haphazardly, I sit down (or crash on the couch) at the end of the day and am left wondering what happened to all those hours and if I accomplished anything. Sure, on a day-to-day basis I did successfully keep a small human alive which is HUGE, yet that alone doesn’t help me ensure that my little human is learning how to conquer the world or that I am moving toward the goals for my business. Can you relate?

The way that I meet my goals as a mom and a business owner is by creating routines in my daily life for myself, my business and my child. However, it must also be noted that the creation of the routine is part-one. Part two, and admittedly the more challenging part, is following the routine (which means saying no a lot of really wonderful things…but that is another post).

If you are struggling to manage it all, I suggest getting started with just one routine. For me, the most important routine in my life is my morning routine. If my day is set-up for success from the moment I get out of bed I find that I am much better equipped to both rock the plans I have for that day as well as adjust for the unexpected when it comes up.

I’d love to help you get a jump start, so here is a breakdown of my actual morning routine…

5:45 AM – Wake-Up, Feed Dog, Grace & Joy Routine

6:00 AM – 7:00 AM Client Work

7:00 AM – 7:15 AM – Little L Wakes Up, Get Dressed

7:15 AM – 7:45ish – Read Books on Couch + Drink Milk (Little L) & Coffee (ME!)

7:45ish – 8:00ish – Start Making Breakfast + Quiet Play Time (Puzzles or Blocks)

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM – Eat Breakfast

This is what our typical day looks like Monday – Friday with some slight tweaks to the weekends (mostly snuggling in bed while my husband is home ). Let me go ahead and fill you in on a few more details.

The Grace & Joy routine has transformed my morning! This is a one-hour Morning Makeover course by Whitnee Hawthorne over at The Savvy Working Mom. She helped me create a morning routine that energizes me for the day in 7 minutes! This is absolutely worth the $27 investment.

One of the recommendations I tell all new moms who intend to work from home with their kids is that it is ESSENTIAL to develop routines for their children so they can anticipate when they will have space to work, can also better anticipate their child’s needs throughout the day and their child can anticipate when they will have mom’s full attention. From the day we brought Baby L home we began building our routines, especially for sleep. Sleep deprivation is a no-win situation for anyone so I prioritized that above just about everything else. We followed an eat, play, sleep cycle and within a few weeks had a groove that enabled me to have an idea of when she would eat and sleep (and when I could anticipate a much needed postpartum nap). I learn best by reading, so here are the two books I used as Lyla was an infant to build our routine – On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep and The Happiest Baby on the Block. (Note: Babywise has some mixed reactions from folks, I followed their routine but I also paid attention to Baby L’s cues and adjusted accordingly to her needs). 

Lastly, I need my own morning time but I also want to teach Little L the importance of a morning routine as well. So, we snuggle together and read books until my cup of coffee is finished. Sometimes she looks at her own books while I read mine, sometimes I read to her. Either way, we start our day from a place of peace and connection and it makes everything else go that much more smoothly. It’s the perfect start to our day 

This is what works for us. I’ll be sharing more about the rest of our routines in my next post but until then I’d love to hear about your routines! Drop a comment below and let me know what is working for you.