I’ve been working from home with small children underfoot for the last 7+ years. While I’m really grateful that I get to make a living without being away from my kids much, it hasn’t always been easy.

I remember many times when I’d have a deadline the next day and I was desperate to get a baby down to sleep so I could finish my work only to find myself in a hostage situation where she’d wake up screaming the second I tried to slowly slide my arm out from under her neck. This is a stressful situation.

See Tips for How to Yoga with Kids at Home

Through the years, I’ve become obsessed with optimize the far-too-rare work time I had. If I could maximize nap times, bed times, and preschool time, maybe, just maybe, I could get all my work done. It would be a bonus if I could squeeze in a quick yoga practice every day, too. (We all have our fantasies!)

I’ve tweaked nearly everything about my schedule: diet, exercise routines, systems for time management, etc. I’ve tried waking earlier so I could work more. I ate foods that promise to help brain function. I’ve downloaded to-do list apps, alarm clock apps, diet and exercise apps, and read countless books on how to boost my productivity.

See also A Yoga Practice for Mommy Brain

If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s this:

It is exhausting to try so hard to get things done and also look put together while you do it. So often I’ve felt like I was fighting a losing battle. And it’s really hard to be productive when you’re exhausted.

I’ve learned that I’m most productive when I’m not being such an asshole to myself by having ridiculous, unrealistic expectations. Things like taking time for the things that make me feel most happy and satisfied (sometimes that’s work, sometimes it’s family, and sometimes it’s something else entirely!) actually make it much easier to come up with ideas for yoga classes, write blog posts, and create social media posts for myself and my clients.

And, yes, eating and drinking healthfully helps, too. But only if I’m doing it from a place of love and compassion for myself. I don’t make everything from scratch because, well, there are other ways I’d rather spend my time. And I don’t hate on myself for sometimes choosing convenience over more wholesome homemade options.

One of the other things that boosts my productivity is reading (inspiring books with advice about how to best manage my time most efficiently. I really love learning from others and integrating those tips into my life if they make sense for me.

Lately, I’ve read three really great books with very different takes on time management and productivity. They all offer some great ideas for living a life that is both more fulfilling, more creative, and makes better use of our most precious, limited resource: Our time.

Since I know that not everybody is quite as geeky as I am when it comes to spending that precious time studying productivity hacks, I thought I’d share some of the highlights I took from 3 books.

The 3 Best Productivity Books I’ve Read Recently with Time Management Tips for Moms

Book Review – Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

I love how Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones emphasizes that doing the teeny tiniest things every single day can add up to huge shifts. Instead of just powering through on willpower, author James Clear offers ways to make them a part of your routine. In other words, something that you do without even thinking about it.

I found his discussion on “habit stacking,” or using an existing habit as a cue to add on do a behavior you’d like to become a habit, particularly useful as a parent of a small child. If every time you get up from the table, you immediately clear all the dishes away, put them in the dishwasher, and wipe down the counters, cleaning up the kitchen becomes something that takes a lot less effort and energy, for example.

The same applies to my yoga and mindfulness practices. While it’s incredibly difficult for me to meditate or practice yoga at the same time every day, it’s possible if I always do it immediately when my daughter down for a nap. That nap is something that I can count on happening daily, though it’s not always at the same time.

And his discussion about habits, in general, reminded me of the yoga philosophy concept of samskaras (patterns). Once you get into a habit, whether it’s a good or bad one, it’s so hard to veer off the path. Making an effort to develop good, healthy habits that are second-nature to you is a good way to get you toward your goals without it feeling like a struggle.

I enjoyed this book, but his approach definitely tends toward the masculine side. “Do 1 percent more every day, don’t break the chain, and never miss twice” is a nice idea in theory, but doesn’t always work for my lifestyle as a mom. There are days that I really REALLY want to do more, but it just isn’t possible because I can’t control my little one’s mood or behaviors. When this happens, I have to give myself some grace and be OK with the natural ups and downs that come with parenting a small child.

Listen to James Clear on the Pursuit with Purpose podcast by Melyssa Griffin.

Book Review – Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management by Kate Northrup

I’ve been a fan of Kate Northrup since I read her book, Money: A Love Story years ago. So, when I saw that she had a new book geared toward moms about productivity and time management, I had to have it immediately!

Buy Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management by Kate Northrup here (Affiliate link)

Not surprising, this book is a more feminine approach to time management. Productivity for women, she asserts, is cyclical. And we can be more productive by tapping into the strengths we naturally have at different phases of our menstrual cycles. This makes a lot of sense to me because I’ve definitely noticed a change in my energy levels at different times during my cycle. I even noticed changes in my energy and creativity levels from morning to evening on most days.

See also Book Review: Money a Love Story

I have to admit, the whole concept of feeling different at different phases of the moon has never really resonated with me. It just seems too abstract. But I do appreciate her explanation for why we might be impacted by the moon. We all know that the moon’s gravitational pull affects the tides in the ocean, and we’re mostly made of water, too, she points out.

Each of us has feminine and masculine energy within us, but we tend to approach things in a masculine way in our culture. I love Kate’s advice to trust your intuition. If you tend toward the feminine, you should embrace it and stop apologizing for it. There is more power in that than you might realize.

You don’t have to be assertively going after your goals and dreams all the time to see progress. Take a step back, work smart (not hard), and be OK with allowing things to come to YOU sometimes, too.

Watch an interview with Kate Northrup on Marie Forleo’s Marie TV.

Book Review – The Ayurvedic Self-Care Handbook: Holistic Healing Rituals for Every Day and Season by Sarah Kucera

The Ayurvedic Self-Care Handbook by Sarah Kucera isn’t exactly about time management and productivity. I wanted to include it on this list, though, because of Sarah’s really interesting approach to managing not just time, but energy.

She calls it the Pranic Budget (prana is another word for energy) and it’s a system where you assign numbers to the things that take energy and give you energy. Obviously, you want your budget to be balanced, but most of us never think about our energy as a finite resource. It SO is!

Ayurveda stresses the importance of ritual and routines, as well. But the focus is more on nature and the changing seasons than simply a woman’s menstrual cycle (as was a big focus of Do Less).

Of course, I’m a big fan of taking what works for you from a book and leaving what doesn’t. I think I’ll leave the getting up at 5am to the Ayurveda purists. (I like to stay up late and work after my kids go to bed.) But I will definitely be incorporating many of the Ayurvedic rituals for self-care. I love the idea of a weekly self massage, for example.

It hit home the idea that it’s important to create routines for ourselves, much in the same way we make sure our kids get to bed on time, eat lunch at the same time, nap at the same time, etc. I know for me a few more boundaries around screen time and sweets wouldn’t hurt either.

Listen to an interview with Sarah Kucera on the Yogaland Podcast with Andrea Ferretti.

My Time Management Tips for Moms

My big takeaway from all 3 of these great books is that, as busy moms who give SO much of themselves to their families, it’s important to both our physical and mental health to reserve some of our energy for ourselves, too.

It won’t always be balanced or perfect. Sometimes we’ll be more productive than others, and that’s pretty normal. Beating ourselves up over it, however, is an energy suck that can easily be a slippery slope that leaves us more depleted and rundown than we were before. But as long as we stay dedicated to giving ourselves some extra love when we really need it we’ll be happier, healthier, and have more energy to go around, too.

• Expect ups and downs. Your energy ebbs and flows according to how much your kids drain you throughout the day. Being mindful of this is a great way to make sure you’re utilizing the time when you’re most energetic and creative to get the things that take the most brain power done.
• Be mindful (and respectful) of your own routines, cycles, and seasons. Maybe you’re just in a season of life where you’re being less productive when it comes to your career because you’re using your energy raising a family. Allocate your energy to the things that are most important to you right now and be unapologetic about that decision.
• Work ahead whenever you can. When my energy and creativity is at a high, I sit down and crank out as much work as you can so I’ll have something to work with for those times when things aren’t flowing. Having some things done ahead of time (whether it’s my writing work or dinner prep) gives me some flexibility for when I need some time to rest and restore.
• When you’re not feeling it, just step away. I’m a writer. And I often have no words after my kids go down to sleep at night. I just sit and stare at my screen. But those times are almost always better spent sipping tea, doing a restorative yoga pose, or reading an inspiring book instead. Then, when I come back to my work with a fresh mind, the words flow, and I can finish an article or blog post in record speed.
• Allocate time for rest. No flowers bloom all year round. And it’s OK for you to take time to rest and reflect, too. Maybe you can’t just take a month off from work, but you probably can allocate one Saturday a month to ask for help with the kids so you can slow down, get some extra rest, and do something that really nourishes you.
• Make time for inspiration. Do things that inspire you every day. Maybe it’s as simple as a trip to the park with your kids or a stroll around the block with a neighbor.
• Move your body! Just 10 minutes of movement can get you out of your head, into your body, give you more energy, and help boost your creativity and mental capacity. Sometimes it really is as simple as moving your body when you feel stuck–and if you can make it a daily habit that you do without much thought, you’ll be setting yourself up for success at whatever you want to do.