862: Feeling Overworked and Overwhelmed? Try These 6 Time-Saving Habits

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2:01So if you need that extra accountability, I highly encourage you to get it. One of the things is, is if we want to get more time and we're not sure where to start, literally open up your settings on your phone and look at your screen time report and see that data for yourself and think about all the time that you're spending on that device. I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a$300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven figure online business that feels even better than it looks all from my house in small town, Minnesota with my family.

2:39Here we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality, and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain. Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we tackle practical, no-fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired, and empowered.

3:18This is the Gold Digger Podcast. What if I told you that a few small shifts could give you back hours of your week without hustling harder, sacrificing sleep, or giving up the things that matter the most to you? Since becoming a mom twice now, I've felt just how limited time can be. But here's what I've learned. It's not about having more time. It's about making the time you do have work better for you. When this episode first aired, my youngest wasn't even a year old and I was deep in a season of figuring out how to balance work, life, motherhood, and a million other little things in between.

3:55And while life looks different now, different schedules, different challenges, different measures of growth, the habits that I'm sharing today still help me create more breathing room in my days. So let me ask you, what's one thing you wish you had more time for? Whether it's rest, creativity, family, or just a little space to think? Well, this episode is about helping you find those extra hours. Let's dive on in. So before we dive into the strategies, I just want to share a tiny bit of research for all of the multitaskers out there or for the people who finished their day and they feel like they're not totally sure what it is that they actually accomplished.

4:34I'm raising my hand for both of those camps. Feeling split in two is something that I felt since Coco entered my world. But now I feel like I'm split in three between my kids and my business. And one of the greatest battles that I faced in this so-called juggle is this fight for presence. It's like, we all want to be more present and we start getting stressed out that we're not being present enough. And it's like, when I'm with my kids, I just want to be all in. I want to be focused on them, not thinking about work. And when I'm working, I want to spend my time wisely on the things that actually move the needle and not be thinking about my kids.

5:07And what happens is when I try to mix the two with multitasking, I basically feel like I'm failing at both or that I'm wasting time or that I'm not actually getting anything done. Like, have you ever felt that way? Well, there's this reason that multitasking leaves us feeling inefficient and frazzled. And let me tell you, I have heard this research over and over and over again, and yet I still fall into the trap of believing that I am capable of multitasking. but studies show us that multitasking is actually really ineffective and we're more likely to make a mistake and take way longer to do anything when we attempt to do two or more things at the same time.

5:45Get this, only 2.5 % of people are even capable of truly being able to multitask whereas the majority of humans are actually wired to be monotaskers or wired to only be able to focus on one thing at a time. When we think that we're multitasking, we're actually task switching at this rapid pace, which can be confusing for our brains to manage. And it leads to sloppier work, lower retention, and at least for me, a heck of a lot of less joy with whatever it is that I'm trying to focus my attention on. Like I absolutely hate feeling super rushed or behind on things, but at the same time, there's something to be said about the ability to get more done when you're strategic about your time.

6:28The days when I have fewer items on my to-do list and more flexibility or more time to kind of flow through my day and do whatever, whenever, those actually tend to be my less productive days than the ones where I know I only have a two-hour chunk or a nap time window to finish X, Y, or Z. Like when I became a mom a few years ago, I realized just how much I could accomplish in a three hour window between nursing. My efficiency literally increased. Like I feel like it increased tenfold and the way that I looked at time totally transformed. That's because when we have these boundaries with our time, we're able to use it way more wisely.

7:08We're able to focus our efforts and our attention on one thing rather than trying to figure out what to do and swapping tasks throughout the day without a plan. And if you're one of those people where this was me, you get to the end of the day and you're like, I don't know where time went. I don't actually know what I did. You find yourself like not actually progressing forward in any substantial way. Then I highly recommend taking a little bit of time and doing an actual audit of your time to keep track of where and what you're spending your time on all day. Now this might sound extra, but I really encourage you to try it and just see how it goes.

7:47You can literally track and write down your hour by hour routine for like two or three days, starting from the time you wake up all the way to the time you go to bed. Like keep track of how much time you spend on everything from getting ready for the day, making meals, doing household chores, working on various tasks for your job, even extracurricular things like exercise or happy hour with friends. I always encourage myself and my team, like keep a log of what you do when, even the times that you might get distracted or attempt to multitask. And I have a feeling that it might just reveal some surprising data that will help you to start seeing potential gaps, inefficiencies, and opportunities for you to create better boundaries with your time.

8:30I want for you to use this like time audit idea and the data that comes with it, and then couple it with what I'm going to share in the rest of today's episode so that you can feel more in control of your time each day and that you can trust that you're using your time to steward the life and the schedule that you desire rather than feeling like you're always behind or you don't have enough time to do everything you wish you could do. So let's dive on in to tip number one and hear me out before you shut this episode off. Tip number one is this, wake up just a little bit earlier. Now as a sleep deprived mom, sleep is foundational in my life.

9:09And I am not at all saying you need to get up at four in the morning, but I am telling you that maybe just 10 or 15 extra minutes in the morning could be what you need to start the day on the right foot and to help you get clear on your priorities for the day while waking up in a less urgent way. Now I am someone who literally sleeps by the baby monitor and that is usually my wake up call. And there are absolutely seasons of life where that is going to happen. But if you are in a place where you can wake up just a little bit earlier, like 15 extra minutes a day is nearly two extra hours per week of time that you can use for whatever it is that you're seeking more of, whether it's journaling or reading or doing a little face mask or sneaking in sun salutations or mindfully brewing your precious cup of coffee.

10:01Notice that I'm not necessarily saying you need to spend this time working, but just setting yourself up. I feel like our mornings are so critical. Maybe you wish you felt a little less unorganized. You could use that time to write down a quick plan or a to-do list for your day. Or maybe you hate feeling rushed. Use those 15 minutes to get yourself ready or to prepare things for your kids before they wake up. Do you wish you could feel maybe less tension throughout your day? Start off your day with a short stretch and a meditation. While I'm a huge proponent of using our mornings intentionally and creating a little more time to kick off your day on the right foot, I am so not about doing this at the detriment of your sleep quality.

10:46Like I firmly, like in my heart of hearts, believe that if you want to have a great day, it starts with a great night's sleep. So if you're a person who can limp along through your day after just four or five hours of not super restful sleep, then I want for you to start here and focus on getting at least seven hours of good quality sleep. We are kind of crazy about sleep. Like we are hyper aware of the quality of our sleep and have been actually trying to be super consistent with going to bed early so that we can get up just a little bit earlier. And actually 90 % of the time, Drew and I, we like naturally just wake up early.

11:23If we had it our way, we'd be in bed every night by 9 PM, sleeping by 9.30 after reading to unwind. That's like our dream world. And it's something that we prioritize a lot before we became a family of four. I feel like in my final stages of pregnancy, we would high five ourselves as we were like getting into bed at nine o 'clock. And I was telling myself I was like banking up on sleep, which we all know is not an actual thing. But since we're the kind of people we hate alarm clocks, we have learned how to kind of set our body clocks. And we also totally trust our toddler to wake us up slightly before 7am saying, mommy, daddy, Coco out of bed, please.

12:04So, you know, it's different scenarios, but I just want to really focus in on just even starting your day with a little bit of peace can really, really set the stage for how it unfolds. Now, if you're listening to this and you're like, oh, my sleep is terrible. Some proven ways to improve your sleep include aiming to go to bed around the same time every night, avoiding screens and blue light at least an hour before going to bed, avoiding caffeine and naps later in the day, and keeping your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet while you sleep. We literally have gone as extreme as using little face masks.

12:41We have really great blackout shades. We've also thoughtfully invested in sheets, pillows, and blankets that we love making bed feel like this like precious escape every night. So if you have not updated your bedding since college, here is your reminder. You are a grown up and you deserve to love how you are sleeping. This podcast is brought to you by Mercury, banking that helps entrepreneurs do more with their money. Okay. I remember in the early days of my entrepreneurship journey, clients would literally mail me checks and then I would have to drive all the way to the bank to deposit them. It took me literal years to make things go digital.

13:20And I am ashamed to admit I still have a filing cabinet with paper contracts because I'm way too afraid to throw them away. But that's the beauty of growth, right? You learn what systems serve you and which ones hold you back. Mercury is one of those systems that just works. Where traditional banking websites and apps are clunky and hard to use, Mercury is meticulously designed to make doing just about anything with your money feel effortless. And the best part is it flexes to fit all types of businesses. Ready to see what powerful banking can do for your business? Visit mercury.com to apply in minutes.

13:55Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. For important details, check the show notes. You know, I only share stuff I'm genuinely obsessed with. And so when I kept seeing Bowling Branch sheets all over Instagram, I was like, okay, are these actually worth the hype? Drew and I have been using their sheets and duvets for over a year now and honestly our bedroom feels like a completely different space. The moment you touch these sheets you'll get it. They're incredibly soft to start but they literally get softer every time you wash them. They're made from 100 % organic cotton so they're super durable and they're breathable which is perfect for piling on cozy layers without turning into a furnace at 2am.

14:36This is hands down the best bedding I've slept on and I'm so genuinely excited for you to try it. Start building your sanctuary of comfort this fall with Bowl & Branch. For a limited time, get 20 % off your first set of sheets plus free shipping at bowlandbranch.com slash golddigger. That's bowlandbranch, B-O-L-L-A-N-D branch.com slash golddigger to save 20 % and unlock free shipping. Exclusions apply. Okay, number two is this set screen time and phone limits. So it's pretty obvious, but one of our biggest distractions and time sucks of our modern age are these things that we carry with us literally everywhere, even the bathroom, which is our phones.

15:19Like, have you ever caught yourself where you're just avoiding a task or you're dreading something? And instead of facing it, you take a little quote break by grabbing your phone without a second thought. And before you note, you find yourself 20 minutes later scrolling around on social media. It happens to all of us. And it's super easy when we're constantly having our phones with us or on our desks. They're basically just sitting there taunting us, right? They're like telling you like you're missing something or somebody might be trying to get ahold of you or did you respond to that yet? And for me, someone with a neurodivergent brain, my phone can be the ultimate time thief if I'm not careful or if I'm not mindful about it.

15:58So get this, this stat literally makes me want to throw up, but Americans check their phones on average 262 times per day. That is once every five and a half minutes. And that's like five and a half minutes when we're talking about like not our sleep hours. That stat is wild to me. 262 times a day, we're looking at our phones. And on top of that, we spend on average nearly three and a half hours actually on our phones each day. That's crazy, right? But it's like when we think about it, it's not all that unbelievable. So much of our information lives on these devices that come with us everywhere from our email to the news, social media to music, connection with family and friends, text messages, phone calls.

16:45It is no wonder that we're so attached to them and that they serve as this distraction when we'd really benefit by focusing our attention elsewhere. Drew and I talk about this all the time, but like when we were kids, we would get bored and then we would get creative, whether, you know, it was going out back and building a dam in the stream or making like a pillow fort. And kids these days aren't used to getting bored because they're so distracted because they use screens too. And it's just something as parents that I think it's super hard to watch happen, but it's also like our kids are watching us.

17:22So what are they seeing when they're looking at us? So it's a conundrum and it's something I don't have the answers for. But if you want to create more time in your day, it can happen pretty simply by eliminating or putting limits on your own screen time and how often you allow yourself to peruse your phone. So Drew and I realized a couple of years ago, I would say now it's probably even five years that we'd get into bed at night and we'd sit on our phones. And we used to do this all the time. We would literally just sit in bed together, scroll mindlessly rather than connecting with each other at the end of the day or doing something way more restorative for ourselves like reading.

18:02And it clicks like, hey, we don't want to spend our time together at night that way. And we also don't want that to be the thing that we fall asleep to or wake up to. So we designated a little corner in our kitchen and that is where we charge our phones. Our bedroom is a no phone zone. And so we literally plug our phones into a cabinet in our kitchen at dinnertime. And then they are out of sight, out of mind for the rest of the evening. And one, it really helps wind us down to get better sleep. But two, having them in this designated location, it's like if we start walking over there, the other person can call you out, right?

18:41Like they're like holding you accountable of like, I know why you're in that quarter of the kitchen? What are you doing? What's so important right now? And so for me, I have to have that really hard boundary and not having our phones in our bedroom. It doesn't really tempt me. It means that I'm not going to wake up in the middle of the night and zombies scroll away. They are on a different floor in our house and that's where they stay. So maybe you have way more self-control than I do, whether you trust yourself to hold yourself accountable, or you decide to designate a zone where your phones can live and stay for a portion of the day, creating some sort of expectation around when and how you're using screens can save you a lot of time and can help you to stay focused.

19:24And one thing I love about how we charge our phones downstairs is then in the morning, like when I get cocoa up, like I haven't even touched my phone yet. Nothing has been urgent. I get to spend time with her, getting her ready for school in the morning and things like that. And it's just a much more peaceful way to start the day. And I found that like, I don't even touch my phone until like 9, 10 AM. And it really does just kind of impact one, how I start my day, but two, how I prioritize what needs to get done. So maybe you don't mind sleeping next to your phone, but you do know it's a major distraction when you try to sit down and do deep work in your afternoons, or maybe it's the thing that's keeping you from starting the day the way that you actually want to, as you jump onto your email and your Instagram the second your eyes open.

20:08But my challenge for you is just to take a little bit of time, examine your own phone habits, and ask someone in your life for a little bit more accountability if this is truly an area where you're struggling with. You can build in boundaries in either where you place your phone somewhere else for a period of time, have somebody hide it from you, set it on do not disturb mode during times you need to focus, or even through setting limits on specific apps that suck you in. Like your phone can literally shoot up reminders that your time is being spent on your screen. So if you need that extra accountability, I highly encourage you to get it.

20:44One of the things is, is if we want to get more time and we're not sure where to start, literally open up your settings on your phone and look at your screen time report and see that data for yourself and think about all the time that you're spending on that device. Okay, number three is something a little more recent for me, but something I am loving. So set a timer for focused work. So I already referenced like, I don't love feeling like pressure or urgency, like in the form of deadlines. But I will say that there is something super powerful about giving yourself some sort of timeframe to work on something or to focus on doing as much as you can within this short little window of time.

21:27So I'm not talking about like having this big work assignment or this big project or this big thing that you want to do around the house and saying, okay, I'm going to give myself all week to do it. I'm talking like 20 to 30 minute increments to get something started or to finish a task that you've been putting off. Now you could extend it. If you're like 20 or 30 minutes, it's not going to get me anywhere. Trust me, it will. But if you're like, I need an hour, an hour and a half, fine, take what you need. But listen to this. Studies actually suggest that the maximum our brains can focus on one task is 90 minutes at a time before we need a 15 minute break.

22:0590 minutes, that is the maximum. So dedicating a day or a week to getting one thing checked off of your list, even if it is a really big thing isn't actually motivating for your brain to conceptualize getting something done. This is exactly why we often delay starting something or wait until the very last minute because we make a task out to be bigger or harder or more time consuming than it actually is. And in doing that, it paralyzes us from actually taking any action. So how the heck do we combat this? We combat it by breaking down what you need to do in chunks and tackling it piece by piece in smaller windows of time.

22:47And I will tell you, take it a step further, have a timer handy to keep you accountable to what your brain is able to really do. It is literally amazing that when you give yourself a smaller deadline to focus on completing one thing and one thing only, how quickly you're actually able to get certain things done, whether it's the stack of bills in your drawer or putting your laundry away or writing that one email, setting a timer and simply taking focus action can quickly move the needle and yield results. Not to mention it can help you release that guilt and that stress that you feel when you put things off that you know that you should be doing.

23:25Now, while this idea might lead you to believe that maybe having a timer set would make you feel frantic or rushed, in reality, you're giving yourself the freedom within this time window to fully focus your attention, your efforts, and your energy on a specific task and in a way that allows you to actually progress where you might be prone to procrastinating. So I got one of these hourglass timers on my desk. It's exactly 20 minutes. And when I'm really struggling with focusing or putting off doing something that I find myself avoiding, I'll flip that thing over and use that timer to focus and get things done.

24:04There are also timers online. If you Google the Pomodoro timer, or even just use a timer on your phone, I want for you to incorporate this and just try it out. Like promise me, you'll just give it a try. You can set it, exit out of all your distractions, whether it's email or Slack, like put your phone in airplane mode and give yourself this ability to fully focus anywhere from 20, 30, all the way up to 90 minutes. And my advice here is to start with smaller increments of time because your focus is going to be sharpened the more that you do this. So don't set yourself up for failure and say, I'm going to sit here for 90 minutes and do this thing.

24:41Start small, check in with yourself. It's kind of like when you're dreading a workout and you get five minutes in and you're like, oh, okay, I feel good. I can keep going. Very similar to this. our focus is something that we need to train. Okay. Number four is something Coco taught me prep for your day the night before. So did your mom ever like lay out your clothes before school when you were growing up or have you like packed your lunches the night in advance before work? There is something to be said about simplifying your days and the decisions that you have to make before that first cup of coffee hits.

25:16And something we've learned as parents is that Coco does really well when she knows exactly what to expect for the next day. So every night when I put her to bed, I'll share what the game plan is for the following day. And I'll do simple things like laying out her clothes, or if she's going to take a bath, I'll have her towel ready or pack up her backpack, like all of these little things. And what's so cool about it is it helps her to wake up knowing what to expect and anticipating what the day is going to hold. And the funny thing is, is I was thinking about this like, oh, she just does really well when we prepare her.