Intention setting for busy Mum's!

"You create your thoughts, your thoughts create your action, 

and your intentions create your reality"

Unknown

Being a Mum is a full time job, and any person that has tried to deny this would most likely have been seriously wounded by any Mother in close range! Now if you're the type of crazy Mama who is the grow my own veges and make each meal from scratch and my kids will play violin and do ballet and learn spanish and I will make their clothes and my house will always be clean type of Mama, then it's a 6 figure job that you just don't get paid for!

So how do you juggle the needs of all of your family whilst still staying true to yourself?

Here's my tips (and I do feel in a position to give this advice because I pull off a crazy busy lifestyle every day and I love it!)

1. Set your intentions for the day
2. Structure your day
3. Get the kids involved
4. Be as healthy as you can be

Setting your intentions for the day
You know in your head what you want to get done right? So how come at the end of each day you've achieved a whole bunch of other stuff, except the stuff you wanted to achieve? Sound familiar? I used to do this all the time. I would plan to go for a run, but on the way to get my shoes I'd decide to quickly put on a load of washing. Then I'd notice the stained shirt from yesterday and decide I better soak that before it gets worse. I'd finally make it to the door and put my shoes on, only to realise that I hadn't put the slow cooker on for dinner that night....You get the picture right? All of these other things would get done, but they weren't making my spirit sing. I'd feel empty at the end of the day and think things like "Is this all my life is? Am I just a Mum who cooks, cleans and looks after everyone else?". I didn't prioritise myself. Then I decided that I had to change the way I went about things - the only way that change will happen is if you decide to make it happen. Listen to me here - YOUR INTENTIONS BECOME YOUR ACTIONS. I started writing down what was most important for me to achieve each day, and the washing, cooking and cleaning had to fit in around my intentions - NOT the other way around.

Structure your day
Now that you know what you want to do, you need to know when you're going to do it. Write a list of the order in which your activities will go. This will help you to see if your goals for the day are realistic, or if you need to move a few over till tomorrow or next week. Now here I want you to be ASSERTIVE. If your goal is to have lunch with your best friend because you really need that dose of sistahood to top up your spirit, and playgroup calls at the last minute needing a helper - the answer is NO! Do NOT feel guilty for prioritising your needs - you can schedule them in next week at a time that suits YOU.

Get the kids involved
I'm teaching the oh so important art of goal setting to my kids already. On our days at home we sit together in the morning and write a (pictorial!) list of the things we're going to do that day. That way they feel in control of their day too - they know what's coming up next and if it's not on the list, it ain't happening!

Be as healthy as you can be
In order to be the grow my own veges and make each meal from scratch and my kids will play violin and do ballet and learn spanish and I will make their clothes and my house will always be clean type of Mama that we talked about before, you're gonna need a whole lot of energy. Bread, pasta, chips, soft drinks and cakes are not going to allow you to be that crazy mama. You're going to need lots of fruits, veges, wholegrains and water to get you through each day.

Now go forth and be energetic, happy, spiritually fulfilled Mama's and your kids and your husband will thank you for it! (We're really much nicer to be around when we're not whinging about how much washing we did today - and nobody really notices how much housework we do anyway, right?!)