Episode 37: How to Make Personal Growth Happen In Between School Pick Up and Dance Class

The #1 reason busy moms give me for not investing in their personal growth journeys is not having enough time. As a busy mom myself, I completely get it. Carpool, dance schedules, PTA meetings, school fundraisers, the list literally never stops. But that’s just it, mama, the list never will stop. So how can you make time for personal growth in your day? You will learn my favorite tips and tricks in this episode for how to make time for personal growth. Let’s do this! 

How To Make Time For Your Personal Growth: Tip #1

My first tip is to decide that personal growth is a priority for you. To do that, I would suggest checking out the last episode, episode 36: 3 Signs You Are Ready to Start Your Personal Growth Journey. If you are noticing any of these signs, starting your journey may be more important than you think. Once you have determined that you want to consciously work on your personal growth, it is time to prioritize it in your day. Without deciding that it is a priority, you won’t be able to find time during your day to work on it.  

When I first decided to prioritize my personal growth, I decided I wanted to learn a new skill that I had no experience with. I decided to learn how to use the fancy camera that my dad had bought me for a wedding present. After doing a bit of research, I was immediately overwhelmed. There are a million free resources out there that will help you get started learning how to use your camera. But did I want to spend my time pursuing resources that may or may not help me? Not really, I am a busy mom! 

Commit To Your Growth

So instead, I talked to my husband and shared with him that I was ready to invest in my own growth. I wanted to learn new things and start to create an identity outside of motherhood. We both agreed that it made the most sense for me to invest in a paid course to learn how to use my camera, to help the process happen most effectively, since I had such limited time as a full-time teacher. Before I even knew how this growth activity would fit into my schedule, I committed to prioritizing my growth. 

Step one is to commit to your growth. If you want change, say it. Say it out-loud to yourself, to your loved ones, to your kids. Write it down in your MAP Book notebook system. Let them know what it is that you are trying to do and why you are trying to do it. You will be surprised how much your loved ones want to support you on your personal growth journey! 

But most importantly, prioritize it for yourself. Being a mom does not mean you have to sacrifice your own well-being for the next 18 years while your kids grow up. Show them what it means to improve yourself, to be a life long learner. Show them how you go from not knowing how to turn on a camera to running a photography business in 8 months (you can read about my story here). You will never make time for something that is not a priority.

How To Make Time For Your Personal Growth: Tip #2

My second tip for making time for your personal growth is figuring out how much time you actually need to do this work. What are the action steps you are wanting to take? If you try to set a random hour aside a week to “do your personal growth”, you are not going to see much progress. In fact, you’ll probably get frustrated. Why? Because you don’t have a plan! 

A personal growth plan will help you to take focused action towards becoming the person you want to be. For me, the person I wanted to be was a person who knew how to use a fancy camera in manual mode. You may want to be a person that works out every day. Or maybe you want to be a person that reads 12 books a year. All of these things can happen, with a plan.

In order to create focused action steps, I strongly suggest making a plan for your personal growth. You can use resources on this podcast/blog that I have put together, do your own research or sign up for my workshop called Creating a Personal Growth Plan That Will Change Your Life. No matter what step you choose to take next, trust that it is the right one for you! 

How To Make Time For Your Personal Growth: Tip #3

Finally, my last tip is to look at your schedule. From there, you can make a plan to work personal growth into your day. At this point, you have acknowledged that it is a priority. You have also determined your focused action steps, so time is not wasted. Now it is time to look at your day to see where you can incorporate your personal growth.

When I first got started with my personal growth plan, I wanted to watch a Ted Talk daily. I had stumbled upon one recently that inspired me. And to be honest, I thought people that watched Ted Talks were impressive and intellectual. I wanted to be more like them, so I made this my plan for quarter one. 

What It Could Look Like

First, I looked at my day and tried to decide where it would make sense to watch a 17-minute video. To be honest, I knew that I would struggle to do it at night. This is because I was tired and my kids were babies. I already woke up early in the morning to work out each day, but I wasn’t confident there would be enough time to work the Ted Talk in consistently before my children woke up. 

Finally, I looked at my schedule during the day. As a teacher, I received a 25-minute, duty-free lunch break. Typically, I would spend this time saying hi to co-workers and eating lunch together. And more often than not, I would also spend it planning for the next day.

Because I had prioritized my growth and knew the exact amount of time that I needed per day, it made sense for me to block out this time for my Ted Talks. I began closing my door at lunch and eating, while watching a Ted Talk. Did co-workers give me grief for it? Yup. Did people ask what I was doing? They sure did. I informed them that I was taking a course and that I didn’t have time to do it at home. 

It did not work every single day, but more often than not, I got my Ted Talk in. I found I was more inspired, proud of myself for following through and more rested for the rest of my day. I still found plenty of time to be social with my co-workers before and after-school and was ready to be present with my kids at home. 

My biggest tips are to look at the bookends of your day: early and late. Can you work your personal growth in then? Those are typically the easiest parts of your day to control. If those don’t work, consider how you could use commute time or time during your day to make progress with your personal growth plan. 

Let’s Make a Plan!

Take a moment to decide what personal growth activity you could work to incorporate into your day. Decide to make it a priority, figure out how long it will take you and then examine your day to see where it could fit. Remember, you are not just doing this for yourself. You are doing this to inspire your kids and others to put their own air masks on first. Once you have created your plan, make it happen, mama! 

We talked a lot about creating a personal growth plan for yourself in today’s episode. I am excited to share that I have created a resource for you if you are wanting to create your own plan quickly. My workshop, Creating a Personal Growth Plan That Will Change Your Life, and it is the workshop that I wish I had back in the day. This is a 60-minute workshop that will walk you through creating a personal growth plan from start to finish, on your own time. It is complete with a workbook and examples to help make 2023 the year everything changes for you and your family. 

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe on Spotify so you don’t miss next week’s episode, which is all about how to prepare for your personal growth journey when you are first getting started. If you are a busy mom that doesn’t know where to begin, this episode is for you!

Finally, if you want to connect between episodes, be sure to give me a follow over on Instagram – @sharonlegercoaching. I would love to support you on your personal growth journey! 

Did You Love This Episode?

If so, be sure to share it with a friend – this helps busy moms like you to find me!

And finally, you can also check out these related episodes that I think you’ll be obsessed with:

Design Your Life as a Busy Mom

How the 5 Second Rule Can Transform Your Day

The Top Habits Every Mom Needs