Thriving In Motherhood Podcast | Productivity, Planning, Family Systems, Time Management, Survival Mode, Mental Health, Vision

A few weeks ago, I did an episode about my morning routine. I got a great follow-up question about how to do this when you have a baby or toddler that wakes up super early. I remember that season well. A friend and I would meet up at 7:45 a.m. with our two toddlers and baby, each of whom woke up too early and went for a run and talked about how our kids wake up too early! But I've learned a lot from that season, and here are my best tips for doing a morning routine in the early years to get the brainstorming started for what could work for you. This is such an essential piece of the puzzle when it comes to not just surviving motherhood and fits into the Soul Pillar of the Three Pillars of Thriving. Here are a few things I've done that work for our family: Do your morning routine with your kids - I started doing my morning routine with my kids instead of jumping into kid things. I still do this with my youngest, who wakes up before the rest of my kids. The expectation is that I'm not available right now so she can play near me, but I will do my own routine. It didn't take too long before we got in the rhythm of it. I realized I didn't need to let my kids run the show. I'm the adult, and I can set priorities for myself in the morning that will bless us all. Implement a Big 5 for your kids - I started a Big 5 for my kids so they knew what they could be doing while I did my own morning routine. For a long time, I didn't actually care if they did those things, but if they came to me during that time, I asked them how their Big 5 was going, and they would have something to do while I finished up. They make their bed, get dressed, brush their teeth, say their prayers, and read/look at books. Keep a realistic mindset - I changed my mindset about what was reasonable and expected my kids to stay in bed until 6:30 or 7. When they woke up before that, my husband didn't mind putting them back to bed while I did my morning routine. Over time, they catch on and stay in bed until the time you have established. Use signals to let your kids know when it's okay to get out of bed - With my 3rd and 4th child, we got a clock on Amazon that is red when they need to be in bed and turns green when they can get out of bed. It has made a HUGE difference because there is a clear expectation, and I'm not the middleman - the color of the clock is. I'm sure you will find a solution of your own that works for you and your family. It will just take some time and trial and error. Keep the vision of what you want your foundation to look like, write it down, and even if it takes you all day to get those things done, that's okay! You are still building habits and getting to the essential things. It doesn't always look neat and tidy, and that is normal and to be expected.

For the first time in 10 years, I recently traveled across the country and left all my kids and my husband for six days. It wasn't as impossible as I had made it out to be in my mind. In fact, everything went great! In this week's episode, I'm sharing practical things I did to prepare everyone for a smooth week at home. Next time my husband travels, I'll be using some of these tips to make things easier for myself too.

As we transition from summer to fall, I like to pause and reflect on how the last few months went as a way to close the tabs and move forward with confidence into the next season. It can be easy to get to the end of the season and wish it went differently. But instead of sitting in a place of discouragement or looking at the things that didn't go well, we can pause and look for the lessons learned to help us be intentional about the little changes we make in our lives that make a big difference over time. You either get the results you want or the lesson you needed. So, if you want to try to do your own summer review, here are a few questions to get you started: What were you hoping summer would look like? What went well this summer? Was there something this summer that you stressed about that turned out not to be a big deal? What were some of the things that didn't go well? Look for the lessons and how to reframe. What do you want to remember in your planning for next summer? In this week's episode, I'll walk you through the process of reflecting on your summer and what you can learn from it so you can feel great about how things went, even if it was different than you hoped. Bring a pen and paper (or a Think and Process page from your Thriving in Motherhood Planner) to this actionable episode.

After a summer of different activities and routines (or maybe no routines), I get excited about settling into a new rhythm as we transition into the school year and fall. In this week's episode, I'm sharing the process I've used for years to help our family get clarity about what matters to us right now and how to make sure we make time for it in our daily life. I'm really great at thinking of the ideal in every area of life. But the reality is that things are going to change, balls are going to drop, and we let go of things as our enthusiasm and energy fade. So what matters most that you want to make a top priority and invest time and energy in? What is the thing that you can go big on this fall? This can be your vision for the fall to help you know what to say yes to, say no to and to structure your days and weeks around. Here are some other tips to transition back into family routines: Write down your schedule as it already is - not as you want it to be. Decide the one thing you want to go big on for the next few months. Pick an anchor you can pair that thing with. Go slow; make it stick. For example, when my kids were little, and we were just beginning this journey of establishing routines, I knew I wanted to go big on scripture study with my kids. We had one clear anchor at the time: breakfast. So I paired my one priority with my one anchor, and now we've been doing our scripture study with breakfast for almost eight years. Once you have established your one anchor and one routine, you can pick another priority and another anchor. We now have each meal and rest and read time as an anchor in our day that we've paired with some of our daily priorities, and we have routines that go with our anchors. We've also attached routines to weekly and monthly anchors. Start small and every few months, add on another thing as your family continues to learn, grow, and change together. If you want to learn more about getting your family rhythms established, I would love to support you in my Made to Soar: Next 90 Days program.

For years I've gotten up before the kids (or with the kids and let them play near me) while I do my morning routine to get myself in a good place. This is one of the ways I keep my Soul Pillar intact. When I don't do my morning routine, I find that it doesn't take too long before I'm irritable, grumpy, and snappy at everyone around me. Now that I'm aware of that, this morning routine is one of the first things I put back in place when we are transitioning from the novelty and trips of summer back into our school year routines at home. In this week's episode, I'm sharing exactly what I've done for my morning routine that sets me up for success. My Morning Routine: Free write about the last 24 hours: I write about anything that was meaningful and significant in the last 24 hours. This creates space in my brain. Answer questions in the Thriving in Motherhood Journal: I ask myself key questions in the Thriving in Motherhood Journal - What's one thing that could make me feel successful at the end of the day? What's one thing I could do to make tomorrow easier? What is something that might challenge me today, and how would my best self handle it? Scripture study: I read my scriptures and write down a few passages and my thoughts about them. Exercise: I usually do a Physique 57 workout. Pray + Shower: I shower, pray, and write down any last thoughts that I have when I'm completely by myself and can ponder.

I'm so excited to finally be sharing the conversation I had with Dawn Madsen of Dawn the Minimal Mom. By now, I'm sure you've heard of the concept of minimalism, but in this week's episode, we are talking about how Dawn's faith has impacted her journey to having less things to manage. We also talk about the legacy her parents left her that had nothing to do with managing stuff. For me, the biggest takeaway is hope that whatever our weaknesses and strengths are as moms, they can have a lasting impact on our children for the better. Dawn often gets asked, "What's the threshold?" when it comes to how much stuff to keep around. Her metric is that everyone should be able to manage their things - and for a two-year-old, that's not going to be very much! If you're just getting started and need a refresher, Dawn recommends starting in the kitchen and keeping just what you are currently using in this season of life. This will have the biggest impact on your days because it's where families spend a lot of time every single day, and it makes life feel like it is under control when the kitchen is clean. For more decluttering tips, check out the full episode.

I've gotten lots of questions about our Zone system that we use to have the kids help clean up our main living spaces. In this week's episode, I'm sharing all of the details of what it is, why we've set things up this way, what everyone is responsible for, how often we reset each zone, and how long it takes. Zone cleaning is a long-term game plan. It takes time, and it will require a bit of extra effort on your part to set things up. We've divided our downstairs into four zones. Each kid had their own room with a large rug to vacuum. At first, you are going to do every step of the cleaning with your kids. It takes time - even years - for the kids to get the hang of it. We also paid close attention to when someone is feeling overwhelmed by a space and simplify it so they are set up for success. The things they are responsible for match their age. The wonderful thing about this is that we are now able to reset our entire downstairs fairly quickly as we've continued to increase our kid's skills, decrease the amount of things we have to manage, and foster a team spirit amongst ourselves. Listen to this week's episode to learn more about our Zone Cleaning System and how it's working for our family and home.

As we are nearing the end of the summer and getting ready for the new school year, I wanted to share some of my all-time favorite books that inspire me in my homeschooling. 10 Books To Get You Excited About Homeschooling: Educating the Wholehearted Child Life Giving Home Home Education For the Children's Sake The Well-Trained Mind Call of the Wild and Free You Are Your Child's First Teacher Awaking Wonder The Brave Learner Teaching From Rest As I read these books, I'm searching for little bits and pieces that I can add to my vision of what our family and culture look like. This includes homeschooling, but it also goes deeper and more far-reaching than that. Homeschooling is about home. And that is a personal quest I'm on - figuring out what home looks and feels like. I've had a very transient life, so home isn't a place that I return to from my childhood. I'm still trying to figure out how to make a place feel like home, but I'm grateful for the little bits I've gleaned and incorporated into our family so far. Whether you're a seasoned homeschooler, in your first few years, or a mom with young kids too early for school, there is something here for you!

We have been road tripping since we had just one little baby, and now we are on our third year of driving across the county and back as a family of six. In this week's episode, I'm sharing everything I've learned to make our drive smoother to help set you up for success on your next adventure. We are covering everything from our favorite gear, how we pack and organize, car activities for kids, favorite audiobooks, what we prepare for meals and snacks, how we find hotels every night, our procedure for smooth rest stops, and what a typical day on the road looks like.

Do you have dreams and goals that you want to go after but haven't made much progress yet? This week's conversation with Gabe Cox (@gabecox_redhotmindset) will hopefully inspire you to start taking baby steps forward on your unique journey as we discuss the power of letting your kids see you win. When Gabe Cox was a young mom, she had a mentor share with her that her kids had asked her, "What do you do, mom?" She had nothing to tell them except what she did for her children. Her entire life was about them. Investing in and being intentional with our children and families is so important, but for Gabe, she also realized that she wanted her kids to see what going after a goal, trying, failing, and learning looked like. She wanted her kids to see what doing something hard looked like and give them permission to do the same. For her, that looks like running races, qualifying for the Boston Marathon, and writing a book. Fast forward many years, and her oldest son is working to compete in the Olympics as a gymnast. As she has watched him try and fail and learn and improve, she is now inspired by him. Here are three pillars to setting and crushing goals: See it: Create your vision! What is something that is on your heart? Write it all down - big and small goals. What is something that you could do that is a little bit outside your comfort zone? That is where you will grow. Plan it: The plan needs to fit your capacity and your season. Know that you will have to adjust and be flexible. Do it: You have to be in motion. Gabe shares that there is a place to wait on God, but He can work more in our lives when we are doing something for Him to work with.