Mastering Time & Task Management: A Practical Guide for Busy Parents

Let me introduce you to Joanne, one of my coaching clients. Joanne is a mother of two young children and works four days a week in a marketing role. She is back to work after maternity leave about 2 months now. She wakes up early (mainly with a toddlers foot in her back and the babies morning smile looking at her), and begins the juggling of creche drop-offs, rushing to work meetings, and trying to squeeze in household stuff during her lunch break. By the time the evening rolls around, she’s left with a growing list of unfinished tasks and the overwhelming sense that there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Between managing work deadlines and keeping her family on track, Joanne often feels like she’s failing on both fronts.

Does this sound familiar? Many working parents, like Joanne, find themselves struggling with time and task management. The demands of a career, parenting, and home life can feel like a never-ending balancing act. Yet, with the right strategies and mindset, it’s possible (not all the time, as we need to be real!) to regain control and create a more manageable daily routine.

In this blog, we’ll explore practical, actionable tips that will help you take charge of your time and tasks, inspired by what we discussed in a recent coaching session focused on time management for busy parents.

The Importance of Prioritising: Aligning Tasks with What Matters Most

One of the first steps to improving time management is identifying what truly matters. For Joanne, it felt like everything was important—work deadlines, kids’ activities, and household tasks—but trying to tackle everything at once was causing her to burn out.

This is where prioritisation comes in. A simple tool like the Eisenhower Matrix helps distinguish between tasks that are urgent and important, important but not urgent, and those that can be delegated or even eliminated. By breaking her to-do list down this way, Joanne was able to focus her energy on the tasks that really needed her attention, rather than spreading herself thin.

ACTION: Ask yourself:

• What are the three most important tasks in your life right now?
• How much of your daily time is spent on those tasks versus distractions or lower-priority items?

Common Time-Wasters: How to Spot and Eliminate Them

Joanne often found herself mindlessly scrolling through social media during work breaks or getting caught up worrying about all the life and house related things that occupied her mind during work hours, which left her with little uninterrupted time for focused tasks.

We all have time-wasters that can sneak up on us. Whether it’s spending too much time on social media, getting lost in emails, or being constantly interrupted, these small distractions add up.

A useful tactic is identifying your biggest time-wasters and actively working to minimise them. This might mean setting time limits on apps, blocking distracting websites/social media during work hours, or designating certain times of day for housework or uninterrupted time with the small ones.

ACTION: Try this

• What activity steals the most time from your day?
• What small change could you make to reduce or eliminate this distraction?

Task Management Techniques: Finding What Works for You

Once Joanne identified her priorities and minimised distractions, the next step was organising her tasks more efficiently. One method that worked well for her was the Pomodoro Technique—a system where you set a timer and work for 25 minutes of focused time, followed by a 5- minute break. It helped her to stay on task without getting overwhelmed by long to-do lists.

Another helpful approach is time blocking, where you dedicate specific blocks of time to certain tasks. I personally use The Head Plan Weekly Schedule for time blocking and it works really well for me. I use this alongside their Daily Planner. (The Head Plan’s Agenda Bundle was on my Christmas list a few years ago and I adore it!)

Each person is different in what will work for them, for Joanne, this meant setting aside time blocks for work projects, for creche pick-ups, batch cooking and even quiet time for herself. By scheduling her tasks into her day, she was able to see her responsibilities in a more structured and less chaotic way. This helped reduce the overwhelm for Joanne.

ACTION: Ask yourself

• How do you currently organise your daily tasks? Is it working for you?
• Would time blocking or the Pomodoro technique fit your current routine?

Setting Realistic Goals and Accountability

No matter how good your time management system is, it will only work if it’s realistic. One of Joanne’s challenges was expecting too much of herself each day. Expectation v’s reality – and all that comes with this. Instead of trying to finish every task, we focused on setting small, manageable goals.

Setting clear, realistic goals is key to making lasting changes. For example, instead of tackling a huge project all at once, break it down into bite-sized steps and spread them across several days. This reduces the feeling of overwhelm and allows you to build momentum.

To stay accountable, Joanne started sharing her weekly goals with a colleague, which kept her motivated. You might choose to share your goals with a friend, family member, or co-worker, or use a task management app, like Trello, to track progress.

ACTION: Reflect

• What’s one small, actionable goal you can set for yourself this week to improve your time or task management?
• Who or what will help you stay accountable for making this change?

Take Control of Your Time

The truth is, balancing work and family life is always going to be a challenge, but by implementing a few simple strategies, you can make it much more manageable. Joanne is now better able to prioritise her most important tasks, limit distractions, and use techniques like time blocking and the Pomodoro method to stay focused. While her days are still busy, she’s no longer overwhelmed by an endless list of tasks.

If you’re feeling like you can’t keep up, remember that time management is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice. Start small, try out different techniques, and find what works for your unique situation.

ACTION: Your Turn

• What’s the one area of your time or task management that you’d like to improve?
• What will you do today to take the first step toward better balance?

By taking control of your time, you can create more space for the things that matter most to you —both at work and at home. But remember, give yourself grace. There will be good days and tough days. This is life. Having the tools and strategies to fall back on is the key.

Hi, I’m Anne O’Leary, an executive coach, postpartum doula, and mother of four. I work with individuals and employers to help parents integrate their work and life in a balanced way after they extend their family.

Whether you are heading back to work or back several months and would like support in navigating this transition, please feel free to get in touch to schedule a complimentary consultation here.