The Millennial Mom

Whether you read this on a Monday or not I hope to leave you with a dash of motivation for your day.

In almost every mom group I’ve been in I’ve heard it said that waking up before the children is the only path to sanity. Women wake up at 5 or even 4 AM to get in a good workout, get all their chores done, and most importantly have a nice quiet time in prayer and Bible reading.

This all sounds great; however, I’ve never had the desire to wake up early for these things and I don’t think that’s the only ideal way to make it through the day and still get everything checked off your list.

To be fair, I keep my life very minimal right now. I’m not in charge of anything except my home and my children. I’m involved in a few things outside my home, but these things do not fall directly on my shoulders.

So, here’s some motivation for you today.

Every time I hear someone encourage the group to just wake up earlier, I laugh and move on because I’m just not in the season of life to wake up so early. I also wonder what I have to do in my day that warrants such an early wake up time. I picture myself waking up at 5 AM with a whole hour to get jump start on my day with no distractions but then what do I do with the rest of my day? I don’t want to fill my day for the sake of filling my day.

Years ago, I heard about the Giant Five from Chad Johnston (I’m not sure if he coined this first), the idea of the Giant Five is your list of priorities for everyday life. 1 God, 2 Spouse, 3 Children, 4 Health, 5 Career. You fill in the blanks with what fits your life, but you get the idea.

Today, I made of list of my Daily Five. Five things that will be my non-negotiables. 1 Pray, 2 Make bed, 3 Start a load of laundry, 4 Do 50+ push-ups, 50+ squats, and 50+ sit-ups, 5 Eat breakfast. These are things I want to do every day of the year and it’s not too much and not too little.

I’d encourage you to make a Daily Five list because the point of waking up early or making these lists comes down to having a plan for the things you want to accomplish. Thinking through the things that are important to you and making a plan to execute what you value is worth taking some time to think through what those things are and how you’re going to do that.

I want to add that for moms, doing your chores in front of and with your children is a valuable life lesson for both of you. Your children see you working in your home, they see you reading your Bible, they learn how to do chores, they learn patience when mom is busy, and they build up compassion for their siblings when they have to help others. And for moms, we have the opportunity to practice patience, we get to see our children develop life-long skill sets, and we have the front row seats to see the beauty of growing with our children.

Let me know if you make a Giant Five list or Daily Five list. What is your execution plan for these things?