A stay at home dad of two and entrepreneur shares the four steps to unlocking more time and getting things done in this guide to productivity for busy parents.

+++

Sunday night and those annoying little butterflies are back in your stomach.

It’s a reminder that you didn’t get everything done this weekend. And now you’ve got to head back to the endless cycle of suck we call work.

We tend to look at the weekend as a chance to unwind and de-stress.

To catch up on lost sleep, or on that Netflix show you’ve been wanting to actually watch (without passing out on the couch).

But, the reality is your weekend is just an extension of the week if you are not careful.

You wind up spending your time doing a bunch of chores that you couldn’t get done during the workweek because you were so damn busy.

Laundry.

Shopping.

Food prep.

Cleaning the house.

It all stacked up during the week and maybe now that Saturday morning is here, you can finally check those items off of your list.

That is, if you don’t also have a ton of kid-related activities, too. 

During the school year especially, it can be a dizzying array of obligations: birthday parties, soccer fields, random extracurricular school activities. 

As a result, not much domesticated shit is getting done.

Hell, sometimes the weekends are so damn busy and the kids are acting out of their damn minds so much that you end up wishing away your Saturdays and Sundays so you can get back to the work week.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

It’s time to start thinking about your time. Namely, how to get more time back into your day, your week, your life. 

I’ve been a stay at home to two kids while starting and running my own coaching business. In other words, I know a thing or two about unlocking better and more practical productivity for busy parents like us.

Today, I’m going to share my four step process to make this work for you.

Let’s get into it.

+++

Energy is required for everything we do

Working out requires physical energy.

Creativity requires mental energy. 

Telling your kid for the eleventy-billionth time to stop jumping on the couch takes, well … another form of energy that I’m not even sure where it comes from. 

But when we are low on energy, our productivity and performance suffers greatly. 

Most of that lack of energy comes from pure exhaustion. 

There are so many things that we need to stay on top of that it’s overwhelming and frankly unsustainable. Something will give out. 

Either the parenting will suffer, business will suffer, or your mind and body will finally force you to rest (which means productivity will suffer anyway).

Your goal is to spend less time making decisions.

Humans make upwards of 33,000 decisions a day. Per day. Every single day.

You made a decision to read this newsletter. And made yet another decision to continue reading this far. 

I’ve talked before about the role decision fatigue plays in your life and in your health.

After a long and stressful day at the office, how often have you caved in on that all-too-common anxiety-inducing question: “What’s for dinner?”

Instead of making the right decision to stick to your nutrition plan and prepare a balanced meal for dinner, you opt instead for the easy way with some comfort food and order in.

Because, you made so many decisions and your brain was on such high alert that after those really mentally taxing days, it decided to shut down and turn to mush.

That’s decision fatigue.

The solution is to work as hard as possible to remove as many decisions, even the littlest ones, from your day.

Automate. Outsource. Delegate. Eliminate.

You are the CEO of your home

And just like any successful executive, it’s important to know four crucial skills that will make or break your path to success.

Automation.

Delegation.

Outsourcing.

Elimination. 

Start thinking about ways to incorporate some, or all, of these big ideas. 

• Eliminate the things that you do not need and do not serve you.
• Outsource things you do not want to do.
• Delegate things you do not have time for that can easily passed over to someone else.
• Automate things that can be regularly scheduled.

Your job is to try and remove as much from your busy and overcrowded plate as possible. 

Take the little menial things that you no longer want to do or have to and work to get something or someone else to do them for you.

What could you do with some extra time?

The choice is yours, honestly.

Even if it’s just 30 minutes of freedom that you get back per day, think of the accomplishments you can make towards your goals.

Maybe you’d finally have the chance to catch up on that book you wanted to write.

If you’ve been working on growing or building a new business or side hustle, removing as little as 15-20 minutes per day is a major victory. 

If getting in shape has eluded you to this moment, 30 minutes is plenty of time to get an effective workout. 

No gym required when you use my bodyweight workout programs.

That 30 minutes per day adds up to 15 hours per month or 182+ hours per year that can be dedicated to the lever-moving tasks that unlocks financial freedom, the new book, a better physique, a new language. 

You get to choose your own adventure.

And it’s not just about winning back time so you can yourself up with more to do items, either.

When you’ve got young kids that suck your energy and destroy your sleep, adding a few minutes back to your day could mean finally grabbing a power nap at some point. 

Or maybe the chance to sleep in a little? 

It’s not just about winning back time.

You’ll save stress. 

Maybe you just use that extra time for total relaxation and recovery.

It’s a big reason why I’ve developed my own practice of going on more walks, unplugging daily, working less and embracing more playful activities in my day. 

As a result, I’m more productive than I’ve ever been despite cutting my work day down to just four hours (more on this in a future newsletter).

Eliminate the things that aren’t serving you (or that you simply don’t wanna do)

Everyone has that one thing that they do daily or weekly … just because. 

I guarantee you’ll find something in your life that you can say “No” to, or remove altogether if you look hard enough.

This can be as tiny as eliminating that constant urge to check your social media throughout the day. Schedule a time where you’re allowed to do it, consume what you’d like and then log off when that time window is up.

Is there a standing meeting on your calendar that could’ve been an email? Or at least reduced in frequency to like bi-weekly or even monthly?

Maybe there’s a task that just doesn’t move the needle for ROI in your business, health or life. Stop going through the motions and be okay with eliminating it. 

Do you have a gym membership, but never go to the gym? Quit the gym, get your money back and start working out at home like I do using bodyweight movements instead.

Not enjoying that show or book? No need to finish it. Stop. 

Be okay with removing or eliminating things from your life.

You’re not going to miss anything.

Automate tasks that don’t require much attention.

I treat my finances like an alarm clock. I set it and forget it, knowing that I’ve got everything running in a well-balanced system.

Almost every single purchase, utility or bill in general is paid for through my credit card––I use AMEX Platinum so I can amass a ton of points.

Side note: Doing this has allowed me to take my wife to vacations to Hawaii multiple times almost exclusively paid for in AMEX points. As of writing this, I’m getting ready for a three-day, childfree retreat with my first lady on a trip to Montreal––the entire thing is paid for in AMEX points.

The only thing that does not get charged to my card is our monthly rent and 1-2 additional charges that simply do not take American Express. No biggie.

I highly recommend following the system that Ramit Sethi teaches in his book, “I Will Teach You to be Rich.” 

Here’s how I’ve adapted that system for myself:

• On the 1st of every month, my rent automatically gets paid through my bank account.
• And on the 15th of every month, I log on to my AMEX account, review my charges to make sure everything is running smoothly and then I pay off my bill.
• My savings are also automated to come out of my income on a recurring basis.

It takes 15 minutes per month to make sure I’m paying off everything and saving accordingly. 

Set it. Forget it. Get my time back.

While you’re out here dreading the weekly financial review and lording over every single receipt you’ve collected over the previous seven days, I’ve saved time by automating every penny.

Can you automate your finances in a similar fashion?

Or maybe there’s something else that you can set and forget.

Find the tasks that spend 10 to 20 minutes per day, or per week, and get realistic about it. Can you find an easier way around it?

I don’t enjoy shopping for clothes, so I lean on subscription services to automatically send me updated things like socks, underwear or layers for when it gets cold here in the Brooklyn wintertime.

HelloFresh or BlueApron automatically send meals that you can prep without having to do the shopping.

Get creative to get your time back.

If you can’t automate it then maybe you can outsource it.

You might spend your entire Saturday on a soccer field.

Or maybe your kids are like socialites that bounce from one birthday party to the next. 

I can relate. I’ve been there.

With two young kids in the house, weekends are not a respite. 

Instead, we were handling the shopping for the house. Cleaning things that we couldn’t get to during the previous week. Getting snacks and some meals prepped for the upcoming workweek.

Sure, the pace is a bit slower on the weekends. But the tasks and obligations do not go away.

And by Sunday evening, I was feeling drained and exhausted. And the butterflies would emerge again. 

• Did I get everything done?
• Did the kids have some fun?
• Did I get a little rest … at all?

And I know I’m not alone here. It’s a common situation.

So to save time, I outsourced one of my least favorite weekly chores

I don’t like cleaning. But every single Saturday, we spent the better part of the morning cleaning things up. Until we decided to act on a housekeeping service.

That’s one fewer thing on my plate of responsibility.

I’ve freed up a few hours every single week that allows me to either get more work done, handle something that the kids need, or just spend that time relaxing or hanging with wifey.

It’s an expense that I will gladly pay for so I can alleviate the annoyance of having to clean and win back more time into my week.

Money is an unlimited resource

You can always make more money.

But time? Time is incredibly limited. 

There are only so many free minutes available throughout your week. I’d rather pay a bit more to get some time back in my day or week.

And if you have the benefit of running your own business or side hustle, that extra time means you can focus on making extra money.

Get creative with the things you just don’t feel like doing throughout your day or week and find someone else to do it. 

There are tons of service-based businesses out there willing to take something off of your plate.

Delegate the rest.

This is where you’ll really wear that CEO hat. If you cannot eliminate, automate, or outsource it, perhaps you can delegate it to someone else.

A bit of creativity might be required here. But, one way to help is to find a virtual assistant that can manage some of your more unsavory tasks. 

Seriously. This is not just reserved for the 1% douchebags. You can find affordable virtual assistants to help manage your life, tasks and calendar on places like Upwork.

Things you can delegate:

• Travel arrangements
• An assistant can set up and keep you accountable to your calendar (and the many different extracurricular activities you have going on with your kids)
• Reminders on birthdays, anniversaries and other important events
• Handle personal errands and troubleshooting phone calls

Remember, this is about getting more time back into your day, even if it comes at an expense. Your health and sanity are worth the cost. 

How do you get started?

This is where you’ll need some work and some patience. 

The first few weeks are all about testing and examining which things are on the table and which things you’ll need to keep under your own purview.

Start with a time audit.

Break down what each day looks like for you. 

What time do you normally get up?

When’s breakfast? Your workout? When do you head off to the office? Or do you have to shuttle kids to school first? 

How about the mid-afternoon? Do you take a lunch break at a regular time? Do you have regularly-scheduled meetings or tasks that you must complete?

What does your evening look like? Kids’ pick-up? Extracurricular activities? Dinner? Bedtime routines?

Do the same for your weekends, which can look vastly different with social obligations packed into the equation.

Sit down and be truthful with yourself about how you spend your time.

Then, we start looking at the opportunities to save more time

List out the things that you do day-to-day in two columns:

First column are the things that you cannot pass off through Elimination, Automation, Delegation or Outsourcing. 

These are your priorities and cannot be reassigned.

The second column are the things that you simply do not want to do and could possibly remove or find someone/something else to take them off of your plate.

A few of my favorite ways to make productivity as a busy parent work for you

Laundry
There are plenty of services now that will pick up, wash, fold and deliver your clean garments back to you.

Grocery shopping
Same with the laundry, you can find grocery delivery services that will do the shopping for you.

Meal prep
If cooking is not your thing, look into a meal prep service that will deliver breakfast, lunch, dinner or even all of the above right to your door. 

There are tons of healthy options and while they are pricey, remember that it doesn’t have to be a 7-day commitment. 

Even one night off of cooking food for the entire family is a welcome reprieve that puts more time and energy back into your life.

Dog walking
It’s a pretty common culture here in New York City to hire someone to check in with your canine friends and make sure they get their exercise during the day when you’re stuck in the office. 

Is this ideal? No. 

But you know what else is not ideal? Your puppy sitting in your apartment all day long while you’re juggling meeting after meeting.

Taxes
Hiring an accountant is one of the first steps I made when I launched my own business. I’d highly advise you to do the same. 

When tax season approaches, I send all of my files to my guy. 

He sends over some questions to answer. 

Then in about a week or two, he sends the completed filing documents for me to sign and send to Uncle Sam. Boom. Less headache. Less time. 

It doesn’t have to be much, every little minute of freedom is far less stress and anxiety that you’ll have to battle.

“But Pete, this seems a bit pricey”

It can be. However, I have the means to make this work for me. And as a result, I’d much rather spend money to earn back more time. 

Spend money to save time, then use that time to earn more money. That’s the play. That’s how you’ll win. 

Do you utilize any of the Eliminate, Automate, Delegate, Outsource tactics to save time in your day/week? Shoot me a message and let me know.

I hope you found this helpful. If so, I’d appreciate it if you shared it with one person you think would resonate with the piece. 

And if you’re new here, be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter for more doses of awesome sauce on lifestyle design, productivity and health at the link below.

Now it’s your turn. If you’ve got any questions or maybe even your own tips for surviving parenting and productivity as a busy mom or dad, let’s connect.

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “productivity for busy parents” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete