Top Productivity Tips for Christian Working Moms
- Alexandra Kaval
- Apr 20
- 7 min read
Are you a working mom trying to juggle everything—kids, marriage, work, and yourself—but feeling like there's never enough time in the day?
I recently sat down with Michelle Byrd, host of the top-ranked podcast The Busy Vibrant Mom (almost 500 episodes!), and we talked all things productivity, time management, and finding joy in the everyday chaos of motherhood.
Michelle is a believer, wife, mom, coffee enthusiast, and health coach who provides working moms with the tools they need to have more time in their day and week to pour into their kids, their marriage, and themselves.
She adores productivity hacks, time blocking, organizational systems, and purposeful parenting. And she believes that when we let the gifts that God has given us shine, we will truly find joy and happiness in our every day while fueling our souls and blessing others.
The Journey to 475+ Episodes: Consistency When You Love What You Do
One of the first things I wanted to ask Michelle about was her remarkable consistency with her podcast. Creating close to 500 podcast episodes is not an easy feat, especially as a working mom with multiple kids.
Here's what she shared:
"I think it's just that I love this work. I love the ability to be on podcasts. I think it's one of the best mediums because you can listen to it, you can consume it really easily. More and more people are consuming it. You can consume it on the go as a busy mom."
The key takeaway: When you're doing something you love, consistency tends to come easier.
So perhaps the question for us to reflect on is: If you keep running into a wall or feeling drained, are you focused on the right thing?
Even at Nearly 500 Episodes, There Are Still Snags
I asked Michelle if there was ever a time when she hit a wall with podcasting—when she wondered if it was time to hang up the headphones.
Her answer was refreshingly honest.
"You do hit those snags, right? Even if something is easy or enjoyable. I think just recently the idea of like, okay, I love podcasting, but what else is there? And you feel overwhelmed sometimes."
She shared that it's often not the creating part that gets overwhelming—it's all the behind-the-scenes stuff. The tech, the writing, the marketing, the media. All those other puzzle pieces that aren't as exciting.
"You just want to be a creator and you want to engage with people and you want to give them meaty stuff. But there's so many other parts to it."
Michelle's Top Productivity Tips
Alright, let's get to the good stuff. Michelle shared some game-changing productivity tips that every working mom needs to hear.
1. Time Blocking Your Day
"Time blocking usually means you have four to five blocks in your day, and that's just chunking out your day in different chunks—like your morning routine, your midday when you're usually getting work done, your evening, and so forth."
Why it works:
It frees up your mental space. You're able to say, "These things will get done at this other time." So when you're working, you can focus on work. And when you're not working, you can focus on all those other tasks.
"It can give you a little bit less stress of knowing, oh, these things are going to get done at this other time. I don't need to work on them right now."
2. Energy Pairing
This is a 301-level tip for the productivity lovers out there.
Energy pairing means pairing a specific type of task to meet your energy level.
"If you have a lot of energy in the morning (that's typically when people start off with their best energy), you want to pair it with whatever task is going to take the most effort."
Here's how it works:
Morning (high energy): Tasks you dislike, projects you're procrastinating on, or anything that requires a lot of detail
Afternoon (lower energy): Lighter tasks like connection conversations, email correspondence, administrative work
"I love just mapping that out in a way that feels a little bit more flexible. So you don't get to the end of your day at three o'clock, you're burned out, you still have a ton of stuff to do, you feel overwhelmed, and you also have to go pick up kids."
3. Batching (Michelle's Favorite!)
Michelle's absolute favorite productivity tool is batching.
"Batching is doing the same task for multiple things. So like when we make dinner, we also make lunches for the kids for the next day because we already have all the ingredients out. We're already getting all the food out."
Other examples of batching:
Do all the laundry at one time
Running all your errands in one trip
Record multiple podcast episodes in one session
"It saves time and mental energy because you're doing a similar task with similar things, so you don't have to put them away and then get them back out again."
Being Present with Your Babies While Growing Your Business
Many of the women I work with are moms juggling wanting to be present with their babies—their most important ministry, but they're also passionate about their business.
Michelle shared a powerful example of a client who just had a newborn. She was a speaker trying to get speaking gigs and plan events. She had secured a nanny for the newborn so she could have some hours to work.
But here's what was happening: She was doing all the housework while somebody else was watching the baby. She saw laundry, dishes, clutter everywhere—so she worked on that. But then when she had her sweet little baby, she was thinking, "Oh yeah, and I have to send this email, and I didn't get to this thing for work."
The solution?
"We just took a deep breath and said, this is what's not working: Your detail-oriented tasks, you are trying to do when you have the kids around, when you have a baby around."
Michelle's advice:
Put detail-oriented tasks—the ones where you need to be laser-focused, doing emails, figuring things out—in the space when your kids are either sleeping, with somebody else, or at preschool.
Save the tasks where you can be distracted—errands, cleaning, organizing—for when you have a little kid or baby around. They can help, and you're teaching them life skills.
"Then you won't feel as overwhelmed. You'll be able to get what you need done and be super productive in those blocks. But at the same time, you'll be like, oh, okay, now you can help me with this thing."
Finding Joy in the Everyday
Michelle is passionate about joy—finding more joy in your everyday.
"Joy is really important because I think as moms you can get so busy doing all the things that you forget to enjoy your day."
For new moms or those in the grind:
"Sometimes when they're really young, you have to just catch what you can. You just find those fun times in running around and being silly and going to the park and keeping them alive and all the funny things."
"I think really the key in either situation is just building in margin, not stacking your day so that you have things you're running to right on top of each other, and that you have a little bit of space to pivot, to move through your day, to not feel overwhelmed."
Within those little spots, you can sprinkle in walks to the mailbox, playing with a kiddo, grabbing a cup of coffee—those little things that bring you joy.
It makes me think about "Give us this day our daily bread." He will. And making time to see that and to look for it.
There's No Magic Planner
One of my favorite things Michelle said was this:
"I really think that I just love the idea of grace—of just use what works for you, and if that doesn't work, use something different. You have grace with this and you don't have to use everything."
So many people think: "Oh, a planner. If I get this planner, I'll be perfect. I'll be able to organize my whole life and everything will be great."
But there's no magic tool or planner.
"I love to just give my clients, my people, a tool belt with different things to try. Your season, the age of your kids, what you want to do, your productivity, your natural bent... all are going to be a little bit different. So the problems you encounter will be different and the tools you need will each be different."
Use what works for you.
Think about the tools and ask yourself: Does my brain work that way? Do I like writing things down? Is that actually going to be a fit for me and how I'm wired?
If you hate writing, don't get a planner. Figure out a different time management way for you.
The most important thing is to find tools that work for you, that you can use, that you're going to stick with, and that actually provide solutions.
Spring Cleaning & Decluttering Tips
Since we're in the season for spring cleaning, I asked Michelle what moms need to know about decluttering that she wishes she had known earlier on.
Her top tips:
Plan enough time to set up AND clean up after you've decluttered. Otherwise, you run out of time, there's stuff everywhere, and all the work you just did gets shoved to the side or into a box.
Do it in small sections. Just a drawer. Just 30 minutes. See what you can get done. Pick one thing—like the shoes in your closet—instead of "I'm going to declutter all of my closet."
Pick something you can do while hanging out with your kids. Organize the junk drawer while they're doing homework. Go through a drawer while watching a favorite show. Fit it into your schedule in a way that works.
One More Thing: Be Here Now
When I was in corporate HR (what I can the 'fun' side of HR —leadership development and training!), one of the organizations brought in a plaque to give everyone for their desks.
It said: "Be here now."
I thought that was so profound and powerful in its simplicity.
If you're at home, don't think about work. Be fully there.
When you're at work, be fully in. Enjoy the results that follow.
One of the core tenets of the Grace Space Christian Coaching method is from the book Essentialism: You go so much further, faster when you focus on one core area.
It's legitimate. It's the truth.
The Bottom Line
Michelle's wisdom reminds us that productivity isn't about doing everything perfectly or using the "right" planner. It's about:
Using what works for YOU
Building in margin
Pairing your energy with the right tasks
Being present where you are
Finding joy in the everyday moments
As Michelle says, when we let the gifts God has given us shine, we will truly find joy and happiness in our every day and live a life that will fuel our souls and bless others.
And if you enjoyed reading this blog post, head over to our podcast or YouTube channel and listen to the full episode!
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