155: Cara Harvey on Healthy Routines that Create Purpose

Raise your hand if you feel overwhelmed every so often or like your to-do lists will never end?

I’m always convicted when I hear people talk about being reactive in the day only to the urgent at the expense of being proactive to the important – and my guest today, Cara Harvey, hit me with exactly that guilt. Without the “guilt” part!

Cara is a superstar in the world of productivity for moms, but she refuses to subscribe to the “busy is a badge of honor” culture.

Being productive isn’t about doing it all. It’s about doing what matters, choosing what you want in life, and feeling peaceful and aligned every day.

We dug deep into how proactive productivity, proper goal setting, and realistic routines can help parents reach healthy living goals and even be more successful at getting their kids in the kitchen building life skills.

Cara talks fast, which I love, but you might only be able to listen to this interview at 1.5x speed instead of 2x. 🙂

We talk about:

• Why being proactive is so important (and how to stop being only reactive).
• Why motivation and willpower aren’t all that important with goal setting.
• The research about 21 days to build a habit, and Cara’s revisions for moms who actually have kids interrupting them constantly.
• A habit stacking process that really works to implement healthy changes.
• Choosing data over drama, even for people like me who don’t like schedules.
• A powerful and practical strategy to get rid of all your roadblocks that get in the way of starting with your kids in the kitchen (and how to make kids cooking a habit that sticks).
• A quick peek into why time blocking creates both structure and freedom to help moms waste less time but feel good (and not harried) about their schedule.
• The importance of a few 30-minutes blocks of time for…NOTHING.

Cara is someone my team and I look up to, and I know you’ll want to connect with her too!

Can’t see the video? Learn how to create healthy routines here on YouTube!

No time for the video? Here are the notes!

Creating Purpose With Healthy Routines

• 0:40: Today I’m chatting with Cara Harvey about routines and being better parents and feeling better about ourselves. 
• 1:36: Cara shares her story with us and how she became a mom empowerment coach. She uses skills developed during 8 years of teaching to help moms use priority-based productivity to align their lives. 

Take the shame out of not being productive enough. Empower yourself to figure out what makes sense for your family. -Cara Harvey 

• 4:45: Everything shifts when you become proactive about your life instead of living in reactive mode. Cara strategically plans for distractions and adds in flexibility to her time management systems. 

Start Creating Routines That Work

• 6:23: Many of us struggle with routines, but routines do help. How can we get started with routines without being overwhelmed?

Detailed routines don’t mean you’re doing more, it just means you have stuff written down. -Cara Harvey

• 7:57: People assume motivation is the key to succeeding at our goals. Maybe there’s something deeper going on here.
• 10:15: Let’s use the kitchen as an example. Cara shares a personal goal in the kitchen with us and we talk through how to set goals. Sheet pan meals are a great way to join “team one meal.”

• 11:13: Cara uses 4-8 weeks to create a new routine or habit. Experts say it takes 21 days, but that’s sometimes unrealistic for moms. She has a genius technique to avoid giving up on a new habit when you miss a day. 
• 12:11: Once you have your vision, use routine stacking to create a plan. Don’t start everything all at once. Choose one new habit to focus on the first week. 

Data over drama. -Cara Harvey 

• 15:17: Cara’s approach allows your family to come on board at a slower pace. Acknowledge where you are and take small intentional steps towards your goal rather than jumping headfirst into a massive shift that will set your family reeling.

How to Set Realistic Goals

• 17:39: Look at your current season to see what is realistic. Cara has moms do time inventories to see on paper what they’re spending time on and give them a sense of what they can realistically fit into their lives. 
• 18:34: Loading your dishwasher before bed is a great habit to set yourself up for the next day. Cara used to complain about it until she did a time inventory and found that it only took her 6 minutes to load the dishwasher at night. If you know how long a task takes, it can be easier to convince yourself to do it. 

• 19:41: I am super disorganized. Let’s get really practical for people like me. Cara describes how she does a time inventory with some tips to gather really useful data. 
• 21:36: Another technique Cara uses is behavior tracking. This helps you identify distractions and triggers for bad habits. Then you can create plans to get around your obstacles. 

Be Proactive to Avoid Obstacles

• 23:57: Be proactive about planning buffer times. Maybe your plan is to make muffins on Sunday, but you plan 30 minutes on Wednesday with nothing in it as a backup if Sunday doesn’t go as planned. 

• 25:31: Create micro-priorities to ensure that the most urgent feeling things don’t always take precedence over other goals you want to work towards. Cara recommends that you choose one priority in each main area of your life for the month. When you’re starting out, you’ll choose one goal to deep dive on at a time, but as you gain confidence and momentum you can have parallel goals. 

• 27:39: Where do you start? Look at the next few months and what events you have planned. What is your capacity and when will you need to plan for extra rest? Some ideas for monthly goals would be deep cleaning the house in October to enjoy the holiday season, meal planning and prepping at the beginning of school or family time, and connection during a summer month. 

Don’t shame yourself because someone else is doing something different. -Cara Harvey

• 29:56: I know many of my audience members want to teach their kids life skills, but there’s also a lot of anxiety about getting started. Cara breaks down how to routine stack getting your kids in the kitchen. She has some great encouragement! If you’re looking for a laugh check out these life skill sketches we did!

We can force ourselves to do something for 15 minutes or we can easily waste that time. -Cara Harvey

• 36:40: Let’s hear a quick win you can accomplish today! Cara is a huge fan of time blocking and she shares some reasons to get started as well as a practical step you can take whether you currently time block or not.

Every day schedule 15 minutes each for working on a goal, completing a routine or habit, and learning a skill. -Cara Harvey 

Resources We Mention for Healthy Routines

• Cara’s Purpose Driven Mom Summit
• Sheet pan meals are great if you want to join “team one meal”
• What happens when you DON’T teach your kid life skills?
• Connect with Cara online
• Cara’s podcast: The Purpose Driven Mom Show
• Cara’s Facebook Group
• Follow Cara on social media: Instagram, Youtube

Cara is a wife, mom to a 14-year-old stepson, 5-year-old daughter, 3-year-old son, and a woman of God. She works as a mom empowerment coach and her mission is to provide women with the tools, resources, and community to reach their goals, empower themselves, find their happiness, and live a life by design. She does this via her blog, podcast, virtual community groups, and e-courses that help women learn to balance their lives, finances, schedules, health, and themselves!