Reclaim Your Time and Wellness: Time Management Tips for Burned-Out Corporate Moms

Does this sound familiar?

You log in at 8:55 a.m. on Monday with every intention of prepping for the week. But—bam—a last-minute 9 a.m. meeting hits your calendar. Your inbox is a disaster. You’re already behind and it’s not even 9:10. Oh, and that meeting? Definitely could have been an email.

Welcome to the chaos of corporate life in 2025.

If you're a mid-career professional woman trying to stay on top of your work, your family, and your sanity—you’re not alone. I’ve been there. You’re not lazy or bad at time management. You’re overbooked, burned out, and over it.

Here’s the truth: burnout prevention starts with better boundaries, and your calendar is the first place to look. Let’s talk about how to reclaim your time, reduce burnout, and re-energize your workday—without quitting your job or blowing up your life.

We Have a Meeting Problem

Let’s start with the receipts:

• The average employee spends 13 hours a week in meetings

• For leaders, that jumps up to 23 hours a week

• 1 in 5 spend over 30% of their time in meetings

• Most people want to decline a third of their meetings but don’t

When are we supposed to do our actual work?

A few years ago, I realized my calendar looked like a losing game of Tetris. I was in back-to-back meetings all day, every day—with no time to think, write, create, or breathe. So I did a calendar audit. And what I found changed how I work forever.

Time Audit Tip #1: Color-Code Everything

Yep, I’m that girl. Color-coded highlighters in school? Still doing it. My calendar now tells me exactly how I’m spending my time—by color.

What I learned:

• I was drowning in status updates

• I had legacy meetings I no longer needed

• I was spending zero time on my own career development

Now I color-code meetings by type and purpose. (Steal my system in my free Time Management Guide!) It gave me clarity and control—and let me see where I was giving away my time without intention.

Time Audit Tip #2: Block Your Calendar Like a Boss

Calendar blocking is one of the most powerful burnout prevention tools I teach. It protects your time, helps you say “no” with confidence, and builds in room for deep work, creative flow, and life. Yes—actual life.

My non-negotiables:

• Set work hours in your calendar

• Block off life stuff (I block 7–9 a.m. and 5–7:30 p.m. for mom duty)

• Show as “Out of Office” for anything sacred (vacation, therapy, errands, sanity breaks)

• Reserve work blocks to do your actual job

You’re not “too busy.” Your calendar just isn’t set up to protect your priorities yet.

Energy Audit Tip #3: Work With Your Circadian Rhythm

Not all hours are created equal. I’m no good after 3pm, and I don’t pretend to be. My brain lights up from 10am to 2pm—that’s when I do strategy work, write, and lead hard conversations.

Try this:

• Identify your peak hours

• Schedule your deep work accordingly

• Save admin tasks for your low-energy time

• Don’t fight your biology—work with it

This isn’t just a productivity hack. It’s self-care for professionals. (And yes, you deserve it.)

Bonus Tip: Meeting-Free Fridays or the Four-Day Week

On my last team, we implemented Focus Fridays—no internal meetings. It changed everything. More creativity, less stress, better work.

If you’re not in a position to implement a four-day week, start with this:

• Pick one meeting-free day

• Block it on your calendar

• Guard it like it’s your kid’s preschool graduation

Your Time is Yours. Take It Back.

Burnout doesn’t have to be your baseline. You’re not stuck. You’re just spread too thin, constantly reacting to everyone else’s fire drill, and trying to do it all perfectly.

Want to make work suck less in 2026?

Download my Free Time Management Guide. Reclaim your calendar with intention
Check out the You Got This Journal. Part intention-setter, part habit tracker, part gratitude practice. All yours.

You’re not failing. The system is failing you. But you can flip the scrip, starting with your calendar.

Remember: If no one is dead or dying, go home.

You got this.

About the Author Cassandra Babilya

Cassandra Babilya is a mom, author, and creator of Make Work Suck Less—a former fed who walked away from a career at the CIA, and now helps other burned-out professionals rewrite their own career pivot success stories. If you're navigating a transition from public service to private sector, join her next cohort of Declassified: Fed > Corporate Career Pivot program.