If you are one of those type “A” personalities that always has a dozen projects on the go, your spouse is on your case to reprioritize in favor of your family, here are some ways to “ease the load” and regain control:
Do you feel like the candle with both ends burned down to the core?
1) Set aside 1/2 hour at the beginning of each day to plan and prioritize.
This may mean getting up a half hour earlier, but make yourself a nice cup of coffee and give yourself the gift of “reflection time”. This will allow you to plan and organize more efficiently, saving you stress the rest of the day.
2) Set up new habits that save you time or hassle:
– Use a crock pot and prepare meals ahead of time. You will have one less task to compete with your other priorities at the end of the work day. The internet has great ideas for pre-cooked meals that use cheap cuts of meat (save $$) for home-cooked dinners (“comfort food”). http://www.a-crock-cook.com/slow-cooker-recipe.html -Assign more chores to your kids – ease your burden of doing it all -Hire out or hire in support where you can afford it -Use a cleaning lady, hire a neighbour kid to cut the grass -use drycleaning pickup and delivery (many stores offer this service right to the workplace) -consider on-line shopping and direct-to-door delivery (this is an increasing trend: everything from groceries to all kinds of consumer items — on numerous websites)
3) Lose the time wasters in your life
– Learn to say “no” to requests that are not your passion or priority
– Trade chauffeuring of the kids with other parents – reduce driving time
– Trade babysitting one night a month with another family
– Volunteer selectively (cut back to meaningful events)
– Reduce time spent with “negative people” (eg gossip at work, nosy neighbours etc.)
4) Shift your schedule to put family time first at least 2 days / week
– Plan “guaranteed family time” on weekends – let your family choose the event
(trade this for extra help on weekday chores, leaving “fun time” on the weekend)
– Plan one slot per week for personal downtime (to recharge your batteries)
– Set up monthly “dates” for spouse & friends (i.e. first Wednesday each month)
Laura Stack, a productivity expert in Denver and author of SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best says, “It helps to be proactive when scheduling. When I go out with my girlfriends, we all whip out our cell phones and put another girls’ night out on the calendar for one month later.”
Stack also plans a specific activity with her family ahead of time:”We do this because if there’s nothing on the schedule, time tends to get frittered away and the weekend may end without us spending quality time together.
5) Adjust your hours and focus at work
– Go in to work 2 hours earlier, when you can accomplish high volume of work with zero interruptions
– Negotiate with your boss for flex time or early leave time – propose this as a “pilot” project to see how much more efficient you can be with more focused blocks of time
– Reduce email reviews to a couple of regular time slots (half hour maximum) per day. This will reduce the chances of you getting caught in a “vortex” of unimportant items.
6) Feed your soul!
– Don’t forget to make yourself a priority for half hour each day (beginning or end of day usually works for busy parents)
– Exercise when and where you can – studies show that exercise will actually increase your energy, improve concentration and reduce stress
– Make a bucket list and then do one thing each week that moves you forward toward a goal on that list. Perhaps you want to travel somewhere — set up a cookie jar fund and then fund it little by little; review brochures and plan a getaway; organize and do some research on your destination’s history and landmarks.
– Add music to your life, by setting up an mp3 player with your favorite tunes for “tuning out” and relaxation
– Arrange time with friends you miss and haven’t seen in a while.
– Take small breaks and fill them with small joys in your life (take a bath, a walk, read a fun book, call a friend)
REMEMBER: keep moving forward, even if you take only a few small steps at a time. Better progress is made by small, steady steps than huge single leaps. Enjoy!
