I don't know about you, but I live and die by my calendar. It wasn't always like this. Ten years ago, it was a paper calendar that I dutifully carried around in my purse. even if I didn't really use it consistently. Now, I use a calendar app on my phone.
Sometime soon after the kiddo was a born, I quickly realized that I needed to do a better job of scheduling my days. Gone where the carefree days when I would call my hubby and let him know I needed to pull a late night at work. Or the weekends when we just decided to stay in bed until 1pm catching up on sleep and other things.
As I geared up to return to work, the reality of work obligations, family needs, and laundry was all setting in. I also realized that the "mommy brain" thing people tell you about is real. In a panic, I went about organizing my entire life (LOL)! I planned a few day's worth of crock pot meals, ran every errand I'd put off for 5 months, wrote the last of my thank-you's, cleaned my house from top to bottom, and met my mommy play group for 1 last time. By the end of my 3rd day back at work, I was already feeling overwhelmed. At work, all I thought about was home. At home, all I thought about was work, but I couldn't tackle any work matters because of the baby.
I pulled the calendar off the kitchen wall and started adding events to my MS Office calendar. Then I added some basic weekend activities like grocery shopping and family pics. The big breakthrough for me came when I realized I could add reminders that would prompt me to do certain things. I had another epiphany when I started adding details to the "notes" section. Adding reminders and then details to the notes section was like having a personal assistant! Its almost 8 years later and I still do these things. With the evolution of smart phones and apps, its gotten even easier. Some of my faves for managing my life are Evernote and Cozi. I also use Google Maps or Waze, My husband takes pride in his great sense of direction. I don't even bother. I just map it out in advance and always pull up directions. It gets me places faster.
Yesterday, I managed to exercise, grocery shop, get my tires rotated, pay bills, return books to the library, and read a magazine in a single 3 hour time span. How is this possible???
By setting realistic expectations and advance planning.
I try to plan my life in 2 week increments. Meaning, I'm basically aware of what's on the horizon for the next 2 weeks. I always pre-plan my next day. For example, I needed to get my tires to rotated. When looking at my schedule, I also think about what else I can do around that particular thing on my calendar. So, when I called to ask how long the appointment would take. Over an hour. Fine. I looked for location that was within walking distance to grocery stores I like. Found one! What else can I do? Need to exercise? Yup! How about walking to the store. Threw my sneakers and water bottle in the car + magazine, and some library books I needed to return.
As soon as I checked my car in, I swapped out my shoes for sneakers, grabbed my reusable shopping and walked 1 mile to Trader Joe's. After buying everything on my grocery list, I walked back to the tire shop. I got back, quickly stretched, and then sat down to read my magazine. Granted I only read 1 article, but it was perfection! I got home in time to cook dinner and even played with the kiddo before bed. "Winning!" As I crawled into bed myself I thought about it and realized I'd figured out some easy ways to simplify my life and get stuff done. Nothing fancy. Nothing expensive, but they all work! So now I'm sharing my best life hacks for getting and staying organized:
1. Schedule everything - grocery shopping, "Pilates," soccer practice," PTA meeting," paying bills," and "Skype/Wine dates w/ my BFF" are a few on my calendar. Be sure to automate recurring appointments, set reminders, and use the "notes" feature for adding details like a name or question you want to ask the doctor during your appointment.
2. Schedule down time. I used to pack every minute of every day from 7am until 8pm. I am not a robot, so this was unrealistic. I have learned to schedule play time. Nowadays, I schedule 2 hour windows for any given task. I leave my 1st hour open, so I can drink tea, check media headlines + social media, and listen to my voice mail. Instead of fighting it, I just schedule the time. I also schedule a quick walk every afternoon.
3. Share your calendar (or appointments) with family. When I schedule something like a lunch date or attending the school play, I think about who else needs to know? Hubby? Mother-in-Law?I send the calendar invite to him/her using his/her e-mail address. Not to worry. You determine what the recipient sees.
4. Embrace imperfection and face reality. When I was a girl, I remember hearing the First Lady, Mrs. Bush, talk about her philosophy on being a mother and saying something to the effect of "kids don't remember your clean kitchen, but they do remember if you played with them." That resonated with me. I still have a clean home that I'm proud of, but I give myself some leeway. The kitchen is always clean by end of the day, I only do laundry 1 x week, I clean bathrooms 1 x week. I clean my car 1 x wk. You get where I'm going with this. I do what needs to be done , but only what needs to be done. My house is clean and welcoming, but certainly won't be featured in a decorating magazine. There are tennis shoes by the door and dishes in the sink at least once a day. Second part of this one is "face reality." For 2-3 months, I kept promising to call my BFF after dinner. Every time I would forget and then next day I'd see the missed calls on my phone and feel like aheel. Around the 6th time I bailed on her, I realized that it was bad time for me. Dinner and bedtime is crazy/busy. Its all I can do to get myself in bed by 9pm. I finally stopped fighting it. I apologized for not following through and then we found a better time to chat. When I was working in an office, it was during my long commute home. Figure out what works for you.
5. Plan ahead for waiting. During the course of any given week, I will spend time waiting. I plan to make the most of it by bookmarking videos I want to watch or articles I want to read. I get books on CD from the library, I leave them, as well as a book in my car to read. Stuck waiting for Tae Kwon Do class to wrap? No prob. Read a chapter. books/mags for us in the car. This is also the time I return texts.
6. Make/Return phone calls during your commute. I schedule appointments, check voice mail, and return calls while driving. And in case you are wondering...yes,I'm hands free.
7. Look for little windows of time. Ask yourself what you can do during those little windows. Four 15 minute windows adds up to an hour. I used to struggle to find time to read a magazine or exercise because I was looking for 1 hour increments. Once I realized I could chop tasks up into smaller sections it got easier to find the time. I practice Spanish for 15 minutes. I organize photos for 15 minutes. I do sit-ups for 15 minutes.
8. Do "home stuff" at work and "work stuff" at home. Get in the habit of always bringing your laptop home. Once I had kids, I quickly realized that you need to always prepare for the unexpected. Sometimes kids go to bed healthy and wake up sick. No need to go to the office, sick kids in tow, just to collect files or set up your out-of-office message. No laptop? Talk to your boss about if there is secure remote access from home? Or can you bring work home and save to a flash drive? In my experience, I love it when my employees ask these types of questions. It lets me know s/he is committed to getting the project done on time. Here's another tip. Depending on if you are a night owl or an early-birdie, set the timer on your phone for 1 hour and zero out your in box or read the stuff you keep putting off. Or just work on your spreadsheets. Schedule the finished document to 'send' early or late the following day. It's good to be "seen" working non-traditional hours occasionally. Shows hustle. No one else has to know you put in the long hours at home.
Plan 1 or 2 days a week where you take care of "home stuff" like scheduling all those back-to-school doctors visits, finishing up your Amazon order. BTW, when I was working in an office, I had absolutely EVERYTHING delivered to me at work. ( I checked to be sure it was OK first). Why break your neck trying to race home to meet the delivery truck or swing by the post office on a Saturday. Yeah...more time!
Use the comments to share your tips for staying organized? Share your favorite apps for managing your life?
Sometime soon after the kiddo was a born, I quickly realized that I needed to do a better job of scheduling my days. Gone where the carefree days when I would call my hubby and let him know I needed to pull a late night at work. Or the weekends when we just decided to stay in bed until 1pm catching up on sleep and other things.
 |
| The lobby that I DIDN'T wait in. |
As I geared up to return to work, the reality of work obligations, family needs, and laundry was all setting in. I also realized that the "mommy brain" thing people tell you about is real. In a panic, I went about organizing my entire life (LOL)! I planned a few day's worth of crock pot meals, ran every errand I'd put off for 5 months, wrote the last of my thank-you's, cleaned my house from top to bottom, and met my mommy play group for 1 last time. By the end of my 3rd day back at work, I was already feeling overwhelmed. At work, all I thought about was home. At home, all I thought about was work, but I couldn't tackle any work matters because of the baby.
I pulled the calendar off the kitchen wall and started adding events to my MS Office calendar. Then I added some basic weekend activities like grocery shopping and family pics. The big breakthrough for me came when I realized I could add reminders that would prompt me to do certain things. I had another epiphany when I started adding details to the "notes" section. Adding reminders and then details to the notes section was like having a personal assistant! Its almost 8 years later and I still do these things. With the evolution of smart phones and apps, its gotten even easier. Some of my faves for managing my life are Evernote and Cozi. I also use Google Maps or Waze, My husband takes pride in his great sense of direction. I don't even bother. I just map it out in advance and always pull up directions. It gets me places faster.
Yesterday, I managed to exercise, grocery shop, get my tires rotated, pay bills, return books to the library, and read a magazine in a single 3 hour time span. How is this possible???
By setting realistic expectations and advance planning.
I try to plan my life in 2 week increments. Meaning, I'm basically aware of what's on the horizon for the next 2 weeks. I always pre-plan my next day. For example, I needed to get my tires to rotated. When looking at my schedule, I also think about what else I can do around that particular thing on my calendar. So, when I called to ask how long the appointment would take. Over an hour. Fine. I looked for location that was within walking distance to grocery stores I like. Found one! What else can I do? Need to exercise? Yup! How about walking to the store. Threw my sneakers and water bottle in the car + magazine, and some library books I needed to return.
As soon as I checked my car in, I swapped out my shoes for sneakers, grabbed my reusable shopping and walked 1 mile to Trader Joe's. After buying everything on my grocery list, I walked back to the tire shop. I got back, quickly stretched, and then sat down to read my magazine. Granted I only read 1 article, but it was perfection! I got home in time to cook dinner and even played with the kiddo before bed. "Winning!" As I crawled into bed myself I thought about it and realized I'd figured out some easy ways to simplify my life and get stuff done. Nothing fancy. Nothing expensive, but they all work! So now I'm sharing my best life hacks for getting and staying organized:
1. Schedule everything - grocery shopping, "Pilates," soccer practice," PTA meeting," paying bills," and "Skype/Wine dates w/ my BFF" are a few on my calendar. Be sure to automate recurring appointments, set reminders, and use the "notes" feature for adding details like a name or question you want to ask the doctor during your appointment.
2. Schedule down time. I used to pack every minute of every day from 7am until 8pm. I am not a robot, so this was unrealistic. I have learned to schedule play time. Nowadays, I schedule 2 hour windows for any given task. I leave my 1st hour open, so I can drink tea, check media headlines + social media, and listen to my voice mail. Instead of fighting it, I just schedule the time. I also schedule a quick walk every afternoon.
3. Share your calendar (or appointments) with family. When I schedule something like a lunch date or attending the school play, I think about who else needs to know? Hubby? Mother-in-Law?I send the calendar invite to him/her using his/her e-mail address. Not to worry. You determine what the recipient sees.
4. Embrace imperfection and face reality. When I was a girl, I remember hearing the First Lady, Mrs. Bush, talk about her philosophy on being a mother and saying something to the effect of "kids don't remember your clean kitchen, but they do remember if you played with them." That resonated with me. I still have a clean home that I'm proud of, but I give myself some leeway. The kitchen is always clean by end of the day, I only do laundry 1 x week, I clean bathrooms 1 x week. I clean my car 1 x wk. You get where I'm going with this. I do what needs to be done , but only what needs to be done. My house is clean and welcoming, but certainly won't be featured in a decorating magazine. There are tennis shoes by the door and dishes in the sink at least once a day. Second part of this one is "face reality." For 2-3 months, I kept promising to call my BFF after dinner. Every time I would forget and then next day I'd see the missed calls on my phone and feel like aheel. Around the 6th time I bailed on her, I realized that it was bad time for me. Dinner and bedtime is crazy/busy. Its all I can do to get myself in bed by 9pm. I finally stopped fighting it. I apologized for not following through and then we found a better time to chat. When I was working in an office, it was during my long commute home. Figure out what works for you.
5. Plan ahead for waiting. During the course of any given week, I will spend time waiting. I plan to make the most of it by bookmarking videos I want to watch or articles I want to read. I get books on CD from the library, I leave them, as well as a book in my car to read. Stuck waiting for Tae Kwon Do class to wrap? No prob. Read a chapter. books/mags for us in the car. This is also the time I return texts.
6. Make/Return phone calls during your commute. I schedule appointments, check voice mail, and return calls while driving. And in case you are wondering...yes,I'm hands free.
7. Look for little windows of time. Ask yourself what you can do during those little windows. Four 15 minute windows adds up to an hour. I used to struggle to find time to read a magazine or exercise because I was looking for 1 hour increments. Once I realized I could chop tasks up into smaller sections it got easier to find the time. I practice Spanish for 15 minutes. I organize photos for 15 minutes. I do sit-ups for 15 minutes.
8. Do "home stuff" at work and "work stuff" at home. Get in the habit of always bringing your laptop home. Once I had kids, I quickly realized that you need to always prepare for the unexpected. Sometimes kids go to bed healthy and wake up sick. No need to go to the office, sick kids in tow, just to collect files or set up your out-of-office message. No laptop? Talk to your boss about if there is secure remote access from home? Or can you bring work home and save to a flash drive? In my experience, I love it when my employees ask these types of questions. It lets me know s/he is committed to getting the project done on time. Here's another tip. Depending on if you are a night owl or an early-birdie, set the timer on your phone for 1 hour and zero out your in box or read the stuff you keep putting off. Or just work on your spreadsheets. Schedule the finished document to 'send' early or late the following day. It's good to be "seen" working non-traditional hours occasionally. Shows hustle. No one else has to know you put in the long hours at home.
Plan 1 or 2 days a week where you take care of "home stuff" like scheduling all those back-to-school doctors visits, finishing up your Amazon order. BTW, when I was working in an office, I had absolutely EVERYTHING delivered to me at work. ( I checked to be sure it was OK first). Why break your neck trying to race home to meet the delivery truck or swing by the post office on a Saturday. Yeah...more time!
Use the comments to share your tips for staying organized? Share your favorite apps for managing your life?
Comments
Post a Comment