All Access

I needed to hear this!! Especially on a Monday, when I have the whole week ahead of me and can either waste it or invest it!!

And especially when I sit here in my pj’s on the computer watching cartoons with the kids, when I have a ton of housework to do, and a quiet time yet to be had.

Thanks for the post!

I’m having a terrible time budeting my time wisely. I’m constantly running in circles chasing my own tail. If I do one thing really well such as the Boy Scout popcorn sale this weekend, everything else in my world comes unwound and then no one has clean knickers to wear on Monday morning. I can’t wait to read everyone’s ideas!

About a year ago someone introduced me to the book Shopping for Time that is about this very idea. The title comes from the idea that none of us would walk into the store without a list and a plan, but most of us go through our days just like you do: reacting instead of doing. It cemented for me what I have been coming to realize for years — exactly what Priscilla said: we get 24 hours in one day, period. No more, no less. If we aren’t intentional about how we spend it, we’ve missed out. (I probably sound like I’m preaching — but I hope it sounds like it’s at myself!!) I’m in a new phase of life that is SUPPOSED to give me just scads of “free time” but I don’t seem to have any! This is something I’ve really been thinking on lately. Thanks for the reminder!

The one thing that comes to mind is that I get all my things pulled together and sometimes even put in the car (except for Bible and journal)…even my 3 kids’ stuff, which includes 2 diaper bags…the night before Bible Study at church. Since we leave at 8:30 a.m. to get to study, I’m not panicking (sp?!) and forgetting the vitals while I’m driving. It also gives me a sense of peace as I’m going to bed because I feel like I accomplished something.

I think you hit it when you said we should focus on one thing and do it well. That’s my problem. I am scattered. If I do only that one thing, then I feel like I have failed every other task and then end up with Slacker Guilt. Looking forward to the comments.

I need help too! HELP!!!

I have total Slacker Guilt.

Just for the record.

I think its because we are all pulled and distracted by 101 different things. I bet if we took computers and tvs away for one week we would get a TON accomplished. But, I’m not at that point yet….so, what do we do?? I think I need to be a better list maker and slow my hiney down long enough to make the list and stick to it.

Hmmmmm….I can’t wait to read what others are going to say. Excellent question.

I needed to hear this!! Let me know if you figure out some good tips!

I guess the thing that keeps me scheduled is that I must be or I pull everyone else in my family down with me. I see it countless times—I didn’t have my part done or didn’t ask them for help (for goodness sake!), so everyone pays with a hurry-scurry, fussy Mama, who sounds an awful lot like a drill sargeant.

I guess what works the best for me, Sophie, is two-fold. I have someone keeping me accountable and praying for me in my time management AND I pray and ask the Lord to order my steps. He never fails to show me. Ever.

Praying for you. Really. Love, Holly

I the Queen of starting one thing, and then while I’m working on it, come across something else that also needs doing, so without missing a beat I start working on the new thing and drop the other one right where it is. God help me, it’s a good day when the 5th or 6th task I’m on miraculously leads me back to the original one I started with!

I was SO organized when I was working outside the home (part-time physical therapist). I guess because I had to be? Now that I’ve been a SAHM for the last year, I’ve blown it with time management.
BLOWN IT.
Some days I don’t even get out of my pyjamas till I pick the kiddos up at school (and please note, that includes driving them to school too!). Not proud about that one.

Then, when a deadline is coming up, I’m on like DONKEY KONG. I work so well under pressure that I tend to just fall back on “I know I’ll get it done right when the time comes.” But oh the stress level with doing things that way.

(Side note: my time management and housekeeping efficiency is much improved when there’s company coming. Like Mama has always told me, we should entertain in our home at least once a month to keep it in really good shape!)

So, I don’t qualify for input here. Just looking for the good advice. :)

Vonda -

Are we twins?

I work part-time part of the year, and it’s way easier for to be productive when I’m on a dead-set schedule. It’s the open-ended time that’s a train wreck with me…the time after lunch and into the afternoon is especially hard to manage. That’s the part I can’t seem to get under control.

Who knows, Sophie. If you like Third Day and Mexican food as much as I do, and then throw in the rest of that stuff, we may BE twins.

It’s so funny you’re writing about this TODAY of all days. My husband is out of town (another military trip) and after I drove the kids to school - in my pyjamas - I came home and got back in bed. I was SO TIRED. If I ever do that, I set the alarm for 830 (they have to be at school at 720) so I can get that extra hour of sleep. Today, I forgot to set that stinkin alarm. When I woke up, my first thought was, ‘Wow, it sure is bright in here’.
When I looked at the clock it said ELEVEN THIRTY. I piddled around here and changed into actual clothes just in time to go pick them up at 2pm.

I’m telling you, I won Mother Of The Year today. I felt so lazy and un-productive when I woke up that I decided TOMORROW is the day I get on that stinkin treadmill after they go to school. I was so much more energetic and productive when I used to work out just a teeny bit (and I’m talking 10 minutes on the treadmill — let’s be for real). Granted, that’s also during the time the last 17 years where I was working part time.

So TOMORROW. It’s a new day. Praise God His mercies are new every morning! :)
I think if I start getting it going with some exercise first thing every day, I’ll pump up my productivity (and energy) by volumes. Who knows, it may even help my sluggish thyroid!

I just hate to exercise though. I’m still in the denial phase of grief over my changing body shape.

When I step on that treadmill in the morning, I’m just going to dial 911 on my cell and then not press ‘send’… you know, in case my body goes into shock from that activity level so early in the morning.

I have got to attempt to turn off the TV.

Usually I convince myself that I’ll just listen as I get everything else done. Before I know it, I’m perched on the couch, remote in hand, on my sixth episode of John & Kate Plus Eight wondering how she gets it all done. It sucks me in every time.

I hope someone else has a good answer!

With a full-time job, three kids, a husband and a role of serving on the core leadership team at my church, budgeting time is not an option, it’s a necessity!!

Seriously, I wish I had some sage advice to give, but I don’t. It’s simply a matter of survival for me.

As the NIKE commercial says, “Just Do It!”

~Cheryl

slacker guilt - oh how I can relate…