If you missed the first part of this series, click Here
Cleaning the house while the kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk while it’s snowing. -Phyllis Diller
Some days I used to feel like I was hardly able to accomplish anything even though I had been juggling the cleaning, cooking, changing diapers, and other obligations with no break in between. Moreover, by the end of the day, I was exhausted, stressed out, and overwhelmed. Isn't that how many of us feel nowadays? Instead of enjoying life, we become overworked, overextended, overburdened, anxious, and stressed.
Shift your way of thinking:
After many months of feeling this way, I decided to shift my way of thinking. I needed to be more efficient with my time so that I can enjoy a clean house, play with my kids, and work toward achieving my personal goals. Isn't there a saying after all that being a fool is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results?.
While I am adamant about keeping my house clean and organized, I also believe in the importance of living life with a purpose. Life is too short to be lived worrying about a perfectly organized and clean home. As moms, we sometimes forget about what's important, and our lives become all-consumed with no end-results . We are at the mercy of our children's needs, our household chores, social events, play dates, and other mommy obligations. But in order to live a balanced and fulfilling life, we have to set our priorities straight. We can't just put our focus on our daily chores and let it consume our day. We need to learn to manage our time better to do what matters. We need to start writing down goals and working towards achieving them. We need to live our lives to the fullest and with a purpose.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that you should live in a messy, dirty, cluttered, and disorganized house. The gist of this series is NOT to convince you to abandon your quest to maintain a clean home or anything else that matters to you, rather, to shift your thinking from perfectionism to excellence and from being overwhelmed to a feeling of accomplishment.
Time Wasters:
Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness. Jean de La Bruysre
We all have 24 hours in our day but somehow some people manage to accomplish many things while others complain that "there isn't enough time". To accomplish more, you need to become more efficient with your time. And before you become more time efficient, you have to first identify the time wasters in your life and work at improving them or eliminating them.
Here is a list of a few time wasters, that can really eat into your time if you let them.
- Perfectionism:
“Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien. (The perfect is the enemy of the good.)” -Voltaire
"Achieving absolute perfection may be impossible and so, as increasing effort results in diminishing returns, further activity becomes increasingly inefficient." FromWikipedia
I believe that the biggest time waster is seeking perfectionism. It is a big roadblock between you and a full life. Perfectionism is a life leech and a huge time waster; you have to stop chasing it. Perfectionism is NOT attainable. It is the cause of procrastination. Instead, focus on what you would like to accomplish, NOT on getting everything perfect. Learn when good is good enough, and deliver.
- Internet: You can really get carried away, and spend too many hours every day on the Internet. Set a limit to your internet usage that includes email, facebook, surfing the internet, etc...
- Phone: Same as the internet. It is one of those daily interruptions that can be a time waster, especially if you have to answer every time the phone rings. Let the voicemail pick up the call. If it's an emergency, they will call you again, or leave a mesage.
- Picking up toys while the kids are still playing: You put them away and minutes if not seconds later, they are out on the floor again.
- Shopping: Shopping can be a big waste of time if you always go shopping without a shopping list. Before you head out shopping next time, make a list of what you NEED to buy and try to stick to your list as much as possible. It will cut the time spent shopping and you can get other things done afterwards. Try to set aside a day a week for shopping. This will help free up your time for the rest of the week.
- The News: I used to be a big news junkie. I needed to know everything, I followed every story. What did I gain from that? Not much. I later realized I can check the news once a day for 5 minutes, skimming for the important stories, and still keep up to date on the latest important news. That’s all it takes to see what’s happening around the world. You do not even have to waste your time reading the whole article. The title should be enough to keep you on the loop on what’s going on.
- Gossip: whether it is celebrity gossip or talking about others. If you create a more interesting life, you wouldn’t want or have the time to care about meaningless stories.
- Complaining and worrying that you don't have enough time to get things done:
" This constant unproductive preoccupation with all the things we have to do is the single largest consumer of time and energy.” - Kerry Gleeson.
When you constantly worry that there are many things you need to get done and not enough time to accomplish them, you create some sort of mental block that stands in the way of accomplishing your goals and the things you need to get done.
- TV: TV can be a big distraction that will eat your time if you don't set any time limit to it. You get carried on by the next show and before you realize it, you spent a couple of hours glued to the TV and time just flies by. Moreover, TV can be harmful to your brain. Watching TV has been linked to numerous brain disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer's and increases the risk for ADHD. I am not advocating to stop watching TV altogether but rather to limit your TV viewing to no more than one or two hours a day combined. You can replace some of your TV time with reading, which can help stimulate the brain. Finally, talking to your spouse instead of watchnig TV can help strengthen your relationship.
There are countless other time wasters and they differ with each person. The first thing you need to do is identify YOUR time wasters, then take action (eliminate or set limits). Remember time is precious so use it wisely.
"If you want to improve how you manage time - stop doing what doesn't need to be done!"Peter Drucker
What are the time wasters in your life? or what are; in your opinion, other time wasters I did not cover?
3 comments: