You may say “I have certain things that need to be done, why not just go with the flow and get them done”.

It does sound simple when put like that.  The problem is however, that in a life that is based at one location and involves a number of people (including children), things quickly change.  Emergencies happen, children get sick, someone pops in and it is all too easy to lose track of where you were and what still needs to be done.  In my case, the children were both sick last week and not at all interested in either sleeping or entertaining themselves.  It was constant cuddles all round.  By having my plan, I was able to very quickly prioritise what couldn’t be postponed, and simply had to wait until I’d gotten them all off to sleep at night, then burned some midnight oil.  I work on three plans.  My “Big Picture” my goals and dreams, goal income, goal lifestyle etc.  Then I have my main timeplan.  What I need to plan to do to meet my business and home needs.  Lastly my micro plan, each and every little thing that needs to happen to run my business and run my home on a daily basis.

By having a plan your home and business will run more smoothly.  Nobody is invincible; in fact I have the worst memory in the world.  So, I plan around my memory, I plan with the view that I will forget something.  By having an itemised to do list, nothing gets forgotten.  I’m also a terrible procrastinator.  Being organised ensures that I have time enough for the good things and my children are guaranteed of quality fun time with their mom and don’t suffer living in a pigsty or with me constantly at the computer when they need me.  It is quite difficult to get into a routine, if you are not used to it.  Children function well with routine and actually require it and it helps with their development, learning boundaries and the responsibilities of the real world.  Trust me, it is well worth the effort.  All of your family members and your business clients will reap the rewards.

It’s very easy to neglect certain chores in favour of those that are easier or more pleasant and whilst this may not be a problem at the time, with so much going on, one tiny thing overlooked can become a very large issue later on.  You can also be left with a very tight deadline and far too much to try and squeeze into your timeframe.

It is absolutely true – a stitch in time saves nine.  Make sure you have a calendar – hang it where everyone can see it.  I must admit – at this stage it is only useful to me, neither of my children is old enough to read, but I have a color for each of us, and every single appointment is on that calendar.   Set up your daily plan. For this I have a book – you can even buy them now with each page printed up as a “to do” list.  So – the appointments and main events all go on the calendar for everyone to see, then I break it down into a more detailed to do list for each day.

I keep a white board in the kitchen, if something pops into my head, no matter what it is, an idea, something for the shopping list (very handy) or something I need to do – onto the whiteboard with it.  It’s also fantastic when someone rings if the children have stolen all of the pens….

Plan your day.  Try to have it prepared the day before so that you can get your head around what you’ll need to be on top of for the next day.  Read your to-do list the night before, this gives you a jump start when you wake up in the morning. You’ll be surprised at how much more smoothly things run by planning.

AND…..  The biggest plan of all – plan to change your plan!!!

Moral to this story:

A little organisation goes a long way.  Being organised and planning each day is not going to take the fun out of everything or become a cumbersome chore.  It will ensure the smooth running of your family and business and ensure that everyone has enough time allocated to keep them happy.  It will also ensure that you have a little time – just for you!

ACTION:

Get a calendar.  Start planning your day.  Start using a “to-do” list.  Print these up yourself – you can then get exactly the size you want.  Word and Publisher have a number of simple templates as well.  That will help you schedule in a fashion that gives the main time to the things that you feel are most important to you.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Time Management, Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.