Do you sometimes have days when you wish there more than one of you?
I wrote on my facebook status yesterday, “am I the only one who sometimes feels like a piece of pulled taffy?”Ā Of course tons of Mommas responded with a yes. I am a good delegater, a very good delegater, and I can efficiently do 12 things at once, yet still there are days when I am overwhelmed. Somethings we can and should cut out of our schedules. You know all those extra non-necessary things. But then there are a lot of still very important tasks that must be done each day. We as mothers, and many of us homeschooling and work at home mothers have got to be choosey with our time. I learned a year or so ago by a direct Word from the Lord that just because I CAN do 12 things at once and go on near no sleep doesn’t mean I SHOULD be doing all that. I am good at saying no, but I need to be better at saying “WAIT”. Often times there are things pulling me that I want to do, and they are honorable but they are not immediate. So here is my get on track helps. I am mostly writing for myself but feel free to add in a comment if it helps you too, or you have more suggestions.
- write a list of all the tasks you do or need to do in the average month
- now take a long hard look and cross out the ones that are not really necessary
- now pray about it and cross out all the things that are not important or called for by God
- now put code letters beside each one, such as P for personal, H for home, F for family, W for work, HS for homeschooling, M for mothering, try to not have more than 5 or 6 catagories
- now take a long hard look and see what category dominates your time
- now look again and see if some things need to be removed
- now with what is left, put them in order of priority, starting with most important , and let me give you a hint, #1Ā should be prayer and time with God, if that isn’t going on your list you might as well give up because nothing will work
- now start each day with your list and work at it in order of priority, some days you may tackle only a couple of things but you will be satisfied knowing you did the most important things, other days you may get halfway down your list and maybe once a week or even only once a month or so you may get those bottom list things done.
At the end of the day you can feel confident that you have accomplished not only what God has called for but the most important things first. And then maybe you won’t have to post something silly on your facebook page to get yourself back in order. And you probably won’t spend as much time trying to figure out what you are supposed to be doing next. And you won’t feel guilty that your closet didn’t get cleaned because you spent the day explaining salvation to your 6 year old, because in comparison who cares about the closet?
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:Ecclesiastes 3:1
@bibledude says
I have to say that I LOVe how much you have the word ‘remove’ (or cross out) in your list! I also wanted to add that I think that it is important to have CLEAR (and probably written) goals that you can measure your priorities against. It can get pretty tricky trying to prioritize the tasks if there are not specific goals that you are trying to work towards. Make sense?
Thanks for making me think about this! I’ve been pretty swampped lately, and this helped bring me back into focus…
Dan King
.-= @bibledude´s last blog ..[real-time connections] chapter 4: linking to the world =-.
Alexia says
Yes Yes Yes. I struggle so much with doing the most important first. the urgent always seems to take over. š
Yesterday, for example I ended up staying home from church, which I felt guilty about, until I realized my 8 year old and I had the most indepth talk about God that I have even had with adults. š
I think I learned more about God last night, than had I gone to church. (not saying we should forsake the gathering, just that in this instance it was good!)
.-= Alexia´s last blog ..Something new from Jonah. =-.
JoJo Tabares says
Great tips! I do cut out quite a lot these days, but I still find there are too many things on my “To Do” list that never get “To Done.” I only have one 10 y/o son left at home to delegate to so I plan to Xerox myself over the weekend. lol
Jeanie says
Penny,
This is a great article! Time Management! That’s what I am working on too! Thanks for your post!
.-= Jeanie´s last blog ..Eats With sinners by Arron Chambers =-.
Rebecca says
LOL! Your photo made me chuckle.
Well, I think I am a handful being just one of me…. but I also tend to overreach my goals. I’m a bit of a workaholic. Great tips! I will keep them in mind!
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..Just Call Me Tron =-.
Penny says
overreaching goals, yep I can relate to that š