A Well Organized Day

Am I the only one who loses track of time?  If I don’t set a time management schedule my day flys by! Today was one of those days where I had an appointment in the morning, came home, homeschooled the kids, fed them lunch then headed out to piano lessons. 

After arriving home at 4:00 pm I knew that I had chores to catch up on, and many other items on my agenda to accomplish.  After spending a few moments when I walked into the door thinking about everything that I wouldn’t get done, I pulled it together and realized that today I had not made my list!
Every day should have some kind of a plan. If not then chaos is inevitable! 

I had no list or schedule to fall back on or help me focus to accomplish something.  Here is my idea of a well organized day:

1.  Morning agenda.

Sit down and add to the morning routine a time management schedule.  Not a list. The list is separate. Grab a hourly planner or digital planner and add your list of TTD to the hours of the day. Then add in your daily appointments that have to be met.

2.  Focus on completion of the hour.

It is no secret that we as mothers’ have our plates overloaded. So don’t worry about the whole day, just focus on what is important in the hour.

3. Don’t overschedule.

Add into your schedule several short breaks or a couple of long ones.  Then do nothing.  Just sit and play with the kids, or watch tv.  Do whatever you would choose to do in your free time.

4.  When you go back to the time schedule complete a job.

For example, when I write in my management book (just a plain notebook that I label at the top with the date for the day) I write “afternoon routine”.  This means after lunch, after kids are in quiet time or nap that I am to start my routine. Not sit down. Nothing else happens until my routine is finished.
That routine is clean up lunch dishes, wash dishes, wipe down table, sweep floor. Done. Nothing more nothing less.
Then I work on my blog or projects.

5.  If you lose track, go back to the schedule and start with the time you are on.  Don’t worry about what isn’t done yet.

Laundry can still be done, and floors vacuumed.  Look at the schedule and adjust the priorities.  Maybe something can be done today and switched tomorrow, or vice versa.