You feel as if you have just run a marathon and you are not even out the door yet to go to work!
Well, you are not alone! It is a extremely common problem facing most of us on a daily basis due to the fact the most people do not have a clear reality of how long it actually takes to do a task.
For example: I had a client who had a full time job from 8 a.m.-4 p.m . She was the stress-out mother of two elementary school aged children, a boy and a girl. When we met for her organization planning session, she described her weekday morning routine.
I get up at 6 a.m., go downstairs and turn the coffee on. I turn around and go back upstairs so I can wake up my husband. I go back downstairs again. Then I start making the kids lunches, straighten up the den, and grab my coffee. Now I trudge back upstairs and pick out clothes for my husband. Did I mention that I am usually ironing his clothes at this point? Now I can finally get ready for work from about 6:30-6:50 a.m. Between 6:50 to 7:30 a.m. I focus on getting the kids up and dressed for school. After getting them downstairs, they get a bowl of cereal while I load their backpacks. We head out the door at 7:30 a.m. I'm exhausted every morning. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up without going bonkers.
"How would you like your mornings to run?" I ask.
She said that she would relish having 10 minutes of quiet time. Enjoying a cup of coffee would be a luxury. It would be a miracle not having to rush getting herself, husband, and children ready for the day. Eating breakfast? Now she eats a breakfast bar on the run. Would it be possible to eat at the breakfast table every morning?
Your "In A Snap" Solution: Knowing how many tasks are in a project and how long each task takes.
Step One: I had her write down every single task that she did in the morning. Beside each task, she had to write how long she thought it took to do it. Next she added up the total time for all her morning tasks. Her first list did not include every single task because she still kept lumping things together. She combined her shower time with dressing, hair drying, and make-up time. I had her break out her list in detail. She added each individual task.
Step Two: I then asked her to write down a new list. For the next 4 days she was to write down how long it actually took her to do each task. She quickly realized that she was trying to do way too much in the time she allotted herself.
Step Three: I sat down with her. It was time for making a few tough decisions. With gentle coaching, we walked through the process of deciding what she could do the night before : Straightening the den, packing the kids lunches, preparing their backpacks and sitting them beside the door, having the kids help her pick out their own clothes, and setting the timer on the coffee maker. Then I asked her what could she delegate to someone else (her husband). He could wake himself up, pick out his own clothes, and make sure they were pressed. This allowed her husband to lend a hand with the morning routine.
Step Four: After giving her new routine a test run for just one week, she was de-stressed! She was thrilled, her kids were less moody, and her husband was able to lend a helping hand.
The morale to our organization story: Are you setting the stage each morning for a positive day or a rushed, stressed out day? Let Clutter Conversions in control..Organized Living in a Snap!
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