How Much Time Does It REALLY Take?

The whole point of this blog is for all of us to share ideas about how to manage and balance our lives so that we can have fulfilling relationships with our spouses and family, and also achieve our professional goals.  Having a family is important and a huge focus for your life, but it is also good and important to strive for and achieve your professional goals as well.

I am a get it done kind of girl, but I can also procrastinate with the best of them.  ie. I can spend an hour and a half debating the weather when just getting my butt out of the door for a run would only take 30 minutes so assuming that I still go for a run I am now 2 hours into my day instead of 30 minutes. UGH!!!  I was chatting with my girlfriend, Erin, about this and she had some great input.  Time yourself.  I am still procrastinating on that one , but here are her numbers.  To empty the dishwasher ~ 92 seconds, fold the laundry ~ less than 2 minutes, write a note to someone letting them know how much they mean to her 4.5 minutes.   While I must admit that I may not break out the egg timer any time soon, hearing her numbers was HUGELY encouraging to me.  When the to do list seems to be miles long, if you just jump in and start checking things off the list, you might be surprised at how quickly you get everything accomplished.

In the last 2 weeks I have found myself happily emptying the dishwasher, doing the laundry, making those extra calls to clients, the first time it comes into my mind rather than thinking that I need to put it off to later because I don’t have enough time.  The side benefit is that I feel so much better knowing that things are done and not looming over me.

A great website for ideas on breaking things down into manageable sized chunks is www.flylady.com.

The other secret to getting things done in less time?  PLANNING!  The more you can pre plan the better because it keeps you focused and on track.  If you have to regroup after each task and decide what to do next it will take you longer to get into the groove on the next task if you get there at all.