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Does This Ride Ever Slow Down? Time Management in the Home & Office
By Jeff Zbar | November 12, 2008
Zack has hockey practice. Zoe has dance — and softball. Nicole will be coaching cheerleading. The good news is, she can drive herself there. The bad news is she’ll need one of the family’s two cars to do so.
Among parents out there, do you ever feel like a whirling dervish?
As a home office worker and small business entrepreneur (with a wife who’s a pediatric nurse practitioner working in private practice), my chosen workstyle and place of employment only seems to compound the chaos. The “details” of life tend to fall upon my to-do list…
Today my list included calling the dance instructor about hotel accommodations, faxing Zack’s report card to his high school hockey team manager to ensure he has the grades to continue playing, and scheduling a repair on Nicole’s car (that is, the car that de facto is her car; with three drivers and two vehicles, the car “belongs” to whoever needs it at the moment).
Oh yeah, and I had to generate some income.
The solution: Time management and time shifting. Here’s what I did:
- I started my day before dawn (around 530a). Knowing I’d be making lunches at 620a when Nicole arose for high school, I sent several emails to contacts for stories I’m working on. I’ll hope to hear back soon (at least, after the ‘official’ workday starts around 9a). And will follow up soon after noon if I haven’t heard back.
- Between 8a and 9a, I call those people whom I know will be up. Miss Melissa (the dance instructor), then the hotel, as well as the auto shop to schedule the repair.
- I arranged a carpool for Zack’s hockey practice. Actually, this is a standing arrangement. One of the families on his team love to watch their two boys skate drills at practice. And, better still, they have room in the Yukon for another player. Cool. That’s a key component to home office life with kids: Enlist the support of others whenever possible.
- I asked (or told?) Nicole to drive Zoe to dance. Frankly, that’s a regular gig, too. Hey, we pay for the car, insurance and all the other things that make up her teen-age life. Being a chauffeur isn’t too much to ask, is it?
To be sure, these four tips won’t reduce the pressure often felt by parents. Like a rising tide, there’s always more water to replace that which we think we’ve bailed out. But (not to mix metaphors here) while variety may be the spice of life, no one ever said one of the spices might not be cayenne pepper…
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