Being a mom is like juggling at least 5 precious, fragile plates in the air – kids, house, husband, work, school. The expectation to shift gears at a moment’s notice is always there. I’m still remembering a recent day in the life of a working mom – me! I worked up a sweat in more ways than one. Set an early alarm to work out before the kids woke up; got 3 boys fed while I sprinted around the kitchen between bites of egg whites; got lunches loaded into backpacks and on a school bus; put a carrot souflee & brownies in the oven for a dinner party; saved a work disaster by booking an event that typically takes 8 weeks in a day; researched blog postings; wrote our weekend “to do” list (who else likes ripe summer fruit, like “Honey-Do”?); and pre-ordered donuts for a kid event. It may sound like a lot, but mentally, it’s all about the planning. Balance one plate; move onto another. Put something in the oven; re-focus for the next 45 minutes on the next task. Far from a typical day, I’m a big believer in advance planning. After being on a paper system forever, I finally took the leap to a Palm pilot which I love, especially scheduling repeat events (this is another blog post altogether), but when the 92-day-old Palm went on the blink after it was warrantied for 90 days, I was lucky enough to convince customer service to fix it for me, which was great, but…it left me system-less for 2 weeks. Back to the paper planning, I made a chart including — each day of the week, To Call, To Do, To E-mail, Errands. Worked like a charm, and I’m realizing that a combination of tech & paper works well. This love of charts actually launched my whole website venture. What creative things do you do to stay organized? Share! Comment!
Photo by Chester.