When I was younger (e.g. a few weeks ago) the idea of doing chores on my Saturday caused much distress. Saturday was a day off. Saturday was a day for relaxing. Work was for the week, not the weekend. However, on Saturday the 27th of July of this year I came to a startling realization: If you prioritize and get to it then Saturday is pretty long. There is time enough for work and play.
Let's take my Saturday and break it down.
7:00--First wake up.
8:00--Second wake up.
I usually wake up about 7:00 most days, and since I'm awake I get out of bed. Saturday's are no exception. This is an important point: If you want to have plenty of time to do things then get up at a reasonable hour. Lounging in bed and refusing to rise just wastes the day. This is followed by another important point. You'll notice that I went back to bed for another hour in seeming contradiction to my first point. However, this wasn't laziness; this was sleep deprivation. I haven't been sleeping well. Catching up on sleep is important. Here's the second point: Sleep deprivation makes everything harder. Get plenty of sleep. Seriously. If you are depriving yourself of sleep to give yourself more time to get things done your work will be sloppier, your decision making slower, your concentration impaired. You will need more time just to do everything. You will be slower! Save yourself time and get enough sleep.
8:30--Work out.
The Saturday morning workout is becoming a regular thing for me. I'll talk about that next post. I eat breakfast (a banana) as I drive to workout. Most of the time multitasking just slows us down, but with something as automatic as eating a banana it is a definite time saver and gives me the energy I need for that workout.
10:00--Second breakfast.
Because you need to refuel and rehydrate after a good workout.
10:30--Mow the lawn.
Here's where some of the real time saving comes into play. My usual tendency is to delay mowing the lawn. I like to make excuses about the grass getting dry so the mower doesn't clog, giving the batteries for the electric weed whacker time to charge (why don't I check those the night before!), not wanting to start too early and disturb the neighbors. However, do I spend this time wisely? Nope. I usually just lounge around the house watching cartoons or playing mindless games on the Ipad. They aren't things I really want to spend my day doing, but they are buffers against the things I don't want to do. Point three is something most parents already know but I seem to forget: If you procrastinate it will just take longer. You might as well just get to it.
As an added bonus I got to watch the kids play on their bikes while I mowed. That killed two birds with one stone.
11:30--Prepare the kids lunch.
I think this is a vital part of time management for parents. Feed the kids when they're hungry; feed yourself when you are hungry. It keeps the children from being whiny (about food). Put aside whatever you are doing and spend the time putting lunch together. While they eat they are (hopefully) less likely to bother you and you can return to whatever task you were doing in peace. If you try to finish first you'll just get slowed down by their constant cries for food.
12:00--Finish mowing.
12:45--Set up pool for children.
I was hot. I was sweaty. I was tired. I just wanted to shower. Food called my name. However, if I delayed setting up the pool then I would have to get hot, sweaty, and tired again later. That would deter me and the pool wouldn't get set-up. Besides, I was already in the backyard. Point four: Rest is important, but rest when you need it not when it would merely feel good. Oh, and when you're doing hot sweaty work make sure you stay hydrated. Heat exhaustion will ruin your entire day.
1:00--Lunchtime.
This is the point where a lot of people wonder "where has my day gone?" However, from a practical perspective I'd only been awake five hours and look how much I'd gotten done. I still had nine hours of my day left! Those afternoon hours tend to crawl by. There's a lot of them and people are generally at their most alert and effective. It's a good time to get a lot done.
1:30--Lifeguard the kids while they swim.
Humans don't multitask. Not really. Human consciousness can't focus on multiple things at once. The conscious mind is truly one-track. This means that when we are multitasking one part needs to run on the unconscious line and a lot of tasks are too complex for this line. So, to compensate for this we run two (or more) tasks in the conscious mind by switching back and forth between them. This causes us to do both tasks more slowly and generally not as well. Imagine driving one train forward a small distance, removing it from the track, putting a second train on the track, running it forward, removing it, replacing the first train...both trains will get to the destinations eventually after much more time and effort. Still, there are times when this is acceptable. Finding those times and using them well maximizes a Saturday. For example, while my children swam I could have sat there to prevent them drowning and done nothing else. Instead, I chose to read a book. I couldn't disappear into my book the same way I usually do. I had to stop reading every minute or so to check on the kids, but this didn't prevent me from enjoying the reading. Neither did the children drown. This is point five: If you have two tasks that won't suffer from switching rapidly between them, do them simultaneously. The tricky part is recognizing which tasks are appropriate for this simultaneous. Driving should never be one of these tasks. Just saying.
2:15--Shower (finally!).
2:30--Birthday Shopping with the children.
Honestly, shopping would have been faster without the kids, but it also allowed me to spend time with my children. Plus, getting the children out of the house allowed Trina more time to be productive or relax. This in turn creates less for me to do. If you want to know about Trina's birthday check out her blog. I'm sure she will talk about it in a few days.
4:30--Video Games.
Why? Because it is one of the fun things I wanted to do on Saturday. This wasn't just wasting time because I lacked something else to do. This was purposeful sitting down to play video games. More importantly, I had the time! Being proactive about my day meant little wasted time and more time to do what I wanted.
6:00--Dinner.
7:30--Movie/Wrap Presents.
I can't emphasize this enough: I love movies! Movies at home are also a great way to waste time. However, they can be used for not wasting time as well. I watch movies while I stretch, do kata, clean (especially old favorites I don't need to pay attention to!), fold laundry, etc. Movies (especially old favorites) fall neatly into the category of tasks that won't suffer much from doing them simultaneously with other tasks.
9:30--Relax, Get Ready for Bed.
10:30--Go to Bed.
What stands out to me is I had more I could have done in the evening but the chores were done. The work was finished. I spent my evening relaxing before bed with more reading. Left free I could read all day.
One of the other things that helped was minimizing wasteful time spend on the Internet. Several years ago I read "The Tyranny of E-mail" by John Freeman (thank you Goodreads for helping me remember the title) that included a list for making your e-mail use more efficient. I don't remember the entire list, but I do remember the basics. I try to apply them to texting, Facebooking, e-mailing, etc. When I stick to it the amount of time I waste online is greatly diminished. A check-in that lasts no longer than a minute isn't a big deal, but too many of those and you find your day disappearing. Scheduling time for the Internet (once in the morning, and once in the afternoon) is a good way to make your day more efficient.
So that was my Saturday...now if I can only remember those points for future Saturdays.
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