Maaaaan, I’m procrastinating over the Winter Olympics today, and the laundry (I am on top of it, though). So, time to do some blogging. What are my best tips to improve your focus on what’s important? (E.g. making some money on a day that’s fit for it.) (Because I’m home alone today, kids are at school and daycare, so ample space and time to work. )
Maybe I should have called this post “Seven ways to fail in focussing as a WAHM” but to be honest, I don’t like that kind of phrasing. I’m a radical optimist, prone to manifesting my dream life, so why focus on your faults! Let’s improve what’s good as well as what could be better.
Here goes.
1. Make a plan
So that when it is time for a certain activity (such as work), you know how to start and get on with it. Identify the top three actions you can take to work on a project or, more inspiring, to reach a goal. Then state when you will do them, how you will do them, where and with whom. Plan and execute. Note: I plan everything in my calendar but not specifically enough. So this morning it said “work on newsletter” and I had no idea where to start. For me, this has to be far more specific like “merge lists in Mailchimp” or “write article on xyz for newsletter 123”.
2. On goals: have them!
Even when you think your days are all the same (feeding, taxiing and bathing the kids, working and cooking and crashing in front of Netflix for yourself, except for weekends), set goals on all dimensions of your life. I love Samantha Ettus’ model of the Pie Life, dividing your life into Career, Children, Health, Relationship, Community, Friends and Hobbies. Set goals with a date by which you want to reach them. Divide them into actionable steps. Align your actions with your intention, as they say. Pinpoint the one small step you can take immediately, today, and one for tomorrow and the day after.
3. Move. Go outside, breath in fresh air and reset your mind
This is one of the reasons I want a dog in a few years time, actually. Moving keeps your heart pumping, and combined with being outside this freshens up your thinking and motivation to, once inside again, eat the frog of the day.
4. Make lists
When you’re stuck in a rut, get out pen and paper (or your smartphone, but when you use paper for your worries, you can let go of them physically later on). List your to do’s, your worries, your goals, your dreams, your ‘o yes there’s that’s, your meal plan for the coming weeks, upcoming events and birthdays, whatever floats your boat. Then go plan for it. Open your agenda (this I do prefer digital, e.g. Google Calendar, so its accessible on the go, and I can share it with my husband). See when you can fix whatever you put on your lists. And especially plan some things to look forward to! Then burn or otherwise release the lists with nagging negativity on them.
5. Set a timer
Then force yourself to do something you deem ‘productive’ for say, 20 minutes. Afterwards, have some tea and chocolate or equivalent. Repeat until you feel accomplished.
6. Cook
Start dinner or plan meals and make a grocery list if you can’t access your furnace at this time. Do something worthwhile that has to be done anyway, and make it count towards your evening. Put some extra care in it so that your family can enjoy your procrastination later in the day.
7. Forgive yourself
Even if this happens every monday. Just get back on the bandwagon and move on. Watch Frozen and sing Let it goooo on the top of your lungs. Different context, same feeling and your kids won’t mind. Then sing and dance on the rest of your favourite songs, and don’t forget the Hokeypokey. Forgive yourself and start over. Do your best. That’s what it’s all about.
xox, Marthe
Let it go, let it go
Can’t hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don’t care what they’re going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway