Our daughter who is in high school first showed us the above statement about being let down by group project members, and we thought it was hilarious. Whether you’re working with a group in school, a family, a community organization, or a team in your business, it seems like we constantly forget things, drop balls, or run around in circles all day putting out fires.
You understand, don’t you?
We loved this message we received from one of our community members:
“I want to stop the unplanned, but preventable, “emergencies” due to a lack in planning or communication. It feels like it is just one thing after another with my husband and I. With four adopted kids and two more after that, maybe that is how it is, but I feel like we are spending so much time staying afloat that there is no energy left for living. I want to reach my goals and teach my children to do the same.”
We can all relate, and we all want to spend our best energy LIVING. So what do we do about all the “stuff” that keeps popping up? Here are three suggestions to get us started:
(1) Say what we mean.
If we have no intention of calling, emailing, getting together, helping out, organizing, or taking care of that task someone asked us to do, let’s not say we will do it. 🙂 Instead, let’s give ourselves adequate margin and plenty of buffer. Let’s under-promise. Let’s “essentialize.”
(2) Streamline our calendars.
I (April) used to fill my daily calendar with about 30 tasks: routine items, things I had to do, things I wanted to do, and things I felt like I “should” do.
When our calendars are full, there’s no room for all of the unexpected stuff, and there’s so much clutter that the “have to do” items get buried.
Instead, let’s only put things that are “have to do” items on our calendars. (If you need to know where to put everything else, we can help you with that!)
(3) Do a Weekly Review.
The people we admire most in the productivity space are the ones who do their Weekly Reviews. They look back at the previous week to see if there are any forgotten commitments. They look forward to the coming week to see how the 45 puzzle pieces are going to fit together. And they discuss the plan and strategy before it all turns into an emergency.
One hour (or less) on this review makes a bigger difference than we might think!
Additional Show Notes
One of our favorite books: Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Come join us on a webinar to learn more about Steps to Everyday Productivity!
I love that you can share your own mistakes. We all need to be reminded that we are human. Even the best of us make mistakes. Families schedules are hard to manage at times. I appreciate any help you can give us in that area.
Thanks so much Amy! I love that our community is so accepting of our mistakes. 🙂 We are thrilled to have you with us at LearnDoBecome, and we have high hopes that the strength of this community will inspire all of us to be just a little better each day!
April and Eric,
Sending love your way. I enjoyed the podcast – listened while I sit here filling in my planner after a wonderful spring break getaway. I think the sun absorbed all of my brain cells, so I’m putting everything out into my calendar and doing my weekly review. As the primary president, a room mom, mom with three sports schedules, cub scouts, work, etc etc I always need the reminders. Thanks for putting out great information and inspiration. Love you guys!
Laurie Brooks
That made my day! Thank you, Laurie! It made me laugh that “the sun absorbed all your brain cells.” I can relate! Excited to have you with us as you are doing such important work with your family. xoxo