Maximizing My Time
Being a Single Parent is the toughest job/role in life. Period. I know personally.
I was a Single Parent of my three beautiful children for 13+ years; by myself with no financial assistance. Tough. Once I got basically full custody of my children, it made it a TON easier. BUT I still never felt like I had enough time to do IT ALL.
Maximizing My Time NOW…
is MORE IMPORTANT Than EVER!
Then I got some advice from my dad. Yup. He was raising us with mom, working full time, building the next house we were going to live in after his full time job, played with me before I went to bed. PLUS we had time to go enjoy their cabin on the summer weekends. Even though he wasn’t a single parent, this guy had his schedule PACKED BIG TIME. And he was always happy. How Could This Be?
I said, Dad what’s your secret? He didn’t hesitate one minute to say,
“Never Take Anything Serious.”
Wow. That sounds completely the opposite of taking things seriously while being a mature adult. RIGHT?
WRONG. There’s a deeper meaning.
He went on to say, Something doesn’t go normal or planned. think it over to keep it going. Sometimes you put stuff in that doesn’t do a thing for what you’re trying to do. Sometimes you can back off and let it work out.
Me. Hmm. Then I started to remember some of the projects dad would be working on…
He honestly didn’t take anything serious; to put him in the mindset of being able to quickly adjust to ANY SITUATION. It increased his odds of getting through a task and or problem much quicker. Versus getting mentally all jacked up about it. Which in the long run, is just a big waste of time. So why not nip it in the @ss upfront and be open for other ways to accomplish our tasks at hand.
I Realized This Mindset and Doing this Mindset is two different things.
I learn this in baby steps. Start out small. Master that. Then keep adding another routine task to that. I keep building to it, so that I can master my WHOLE DAY…
SO that my day doesn’t master me.
No doubt, it doesn’t feel like we ever get a break, depression sets in and d@mn we are way WAY BEHIND AGAIN!!. That’s Ok. I’ve been there, done that and won zero prizes for it. Every time. Lol
But we start small, like I was sharing in my HARMONIZING SILBLINGS Blog post. That small step, starts to give us back time, because we eliminated the wasted time with “drama.” And NOW my children were a lot more happier. That wasted time on “drama” was now being used for MORE IMPORTANT things/routines to make surviving being a single parent easier and more satisfying in doing a FREAK’N BAD @SS JOB at it as well. THANK YOU very much!
Back to dad…
When dad ran into problems trying to get something done. He would try a couple of different approaches. Most the time, doing it a different way was the better solution. VERSUS getting pissed because it wasn’t going right.
It was like dad was a tibetan monk of a zillion solutions. Well maybe not. 😊 But the ones he tried that DIDN’T WORK, he quickly moved onto something else. Like it didn’t matter anymore. Seriously. He would be doing something else. When done, if he had another idea on how to do that problem project, he tried it. Sometimes it would work then and if not. He just kept moving on.
His Jovial, Enthusiasm and Compassion was Priceless.
TO CLARIFY. This is NOT A – I DON”T GIVE A SH!T attitude.
It’s teaching us not to get so mentally determined to finish a project regardless of how many times we fail at trying to complete it. It’s controlling the situation versus the situation controlling us. This will allow us to managed our time better to do other things; house chores, spending time with our child/ren, and me time.
Remember Less Means More.
The less I get Pissed about something, the more time I have for something else – that’s more enriching.
Ok. Back to dad 2.0.
Dad harnessed that so well, that in doing all those projects and routines, he was able to enjoy it all. Dad, Even had a few minutes to stop and smell the roses. 😎
OK. In closing, helpful hint. Once we master one of those necessary projects or routines in baby steps, reward ourselves. Either by myself and or as a family, pending on the project or routine.
OK…OK… OK. One more tip.
Back in the day, people would throw their pop cans or bottles on the ground anywhere. I would let my children collect them and keep the money towards BUYING a BIG FAMILY GIFT. For us this was getting a Paddle Boat for my parents cabin, that they could play with at my parent’s cabin on the lake. It took a few years. BUT when they had enough pop can refund money to buy that Paddle Boat, they were smiling ear to ear when they was able to buy it with their pop bottle/can refund money. It was Priceless 2.0.
Now a days, it might be going to the store and helping put the cans into the deposit machine, helping us shop, going to bed on time, etc. Especially if money is tight, then maybe we do something like: they can stay up on Friday Night until 11:00pm versus going to be at 8pm. Or watch a special movie they’ve been wanting to see.
The Key is the more flexible I can be,
the more options I’ll have. PERIOD.
If Interested in dad’s Book:
My Hell and Back Survival Tips is available on Amazon. CLICK HERE.
