Parents: Organize Your to-Do List by Time Pockets
If you are at home with young children and have a job, I’m sorry. It’s difficult. This cannot be denied. You will have to use “in-between” moments – usually periods of sleep or silence – which are never enough, but alas, they are what you have.
The thing is, what usually happens is this: the moment your child finally ( finally!) Falls asleep or is busy with something, you freeze. Time. It’s ticking. What to do about it ?! You start weighing your tasks, figuring out what’s most important. Your brain is overwhelmed, so you decide to sit down and rest for a second. This is all too much. You take out your phone and start looking on Instagram. Or a Nordstrom sale. And then, before you know it, your child needs you again, and your opportunity to achieve anything has already passed.
You need to work with an imperfect timeline. You need to organize your to-do list by time pocket. Here’s what productivity expert Kaitlyn Patton does, as she explains on her blog :
My children are 5 ½, 3 and 18 months old, and only my smallest naps. I do most of my work during my youngest’s second sleep because it is also the time my two seniors have quiet times, which means distractions are minimal. Otherwise, I mostly work with 10-20 minute pockets during the day and then after they go to bed. It is important to manage your time wisely. This means that you will know what you are going to do as soon as you find your pocket. I have a to-do list for 10, 20 and 30+ minutes, so when I have a pocket of time, I don’t waste it trying to figure out what to do.
You can make your list the same way Patton does, or whatever you like with your kids’ schedule. You may be able to send some emails or fill out an expense report in 10 minutes. Perhaps in 20 minutes you can jot down a budget for the next month. If you have a marathon grumbler that gives you two hours of loneliness, what the heck you ca n’t do?
However, my advice would be not to get in the habit of doing only quick tasks from your to-do lists in these short periods of time. Because at the end of the day, when you’re ready to take on some of your larger, more meaningful projects, you’ll run out of mental fuel. Instead, split these projects into smaller, more manageable pieces and add them to your list. You can do this at night the next day.
Then, when it’s time to “go,” you are ready to run. We also suggest creating a list of unexpected possibilities for fun things. In this crazy phase of life, every minute counts.