No More Multitasking

Do you ever have so much to do you don’t know what to do first? Every day, right? But the pressure of trying to run around to get everything done just makes life so frenetic and un-peaceful. I used to think I was a master multitasker and spent a lot of time making everything “perfect” (or being stressed out when it was not), but I have learned to let that go (mostly) and now my life is calmer and much more peaceful.

I decided when the kids were born I wanted to be “present.” I read a lot of books and watched a lot of shows about it. I did a pretty good job, I thought. Then after I became a single parent I realized I wasn’t quite as present as I thought I was with the kids. I frequently was thinking of work when we were together and when I worked I was thinking of the kids. Then I missed them like crazy when they were visiting their dad. Still there was so much to do. I needed some help and it wasn’t something I could pay for.

Enter the “Flylady” and a timer. I previously had checked out www.flylady.net after reading about it in a magazine.  Basically, it is an on-line system that teaches you to clean, or so I thought. But really the program, with its free website and daily emails, help you organize your life. The best part is you jump in where you are and you don’t fret about what you haven’t done. Every day you start again in a no pressure way. It is a gent approach to better living, minus the perfection and the multitasking.

This is where the timer comes in. Marla Cilley, also known as the FlyLady, frequently says, “You can do anything for 15 minutes at a time.” And you know what, she is right. If we concentrate for 15 minutes we can clean, or cook, or pay bills, or sit and play Connect Four or X-box with our children without the “I should really be cleaning up the dishes/paying the bills/mowing the lawn now”-guilty-feeling.

I can’t say that I do all the steps of the program every day, sometimes I fall off the wagon but then I pull out my timer and I know I can concentrate on one task for 15 minutes. Working in small increments of time with small goals, helps me feel a sense of control over my life and more importantly a sense of accomplishment—and that is something I can’t afford to live without.