I have two young children at home, one of whom is school age. If your home is anything like mine, mornings and evenings sometimes descend into chaos. Sometimes it seems like the evening ends and my wife and I have forgotten to eat dinner, but we're too tired to bother. Mornings are sometimes the same way: wake up 2 hours before we need to head out the door, and still somehow manage to run 10 minutes "late" (late is relative here - we always get our oldest to school on time, but we don't always leave the house at the target time).
Regardless of your life situation, stuff happens. It's inevitable. But you can do some things to make the one-offs a little less frantic.
I know when I'm done with work in the evenings, I'm usually exhausted. Running to the grocery store for something to eat or to the department store to buy a shirt for the next day just isn't going to happen (and to be honest, you shouldn't need to run out for clothes at the last minute!). Try to run your errands on the weekends instead.
When possible, try not to run errands at all. The local grocery stores in my area have curbside pickup and grocery delivery to your house. For my family, it's definitely worth the $5 convenience fee. Try to offload errands or do them online whenever possible, and those that you can't offload or do online, try to schedule ahead of time.
Ever have one of those mornings where you can't find your car keys? Or your work laptop? What about your shoes? Try to always keep things in the same place, so you know where to find them in the mornings.
This is extra important if you have a family or roommates at home. For some reason, adding people to your living situation seems to exponentially increase the time it takes to locate lost items. If I were to misplace my keys in the morning, it's entirely possible I wouldn't be able to find them by the end of the day.
As someone who once only had enough work clothes to make it halfway through the week, I can say that this one is very important. It's one thing to do laundry mid-week to keep up, but it's another entirely to do laundry mid-week because you would be unsuitably dressed to walk into a beach-side tiki bar the next day. Keep a week's worth of clothes around or, if possible, two weeks.
Don't be that person that has to plow the cheeseburger wrappers and styrofoam cups out of the passenger seat so that you can take a colleague (or more embarrassingly, a client!) to lunch. Keep it clean so you never have to worry about it at the last minute.
I can't remember what I need to get done from one day to the next. I have to use a calendar to remember everything from work meetings to school activities. This includes my own doctor's appointments, when contractors are coming to the house, even when people are visiting. If it's not in my calendar, I'll likely forget it's supposed to happen!
This is not a bad thing, BTW. Using technology to offload some of your mental stress is exactly why calendaring tools and apps exist in the first place. As long as you're consistent about putting things in the calendar, you can forget about them until later.
It's simple: stop every once in a while. Go do something you enjoy doing. For me it might be having a cup of coffee on the back porch and enjoying the morning sun, or putting on a movie in the evening after the kids go to bed. Everyone needs time to decompress. Be sure to take some time for yourself.
I know this sounds like something your mom might have made you do when you were eight, but there's a reason she did it. If you spend 5-10 minutes each morning picking out your clothes, you've wasted between 30 minutes to an hour each week! Instead of trying to allocate that time in the mornings, allocate it on a Sunday afternoon. I bet picking out 5 days worth of outfits at once will take less than an hour.
My wife and I have 2 kids, one of whom is in school. The other is a toddler who has two settings: bouncing off the walls and sleeping. Mornings are very hectic. To help smooth them out and not stress ourselves to the point of exhaustion before the day even starts, we try to automate our mornings. Use a coffee maker with a timer to brew your coffee before or just as you wake up. Make breakfast as simple as possible (we eat a lot of cereal). We have our entire morning, from the time the kids wake up to the time we get our oldest in the car to leave for school, down to around 45 minutes. The rest of the time (my wife and I get up about 2 hours before we have to leave) is ours.
Speaking of automating things, my family falls into the category of "early adopters" when it comes to technology that can help us shave a minute or two off here and there. Voice-controlled digital assistants, smart lights, smart sprinklers, and a smart TV help us shave off 5 seconds here, 10 seconds there. It may not seem like a lot, but there is nothing more comforting than being able to yell at the house to turn the lights on when a kid vomits beside your bed at 2 o'clock in the morning!
Stuff happens, even to those of us who spend our days working in front of a computer screen. Being prepared can help make unforeseen events a little less stressful, and make it easier for you to focus and be present at your job.
As always, comment below, follow on Twitter or LinkedIn, or subscribe over on the right!
Regardless of your life situation, stuff happens. It's inevitable. But you can do some things to make the one-offs a little less frantic.
Run Errands on the Weekends
I know when I'm done with work in the evenings, I'm usually exhausted. Running to the grocery store for something to eat or to the department store to buy a shirt for the next day just isn't going to happen (and to be honest, you shouldn't need to run out for clothes at the last minute!). Try to run your errands on the weekends instead.
When possible, try not to run errands at all. The local grocery stores in my area have curbside pickup and grocery delivery to your house. For my family, it's definitely worth the $5 convenience fee. Try to offload errands or do them online whenever possible, and those that you can't offload or do online, try to schedule ahead of time.
Be Organized at Home
Ever have one of those mornings where you can't find your car keys? Or your work laptop? What about your shoes? Try to always keep things in the same place, so you know where to find them in the mornings.
This is extra important if you have a family or roommates at home. For some reason, adding people to your living situation seems to exponentially increase the time it takes to locate lost items. If I were to misplace my keys in the morning, it's entirely possible I wouldn't be able to find them by the end of the day.
Have Enough Clothes
As someone who once only had enough work clothes to make it halfway through the week, I can say that this one is very important. It's one thing to do laundry mid-week to keep up, but it's another entirely to do laundry mid-week because you would be unsuitably dressed to walk into a beach-side tiki bar the next day. Keep a week's worth of clothes around or, if possible, two weeks.
Keep Your Car Cleaned Out
Don't be that person that has to plow the cheeseburger wrappers and styrofoam cups out of the passenger seat so that you can take a colleague (or more embarrassingly, a client!) to lunch. Keep it clean so you never have to worry about it at the last minute.
Use a Calendar App
I can't remember what I need to get done from one day to the next. I have to use a calendar to remember everything from work meetings to school activities. This includes my own doctor's appointments, when contractors are coming to the house, even when people are visiting. If it's not in my calendar, I'll likely forget it's supposed to happen!
This is not a bad thing, BTW. Using technology to offload some of your mental stress is exactly why calendaring tools and apps exist in the first place. As long as you're consistent about putting things in the calendar, you can forget about them until later.
Take a Break
It's simple: stop every once in a while. Go do something you enjoy doing. For me it might be having a cup of coffee on the back porch and enjoying the morning sun, or putting on a movie in the evening after the kids go to bed. Everyone needs time to decompress. Be sure to take some time for yourself.
Pick Your Clothes Out Ahead of Time
I know this sounds like something your mom might have made you do when you were eight, but there's a reason she did it. If you spend 5-10 minutes each morning picking out your clothes, you've wasted between 30 minutes to an hour each week! Instead of trying to allocate that time in the mornings, allocate it on a Sunday afternoon. I bet picking out 5 days worth of outfits at once will take less than an hour.
Automate Mornings (and whatever else you can)
My wife and I have 2 kids, one of whom is in school. The other is a toddler who has two settings: bouncing off the walls and sleeping. Mornings are very hectic. To help smooth them out and not stress ourselves to the point of exhaustion before the day even starts, we try to automate our mornings. Use a coffee maker with a timer to brew your coffee before or just as you wake up. Make breakfast as simple as possible (we eat a lot of cereal). We have our entire morning, from the time the kids wake up to the time we get our oldest in the car to leave for school, down to around 45 minutes. The rest of the time (my wife and I get up about 2 hours before we have to leave) is ours.
Speaking of automating things, my family falls into the category of "early adopters" when it comes to technology that can help us shave a minute or two off here and there. Voice-controlled digital assistants, smart lights, smart sprinklers, and a smart TV help us shave off 5 seconds here, 10 seconds there. It may not seem like a lot, but there is nothing more comforting than being able to yell at the house to turn the lights on when a kid vomits beside your bed at 2 o'clock in the morning!
Stuff happens, even to those of us who spend our days working in front of a computer screen. Being prepared can help make unforeseen events a little less stressful, and make it easier for you to focus and be present at your job.
As always, comment below, follow on Twitter or LinkedIn, or subscribe over on the right!