Time Savers

Despite being surrounded by huge time savers such as home appliances, computers and an endless assortment of gadgets, people today seem to be busier than ever, and this is especially true for moms.

It seems like the more time savers we have in terms of electronics and gadgets, the higher our expectations about how much we should accomplish each day. So before I discuss three important time savers for moms, I’ll say that as a first step we all need to learn to lower our expectations of ourselves and stop trying to do so much!

There are lots of small ways you can save time, but today I’d like to focus on the “big issues”- habits and attitudes, such as being a perfectionist, that are making you work too hard or too long on the wrong things.

Three important time savers:

1. Learn to say “no.” This is one of the biggest time savers. It is crucial if you want to keep your sanity. It’s difficult to say “no,” for sure, especially to a worthy cause, but you must prioritize and choose to accept the tasks and requests that are most important. All the rest will need to be done by someone else!

2. Learn to delegate. If you’re a perfectionist, this is going to be hard. But in order to save time and make your life easier, you must be able to delegate tasks to others, then let go. Don’t supervise them while they are doing the task, and don’t redo it after they are done! Case in point – when delegating folding the laundry to my husband, needless to say things are not done to my standards, but they are done. I have learned to let go of my perfectionism and let him do it his way.

3. Which reminds me of the most important time saver: let go of perfectionism! Perfectionism is a huge time waster because it doesn’t allow you to prioritize, delegate and minimize the time you devote to low-priority tasks. One of the best time savers is to do something once, never redo it, and move on. Being a perfectionist does not allow you to do that.

Shortcuts and time savers are not a luxury – they are a necessity. Start with these three. If you can master them, I guarantee you will have significantly less stress in your life, and definitely more time. Just promise me you are going to use that extra time relaxing, and not trying to accomplish even more!

Image by: photographer padawan *(xava du)

Comments  

 

0 # nat418 2009-10-08 18:11

Vered--you are right on! The time savers you provide above will help tremendously. Saying "no" is often a huge challenge for women. We have a hard time saying no because we don't know how, don't think we can, and don't think people will like us if we do. It's very empowering to say "no" and take control of your time and energy so that you can focus on what matters most to you! Contact me if you'd like my article about effective ways to say NO.

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