Tag: mum blog

Golazo!

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Goalscoring brings smiles everyday

A friend recently asked do I set goals, and that’s pretty much all I do!

Driven? Yes. OCD? Probably!

Lifetime achievements, monthly work goals, personal achievements, weekly to-do’s and micro daily milestones probably fills 90% of my head.

Since the divorce I have been even more aware of identifying what makes me happy and not wasting excess energy on things that don’t. Kids was the obvious answer, but then came career, friends, fitness, style and love. And pretty much in that order I allocate time, energy and resource to those things and make sure I don’t spend much time doing anything that doesn’t fit into those categories. You can get so stressed and pulled in all sorts of directions doing things that really don’t have any positive impact for you or your loved ones.

Sounds very calculated and it is really! I’ve analysed that I subliminally break it down daily…75% of all my time, love and resources goes to the kids, 10% to career, 5% to friends, 5% to fitness and 5% style. I’m afraid love isn’t getting much attention at the moment – one to change!

It obviously fluctuates with some weeks me going out with friends every other night, but if that’s the case in the back of my mind I’m always thinking of finishing early from work to see the kids and going to bed early the other nights so I have energy for work and family. Every day I don’t just have a work ‘to-do’, I have a personal/social and fitness to-do. I always ensure I leave work to pick up and drop off the kids at school/pre-school and toddler group, and always back for tea-time. During my lunch I’ll email friends to sort catching up, I finish work on the dot and ensure I run from the office at least three times/week.

I know that, like my kids, I blossom and bloom with structure and routine, and when I complete a task whether it’s simply fitting in the hoovering or finishing a triathlon it brings a real sense of achievement.

Clear daily, weekly, monthly journeys make for a happy life 🙂

100 minute hour

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My two youngest still nap for an hour at lunch, this is my saving grace when it comes to keeping ahead and yes, they could probably manage without it now and again but I definitely couldn’t! I usually plan in my head in the morning exactly what I want to fit into that time frame and it ensures I’m chilled with the kids because I don’t have numerous chores to fit in when they want to play.

Example – this Saturday I had a big girls night out, so Friday lunch hour:

12.30 – put a colour on my hair

12.45 – topped up my Shellac nail colour from Christmas

12.55 – mopped the kitchen

hair dyed, nails done..on to the mopping!

13.00 – loaded the washing machine ready to turn on when kiddiwinks awake

13.03 – emailed local nightclub to organise VIP entrance (girl’s nights out are such a treat it had to be done haha!)

13.05- tweezered my brows

13.10 – showered and rinsed hair, body brushed and face scrubbed!

13.20 – epilated under arms

13.22 – hung evening outfit up

13.25 – took Saturday’s meals out of freezer to defrost

13.26 – put roast chicken in oven for tea

13.28 – kettle on and cup of coffee made

13.30 – kids up!

Now that, pre-kids, would have taken at least a day and a half!

I could have easily tried to fit that around the kids on Saturday but will have undoubtedly not achieved half of it in double the time and it left me Friday night for my first bootcamp session – the pain!!

Diaries are Dead!

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Syncing makes multitasking a cinch

Manic multi-tasking is a true art-form and women are pretty darn good at it. It comes naturally to most of us and it is the very best and underestimated skill to have on this earth!

The tests start rolling in with kids, the first real test with kids plus work AND the uber test comes with multiple kids, a social life (yup we are allowed!) plus a serious work schedule!

I’m a demon possessed most days and achieve a lot in 24 hours, but when I missed my son’s first non-uniform day my happy world collapsed and the guilt rolled in like a huge thunderstorm. I vowed never again.

I know you can’t always keep all balls in the air and I would have coped if it was a work-thing, but just the forlorn face of my five year-old still haunts me now 😦

So…..I googled, synced and installed plug-ins so now my work, home and social diary is all on my iPhone. This has been the most valuable tool for me to manage the manic circus life!

Every morning I switch it on when I wake and I get reminders beeping at me for school trips, after-school clubs, sports kits needed, dinner money, playdates, my girls nights out, yoga, meetings, awards do’s, when the kids are away, holidays (yes please!). I can create a calendar entry wherever I am-shops, playground, bath, bed (all the obvious thinking hotspots!) and it is immediately uploaded and never lost or forgotten.  I get so engrossed at work that it even beeps at me to remind me to leave the office to do school pick up – my phone beeps, my computer beeps and my Office Manager has my diary and also gives me a shout!

I had a few calendars which I needed to sync but this link here makes it sound so easy:

http://email.about.com/od/googlecalendartips/qt/Sync_Google_Calendar_and_iPhone_Calendar.htm

My mobile is now my world, but luckily it’s synced so if I lose it, it’s all saved in cyberspace and I can use Google calendars on any computer so I’m now safe from the roll of thunder!