Prior to becoming a parent, I will admit I was judgmental of stay at home mothers who made claims of not being able to shower, plan dinner, keep their house clean or feel like much was accomplished during the day. Then I became a mother, and I began to understand.
Before having our first child, we really thought we comprehended the impact she would have in our lives, but little did we know. Suddenly, I was the mother who struggled to shower, did not plan dinner and did not have time to clean my house. Things improved as our child grew older, and I began to juggle the needs of my home, my child and my part time job with more efficiency.
I have since added two more children and learned to juggle most things well in our home until this last year. The struggle to accomplish desired tasks in our home was very difficult with our busy kids and schedules. Many days I would look around after my kids went to bed and would try to figure out what it was that I had actually completed. The laundry was clean, but not put away. The dishwasher was unloaded, but dishes still remained in the sink. The kid’s rooms may have been clean, but toys were scattered all over the house. I could confidentially say that my children were fed, loved and safe in their warm beds, but I was daily becoming more and more frustrated at feeling unproductive.
In one of my least productive moments, I stumbled across a school graduation speech on a Facebook post where a man encouraged everyone to start their day completing just one task. The simple task: start the day by making your bed. His reasoning was that if you accomplish making your bed, although small, the feeling of productivity can snowball into more productivity.
As I pondered on his speech, it made a lot of sense. I decided to give his method a try during the busy holiday season. Even though my days were full of other tasks that were more important than a tidy bed, the process of bed making is only minutes out of the day. He was correct, as making the bed was a simple way to get into a positive mindset for the day.
Recently, my two year old child had a rough morning with multiple tantrums, messes and just needed a lot off TLC leaving little time to accomplish anything. Lunch time rolled around and the feeling of being unproductive began to creep up. Even though it was the middle of the day, I decided to stop and make our bed and the two little’s beds. In the matter of minutes, my mindset began to change and my attitude improved.
The concept can be applied to any are of the house. Complete one small task and allow the feeling of productivity to snowball into more and more completed tasks.
Writer Bio: Summer Bolte
I spend most of my time and days with my three kids, husband and dog. My kids frequently play near me as I garden, cook, DIY and volunteer. My most unusual paying job has to be feeding fruit flies in a research lab, and my most fulfilling job was being an oncology nurse for seven years.
