The Time Management Challenge

THE TIME MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE

TL;DR:


Challenge!  I'm not allowed on the internet until the children are sleeping or it is quiet time in the house unless it is to find a recipe or directions to a fun activity we ARE going to do right then and there (or within the next ten minutes).  I need to get back to my good ole life of reading, cleaning, playing with the kids, and cooking in the kitchen.  Anyone else care to join?  Details below.

(photo credit)

What's wrong?

Today I read an article that's going viral.  It seems almost everyone I know is posting this article, and for good reason.  Too many parents are spending too much time looking at things they could do with their kids instead of doing things with their kids.  The same goes for me.  Lately, I've been gathering materials and stacking them up for projects I could be doing.  What projects?  Well I have a ton of cotton strips I intended to hem up and use for waxing with this sugar wax recipe.  I have a quiet book to finish by the 24th of april, which I'm quite certain is NOT going to happen.  I have about twenty blog posts I've started but have yet to find the "time" or words to finish.  Seven different books are comfortably sitting on my kindle just begging to be read.  Ok, there's probably about 30 books, but most are series.  My kitchen needs a wipe down.  My plants need planted and my current seedlings need to start to be hardened off.  I have peppermint patties to make once I find peppermint extract.  Point is, there's a billion different things that need to be done, and what am I doing instead?  Playing on Facebook.  And not even a game.  Just refreshing the page until something happens, and usually something happens within about ten minutes.  TRANSLATION:  I'm just wasting time when I could be doing something much more productive.

^My horribly addicting computer^

How can I possibly change this?

Well, here's my goal.  Just get back into routine and turn off the *&^%ing computer already.  Every moment of every day does not need to be spent thinking about doing things and talking to friends on the internet, right?  Right.  My house needs me.  My kids need me.  And most of all, I need me.  Time to stop being so frustrated and hormonal because I lack time.  In reality, I don't lack time; I just don't manage it correctly.

THE CHALLENGE:

So, in leu of all this bad time management, I bring you The Time Management Challenge.  I think I'll do this in three parts.

Part one:  This part will be one week long.  In this week, we are not allowed on facebook, pinterest, twitter, and all the other inbetween social media things unless all the children are sleeping or someone is dying and you need urgent assistance and the only place to possibly find that is on social media.  (Try the phone book first though.  Chances are the ambulance number can be found there.  Or on Google.)

Things you're allowed online for during the children's awake time:
-Finding a recipe you're going to cook within the next ten to twenty minutes OR during finding recipes to add to the grocery list.  (I will allow myself one extra hour this week for grocery shopping recipe purposes ONLY.)
-Internet radio.  Assuming you're doing it for background/fun noises during a different activity that is much more productive.
-Finding directions to an activity you WILL BE DOING within the next ten minutes.

Any other ideas/things can be brought up in the comments and can be discussed by everyone participating.

Part two:  This phase will last one month.

All parts of phase one will still be in effect.  EXCEPT naptime will not be a time for social media play.  Instead, use naptime as a time to relax and enjoy yourself or perhaps clean or even exercise.  Do something you'd like to get done instead of play online.

Part three:

Ok, I don't know what I should do for part three.  This one is open to suggestions.

At the end of part one, I'll post up a linkup for everyone to link up their blog post about the challenge and how it went/is going for them.  Don't have a blog?  Then just comment on the blog post with your progress.  I do hope many of you participate and find that life is much more exciting outside of this world wide web.  I bet your grandparents enjoyed life before the internet came along.

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SUCCESS:

-Plan your day.  If you find yourself looking online for things to do to occupy your day, chances are you forgot most of them already.  Make a list of all the fun activities you can do or want to do and plan your day around doing them instead of around looking for things to do.

-Shut down your computer.  Chances are you're less likely to get on if you have to wait five minutes for the computer to turn on in the first place.

-Keep a list of things you want to look at/do online.  A wonderful blogger over at The Best Me Yet came up with this idea.  Just put a piece of paper beside your computer or somewhere you'll find it of all the things you want to look at when internet time comes around.  You probably won't get nearly as side tracked as you would if you just got on and thought you knew what to look for.


Do you have some good tips?  Suggest them in the comments and we can add them to this list!

CHALLENGE PART ONE STARTS FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012.  GET READY, GET SET, START TOMORROW!